Jesus tells of a rich land owner who gives authority over his property to a manager, who subsequently squanders the wealth and is brought to account.* The manager turns to others who also are indebted to the rich man and cuts some new deals, thus endearing himself to them in the hope that they will take him in once he is evicted from the master’s property. In other words, he cheats and connives for his own benefit. This is no surprise. What surprises us is that Jesus says he is to be commended for his shrewd action!
Are we not supposed to act better than this? Are we not expected to follow the rules, be honest and morally responsible? Here we find another door by which some will enter God’s realm, a hidden door that requires crawling through on our knees. The ruined manager lowers himself, even to the point of being called shrewd, and sneaks into the kingdom. He is not too proud for the degradation of this door, the door of defeat and spiritual poverty.
If we seek a final report saying how consistently appropriate and careful we are, how well we manage our lives to the letter of the law but never to the extent of our imaginations, then we might miss out on what matters most. We might miss the life that is really life, the one we find on the way home from humiliation.
–-Kayla McClurg, Passage by Passage, Year C
- Am I able to appreciate the clever deceit of the manager?
- What does it mean to me that Jesus commends him?
- What would I like to see on the “final report” of my life?
