Lk 16:1-8
1[Jesus] said to his disciples, “A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. 2He summoned him and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.’ 3The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. 4I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.’ 5He called in his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6He replied, ‘One hundred measures of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.’ 7Then to another he said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One hundred kors of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.’ 8And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently.
“For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.”
WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY: The landowner, often an absenteeone, rents out his property to farmers or merchants. He employs a steward (Greek oikonomos) who manages the agricultural production of his property and deals with the renters. In the Gospel, the steward is accused of squandering his master’s property. Facing possible unemployment, the steward sees a “window of opportunity” before the news of his dismissal reaches the debtors. He sits down quickly and generously alters the accounts of their debts.
When the master discovers the steward’s strategy, he cannot simply rescind the steward’s new contracts, even if they are unlawful, at the risk of alienating the renters who are already celebrating his generosity. He will be short of his share this year, but people will praise him as a great benefactor and his “honor” will spread far and wide.
The steward, too, gains public praise for arranging the deals. Because he foregoes his own commissions by reducing the debts, he gains “welcome” among those he has helped. Finally, the peasants are also happy, for at least this harvest season, they may live a bit slightly above the subsistence level in which they ordinarily find themselves.
The purpose of wealth or surplus is not that it be stored and then enjoyed only by oneself, but that it be used to make friends who can be a form of social security. On the spiritual side, one who uses one’s wealth to help others will certainly be welcomed later into the spiritual dwellings.