The account of the parable in today’s Gospel is found only in Luke and is the most controversial of Jesus’ parables. Indeed, a flood of ink has been spilled to resolve its alleged contradiction: how come the morally unacceptable action of the steward is put on the lampstand to enlighten all those in God’s house! A deeper reflection therefore needs to be made, starting precisely with a necessary clarification: the main perspective of the parable in question is more sapiential than moralistic.
The centerpiece of the narrative, on which all narrative elements revolve, is the concluding assessment of the master that “commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently” (Lk 16:8a). Thus is highlighted the key Greek word fronimos which literally means “wisely,” translated here as “prudently” or “shrewdly” in some other English versions (The same term is used to characterize the wise/prudent virgins in Jesus’ parable of the same name!). Even before any moral judgment, one point is clear: the parable in question is meant to convey a teaching on the use of wisdom in life. This sapiential slant is even stronger in the understanding assessment of Lk 16:8b, which repeats the key “wise” concept: “the children of this world are more prudent (lit. “wiser”) in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.”
Then, in what does this “wisdom” of the parable consist, which, for moral reasons, is often translated as prudence or shrewdness or cunning? First of all, it should be emphasized that there is nothing wrong with translating the original Greek adverb as “prudently/shrewdly/cunningly,” just as it is not misleading to use the term that expresses its underlying meaning: “wisely.” Biblical and Jewish wisdom, in fact, also includes the aspects of prudence and cunning or even better, resourcefulness in life. This is the nuance in the concept of the (wisdom-style) exhortation to be wise/prudent like the serpent, which Jesus left to the apostles when he sent them on their mission (cf. Mt 10:16). It is then noteworthy to see the similar use of the serpent and dove images in the rabbinic tradition, in a saying of Jehuda ben Simon: “God says to the Israelites, ‘toward me they are as innocent as doves, but toward the peoples of the world they are as cunning as serpents’” (Songs.Rab. 2:12).
So, the acting wisely of the administrator is an acting cunningly or shrewdly. One, in the biblical-Jewish mindset, does not exclude the other, and when one is recommended, the other is meant and vice versa. In other words, the wisdom of the parable is that of the Jewish mindset, and Jesus, the one who emphasizes it, belongs to this multi-secular tradition. Far from any moralism, the primary intent of Jesus’ account is a sapiential one. It is provided as a lesson in wisdom, in the art of savoir-vivre, certainly not a treatise on the commandment not to steal from the Decalogue!
Once we delve into the central perspective of the parable, it is not difficult to see that the steward’s wisdom consists in the cunning of procuring a future with what he has available to him in the present, even though this “what” is not his own but his master’s. He accumulates capital with other people’s money. It should be noted in this regard that, in Jesus’ parable, the steward is clearly denounced as a “dishonest.” So he is called, even when he is “praised” by his “master.” Such “qualification,” or rather moral disqualification, is never in doubt. The spotlight, however, is turned exclusively on the administrator’s “wise” or “shrewd” action to save his own “skin.”
In light of what has just been discussed, such shrewdness on the part of the protagonist is entirely acceptable and even justifiable in a tradition that has positively conveyed such actions as the actions (read circumventing!) of the children of Israel toward the Egyptians, their oppressors during the exodus, “And so [borrowing the wealth of their Egyptian neighbors before they went out of Egypt] they despoiled the Egyptian” (Ex 12:35-36; cf. Ex 3:21-22; 11:2-3; also Gn 15:14). Indeed, as is evident in the reflection of later Jewish tradition, it was God’s own Wisdom that guided all operations, including that of giving the Israelites the treasures of Egypt, “The holy people and their blameless descendants—it was she who rescued them (…) She gave the holy ones the reward of their labors (…) She took them across the Red Sea (…) Therefore the righteous despoiled the wicked” (Wis 10:15,17,18,20).
The Jesus of the parable of the shrewd steward appears more than ever to be a sage of his Jewish people. His concept of wisdom does not exclude the elements of cunning and shrewdness. It is the art of living in the present to ensure a secure future, and to do so one must sometimes, especially at critical times, use all the intelligence one can muster to engage every resource at one’s disposal. And the bitter comment of the story’s author at the end about the wise actions of the children of light compared to those of the world resonates like an invitation on the lips of Wisdom herself, addressed to her own children (cf. Lk 7:35) to direct them even more to Her way.
It is known that the children of this world often do everything to secure a better future. So the question is: “The children of light, the disciples of Jesus, what do they do for their future with God? Do they know how to wisely commit to their life with God with ‘all their heart,’ with ‘all their mind,’ with ‘all their strength’? Or do they rather remain inert, lazy, resigned in the face of every difficulty in life?”
It is therefore necessary to take seriously once again today Jesus' direct advice at the end of the Gospel passage heard, as if it were a kind of application of the parable told. He is the incarnate Wisdom of God, pointing out the ways of true wisdom: “make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings” (Lk 16:9). That is, one must know how to make use of wealth (which is always potentially “dishonest” in the theological vision of St. Luke the Evangelist) for the future with God. And if one does not do this, there is a risk of ending up serving wealth as if it were the “master,” according to what Pope Francis taught: “That wealth be at our service, yes; to serve wealth, no — that is idolatry, that is an offense to God.” (ANGELUS, Saint Peter’s Square, Sunday, 31 July 2022). Therefore, Jesus’ final warning is more than appropriate: “No servant can serve two masters. (…) You cannot serve both God and mammon” (Lk 16:13).
Let us then thank the Lord Jesus for today’s Gospel teaching and humbly ask for the grace of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of wisdom and intelligence, of counsel and fortitude, that we may always know how to act wisely in life, following the teaching and example of Jesus, God’s incarnate Wisdom!
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