Jesus continues his advanced curriculum of “hard teachings” that do not align easily with commonly held wisdom. His teachings say we must be ready to hate some whom we have loved the most; we will fight, not with weapons, but a cross; we will risk losing all we have safely gathered to search for one precious part that gets away. And now, he tells a story of a dishonest manager who has been squandering his landlord’s property and is about to be fired and left with nothing. To his listeners this would seem morally reasonable. The one who does good is blessed, and the one who cheats and takes advantage of others is punished. But Jesus has another idea.
The devious manager, when he learns his days are numbered, encourages other debtors to cheat the landowner by letting him reduce how much they owe. In this way, on the verge of losing his clout, he wins the favor of those with no clout, who then will be more inclined to help him when he too becomes destitute. We might expect that Jesus is warning us against conniving, dishonesty and immoral choices, but instead he says the landowner praises the manager for acting shrewdly and “making friends by means of dishonest wealth.”
In the end, it seems, what matters most is not being thought of as honest or dishonest, moral or immoral, but using whatever influence we have for the sake of those with the least influence. Even if we do not actively strive after unfairly earned wealth or deliberately cheat our way to success, we all benefit from the less-than-honorable intentions of systems that put profit before people. Whatever our wealth, whether great or small, we are complicit in the methods used to achieve it. Rather than bemoan our condition or deny our complicity, Jesus suggests we find ways to be faithful in it.
Instead of trying to prove how wronged we have been or how righteous we are, we can be like the manager and get busy using our talents in new ways. Jesus calls those who have benefited from the influence of the powerful to turn now to making friends among the least. Whatever we have, whether honorably or illicitly gained, we can use it to build up a new kind of community—not achievers, but debtors all. Among the dismissed and the dispossessed, we will find our true home.
