The Unjust Steward 1 - Luke 16:1-8

Jesus continues with teaching through parables, but the next one is a little bit harder for me to understand. Known as the unjust steward, Wikipedia sums up the parable saying, “a steward who is about to be fired curries favor with his master’s debtors by remitting some of their debts.” This is the story of a man who is in charge of his master’s vast fortune. Upon hearing reports that this steward has been shady in his dealings, the master questions the steward and then relieves him of his post. We have to remember that in the ancient world, theft was dealt with swiftly and severely, and because this steward is simply being fired, gotquestions.org suggests that “the master is probably not aware of stewards dishonesty. The steward is being released for apparent mismanagement, not fraud. This explains why he is able to conduct a few more transactions before he is released and why he is not immediately tossed out on the street or executed.” In the July 2003 Ensign article entitled “Parables of Jesus,” Elder Tsung-Ting Yang made the first part of this parable easier to understand, saying that after receiving a report that the steward was not being wise with his resources, “He sent word to his steward to prepare a report on how his businesses were going. This made the steward very nervous, for he feared he would be fired when the master found out what he was doing… So the steward devised a plan to ensure he would not be left destitute. He decided to use his position of trust to negotiate some business deals for his own benefit. He offered to discount the debts of his mater’s business partners in return for their friendship and generous future considerations for himself. They happily agreed, for the discounts the steward was offering were up to 50 percent!”

Assuming that the role of servant or steward in ancient times was a “word of mouth” business, after getting fired from one position, it would have probably been difficult for this man to gain another position, and he was too embarrassed to beg and didn’t want to engage in manual labor. The master and steward probably didn’t see each other on a daily basis, so it makes sense that the steward learned of his master’s request before needing to provide the bookkeeping and had time to make the changes. It’s also important to remember that just because the steward was offering a discount on the amount owed, the debtors did not have to accept the offer. This is a difficult because we deal with this dilemma even today, thousands of years later. If we buy something on a credit card, and then default on that credit card, we got something that we didn’t pay for, even if the intention was to pay for it eventually. Money is a complex institution, and honestly, it’s not real. Money isn’t real, it’s a concept, but just because abstractly I can think about it in those terms, doesn’t mean it doesn’t govern my life and that I’m not responsible for what’s been placed into my care. I understand that circumstances come up, people get hurt or sick or die unexpectedly, people get burned out and walk away from their responsibilities leaving someone else holding the bag. Life makes managing money and responsibilities difficult and complicated, but the lesson is that it’s important to be prepared for the future and guard ourselves against tough times.

This steward prepared his books, and gives the debtors a discount on their debts, therefore making them indebted to him instead of his master. JTC comments, “without doubt, these acts were unrighteous; he defrauded his employer, and enriched the debtors through whom he hoped to be benefited.” By all rights, the mater should have been furious and probably legally had the right to have the man executed, but the master’s response is surprising to all as he “commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely.” What?! That doesn’t make any sense. One way that we can look at the master’s response is the retribution factor. Did the steward act immorally? Yes. Could he have been punished? Probably yes. Would punishing the steward bring the money back to the master? No. Perhaps the master was intending on allowing karma to exact revenge on his steward. This reminds me of my grandpa who had a lot of money and really cool stuff. One time he lent his jet skis to his neighbor or a friend or something. The neighbor or friend wrecked the jet skis while they were using them and then brought them back to my grandpa’s house and dropped them off like nothing had happened. It was going to take extensive and expensive repairs to get these machines back up and working the way they were when these people took them. Should these people have owned up to what happened and paid for the repairs? Yes. Could my grandpa have taken them to court and forced them to pay? Yes. But he chose not to, he fixed the machines and lent them out to other people again. This is the epitome of “turn the other cheek” and I feel that perhaps the master here is taking that position with this steward, he’ll get what’s coming to him, but he won’t have to be the administrator of the punishment.  

The master understood the predicament that the steward was in and recognized the position he was trying to secure for himself. Jesus ends the parable saying, “For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” What could Jesus possibly mean by this? Are we supposed to become like the immoral steward and sleaze our way to the top? One source comments that this is a first for Jesus’ parables because usually the protagonist is meant to represent God or heaven or righteousness, but here it’s the exact opposite. What did the steward do that was commendable? He used the means that he had to secure a better future for himself, this is the lesson that Jesus wants us to learn. Jesus is saying that the “children of this world” i.e. the ones obsessed with money and power are highly motivated to do what ever it takes to become more wealthy and powerful. As “children of light,” our main goal should be gain spiritual power and we should be just as motivated to do whatever it takes to achieve our goal as well. In the article, Elder Tang quotes Elder James E. Talmage as teaching, “Worldly-minded men do not neglect provision for their future years,… while the ‘children of light,’ or those who believe spiritual wealth to be above all earthly possessions, are less energetic, prudent, or wise… Emulate the unjust steward and the lovers of mammon (money), for for their dishonesty, cupidity, and miserly hoarding of the wealth that is at best transitory, but in their zeal, forethought, and provision for the future.”