Shepherd of the Springs
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

          No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Vs. 13)

           This parable about the Unjust Steward is perhaps the most perplexing of all the parables that Jesus told. It has led some interpreters to believe that it is not authentic, that Jesus did not really tell it. Other interpreters want to credit Jesus with the commentary after the parable, but not the parable itself. The rub, of course, is Jesus’ commendation of the steward who swindles his master for personal advantage.    There have been two popular ways of interpreting this parable - one which sees the steward as a hero and the other as a scoundrel. Both understandings, however, are fraught with serious difficulties. If we make this steward into a bad guy, it seems to miss all of the things that Jesus has been saying about Himself and what it means concerning his saving work once He has set His face to Jerusalem. All of his parables to this point which have stressed the riches of God’s grace have also emphasized that He has come to save the least, the lost, and the dead. He has tied this saving work to his forthcoming death on the cross and resurrection from the dead.  God’s grace and the life of grace is the end of getting what you deserve or what you have earned.  It seems strange that Jesus would interject the idea that shady business dealings may be detrimental to your spiritual health when the whole point of his parables has been to illustrate the radical nature of living by pure grace.

           Let’s examine the parable taking it from the top.  The parable begins by a report to a master that his steward has been squandering his money. There is a familiar note here with similarities to what we are told about the father’s inheritance by the Prodigal Son, is there not? Without hesitation, the master calls the steward on the carpet, reads him the riot act, and tells him to hand in his books. He is fired. It would seem to leave the steward pennyless and as good as dead.  Again is this not like the Prodigal Son among the pods and the pigs? In each case, the Steward and the Prodigal Son are getting just what they deserve, are they not? But then we see something quite different and startling. Indeed, it is the opposite of the Steward’s behaving in the parable about the Unforgiving Steward.  In that parable, you will recall, the steward asks for more time to repay his debt; but the master deals with pure grace, forgiving the whole thing. This Steward, the one we call The Unjust Steward, notes that he cannot make a living with his back so he decides to use his brains. He calls the masters debtors in and cuts their debts in half. Now at this point, we can look at this in either of two ways: we can see this as a gain for his master because the debtors are understood as deadbeats and he is happy to get something out of them; or we can see this as pleasing to the debtors who get out from under a huge debt. In either case, however, must we agree that fair and just treatment was not the order of day by this Steward. Thus by our standards, we recognize his actions as unjust. I would suggest, however, it is precisely this element - the unfairness of it all - that is our clue that connects us with our Lord Jesus and the point of his telling this parable.

                    The steward in this parable has managed the owners assets in a way that patently is neither just nor fair. That’s why he is tagged the Unjust Steward.  But then, perhaps on that basis, he can most easily be seen as a Christ-figure.  He is commended by the master, despite his unsavory actions just as Jesus was seen as unsavory by the religious establishment but was commended to us by His father: This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. And, this is the very same Jesus who went to the cross having become a rather notorious individual who had little respectability in the eyes of most everyone. He healed on the Sabbath, He ate with sinners, and then was pronounced a criminal sentenced to die with other criminals. If the measure of doing everything by the book is the mark of respectability, both the steward in our parable and Jesus have much in common.  Both seek to advance their cause by doing things that have nothing to do with fairness and our respected standards for what it means to deal justly with others.  If justice according to Moses demands that adulterers are to be stoned to death, Jesus tells the one without guilt to cast the first stone and then to the woman, neither do I condemn you.  And in the temple, when Jesus tells the parable, the just verdict goes to the despicable tax collector, not the well-behaved Pharisee. Indeed, if you are going to play by the rules of fairness as the standard of justice, Jesus taught that all of us will need a righteousness that exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees - the best doers of good moral behaviors - in order to have enough credit to merit the Kingdom of God.

           But then, Jesus further mystifies us with this observation: the children of this world are shrewder in their generation than the children of light. How is this so and in what way does Jesus tie this observation to the Unjust Steward and then to the matter of grace?  Perhaps we can make this kind of connection: if our outcomes in life are ultimately tied to receiving our just deserts for what we have done and left undone, there is little we can put our trust in for a favorable outcome for ourselves.  While it is true that life will go better for us in this life on a day in day out basis if we follow the rules, can we count on the rules of fair play to get us where we would like to be in the end? The Unjust Steward thought not and His master agreed with him.  Well the point of the parable is to raise the same question about ourselves?  If you play by the rules of fairness, will they serve you in the end to get you where you would like to end up?  Will worldly wisdom get you heavenly habitations? Will the Father in Heaven find your accounts in order and on that basis give you the Kingdom for the sake of good responsible stewardship?  Perhaps, not!  Then this parable would suggest that you might start thinking like the Unjust Steward, and at the same time, see him also as the Christ-figure who will, with great unfairness, put your accounts in such an order that you can get what you do not deserve.

           This parable is sneaky. It seeks to make a strong connection between the unfair dealings in matters of money in the parable and the work that Jesus would accomplish for our salvation. We all agree that fairness is the standard when you want to enter the world of finance and successfully get ahead.  Everybody has to pay their debts in full and collect what they have coming to them. Success in business dealings would come to an end without this standard of behavior. But the world of business is not what this parable is about. Fairness in the accounting of debits and credits is not the standard for favorable final outcomes - when it comes to advancement in eternal matters and the Kingdom of God.  Here our Lord and his cross present us a radically different standard where grace and a different standard of justice rule.  The justice of God is served in the cross of Christ when it is seen as the opposite of fairness: Everybody gets what they do not deserve.  By His criminal’s death on the cross, Jesus does more than cut our debts in half. He cancels all of our debts to God completely and our accounts are closed out forever.  And this means that we recognize that what the unjust steward recognized: Our future well-being is tied to getting for ourselves what we know we patently do not deserve. This is what it means to embrace Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. He is the Unjust Steward who has been a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles. He is the One who has been commended to us by the Father. He is the weird wisdom of God by which grace, not fairness, will secure a place for you in the heavenly habitations.  Soooo, when it comes to how you would settle your dealings with your Heavenly Father - Go see the Unjust Steward. He will cancel your accounts forever by the unjust dealing of pure grace.  Oh, the unfairness of it all!!!

           In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. A-men.