Luke 16:1–13
Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’
“So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’
“And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.
“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?
“No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Commentary
In today’s Gospel, the rich man is God, the master, and the manager is you and I, all of us. We all have the wrong impression that we are the master. In fact, we have nothing to claim to be ours, because all things are created by God and from God. Thus, at the end of the day, we are all answerable to God. How are we to be answerable? It takes four ways, namely, conscience, examine, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, particular judgment and general judgment.
It should be noted that Jesus did not approve the deed of the manager, who cooked the book. What Jesus tried to show is that the children of light did not know how to use worldly things for the good of heaven. He used this parable to contrast the inertness of the children of light who wasted all the good things given by God with the shrewdness of the manager who is supposed to a child of darkness.
In the beginning of the Gospel, the manager was charged with squandering his mater’s property. Who will bring charges against us before God? First, it is our sin because sin cries out like the blood of Abel before God asking Him to revenge. Next, it is all things because God created all things for mankind’s use and we have violated the nature of all things. Third, it is our own conscience because it will be the witness against our squandering God’s property. Therefore, we should examine our conscience everyday and to seek the Sacrament of Reconciliation as soon as possible.
How can we be answerable to God’s property? The truth is that it is almost impossible for us to be answerable. The only way is to learn from the manager to make friends in heaven with things created. In other words, we should help as many people as we can through prayer, deeds, kind words, and giving alms. The “dishonest wealth” used by Jesus really refers to things created, which can be good and evil depending on how we use them.
Finally, Jesus pointed out that no slave can serve two masters. Jesus is right. It is impossible for us to love God and wealth at the same time. If we love wealth so much, we can offer nothing to God because we will find difficult to part with our wealth.
The dishonest manager should be condemned for misappropriating his master’s property to buy others’ friendship. On the other hand, we should make good use of things created by God to help us to put our treasures in heaven. Amen.