[Jesus speaking]
Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’”
“The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’”
“So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’  ‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’ Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’  ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’”

The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

This can be a confusing passage, because the manager is cutting the debts of the clients on his own, it could be seen as not acting with integrity. And later on he is called “dishonest”. So the question is: Why is he commended?

We must first look at the accusation: Wasting the rich man‘s possessions. In context, this is not spending the money on the clients. He is likely taking these possessions and using them to live the high life in society: nice cars, sponsoring the right parties and taking expensive and exotic vacations, etc.

So when threatened with losing his job, the dishonest man does a shrewd thing, he cuts the debts owed by his clients and builds loyalty with them.

Then Jesus compares this dishonest man with his disciples (people of the light). And he says you can learn some things from evil men, because even they know how to act in their best interests by building relationships to take care of themselves in the future. Apparently the “people of the light” following Jesus were not good at using their resources to invest in things that would last — relationships!

The word “miserly” comes to mind. Do we handle the affairs of God in a miserly way? How do we treat our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? Are we petty, demanding, and exacting? Or are we looking for ways to invest in a relationship with them — an investment that lasts for eternity?

Lord, help me to elevate your relationship-building work in love over the rights and demands of my past sinful nature that tries to take control time and again. Teach me to find beauty in the differences in others and joy in the challenge of living together in community. We are called The Bride of Christ for a reason. And we are to build each other up collectively as your church!