The Gospel of Luke
The Rich Man and his Steward: Lk 16,1-13
The Parable: 16,1-8a
That Jesus is speaking to his disciples tells us that we have a teaching for the Christian community in these verses.
This chapter tells us two stories about rich men. They are not well regarded in this Gospel - Woe to the rich in 6,24 and I mentioned the Magnificat, 1,53, and the camel in the eye of a needle, 18,25, as well. We'll be considering the rich man of 12,13-21.
The steward of 12,42 is given a notably positive portrayal; the warning in verse 45 concerns a servant . I prefer steward to manager because there are theological implications to stewardship as the quotations from 1 Corinthians and 1st Peter indicate. Manager is a modern commerical term.
15,13 also speaks of squandering property.
Modern practice though keeps coming through. In verse 1, the rich man just accepts the accusation. We are not by whom or why it was made.
In verse 2, the rich man acts without further ado. Today, the steward would have a claim for unfair dismissal because he is accused but giving no chance to make his defence.
In verse 3, we could say the steward considers his skill set: he assesses what he can and cannot do. From this in verse 4, he makes his plan.
Verses 5 to 7 could be regarded as discounting. Some suggest that the steward is giving away his commission but there is no evidence for this. More likely is that he is reducing the no doubt considerable profit margin of the rich man.
The Greek word in verse 8a is "lord". Every translation I have seen renders this as the master which is a correct translation. Sometimes "his" is added to make the point.
The reappearance here of the rich man as the master would show his recognition that the dismissed steward has actually done a favour for both of them. The master as well as the steward will benefit from the gratitude and good will of those who received their discounts.
However, we need to consider further how we understand "lord" in this verse, but first return to the main page.
Commentary: 16,8-13
"Lord" in verse 8a could also refer to Jesus himself in the usual Christian way. It is not surprising that Christians were uncomfortable at the thought that Jesus was commending an unjust steward for his cheating. But that's not a necessary reading of the verse.
In favour of understanding the lord as "the Lord" is that it names a subject, a speaker for the whole of 16,8-13. Also, Jesus is speaking to the disciples, 12,1 and in the setting of the disciples, it is common for this Gospel of Luke to speak of Jesus as the Lord. The two uses of Lord in 17,5-6 would be a typical example.
We also have the same double reference to Lord in 12,41- 42, which as we've seen is the other passage in the Gospel refering to a steward. Jesus is referred to as Lord in verses 41 and 42 but the "lord" appears later in the sentence meaning "master". (The Douay translation has "Lord" followed by "lord".)
If verse 8 is refering to Jesus as the Lord, then it would highlight how his commentary on the parable is to be taken as a teaching for Luke's own community.
It also makes good sense because it means that Jesus clearly accepts the steward as dishonest or unjust while being able at the same time to commend his worldly sense, his prudence. In the parable of the rich man and his barns, the man is called a fool (12,20). This is the contrast with being wise as in Prov 9,8 and elsewhere. The prudence of the steward in this parable is not the same as biblical wisdom.
The Greek word for "dishonest" means literally "unjust" which has rather different implications, for the steward in verse 8 and for wealth in verses 9 & 11 and for the sayings that follow. As there is not much evidence to describe the steward as unjust for what he has just done, it may be that the evangelist uses the adjective to prepare for the comments that follow.
The key words in these sayings are: mammon (vv 9,11,13); unjust (verses 8,9,10,11); faithful or trustworthy (vv 10,11,12). These are set up as a series of contrasts between faithfulness and unjust. It would hard to avoid being unjust where money is involved, as with the steward.
Yet there is always the stark choice and priority. Verse 13 may be best heard using the traditional contrast of God or Mammon. The word "mammon" used here may bring out better the notion of wealth as an idol, a false god under human control. That lies behind the contest of the prophet Elijah with the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18.
With that in mind, the overall message is clear: wealth is a means, it is not an end in itself. As such it can be used by faithful disciples of Jesus.
Now return to the main page.
The Sunday Gospel
Some people may have the difficulty of reading this parable as Jesus commending dishonest behaviour. That is not actually its point as we have seen. It may be though the reason why the lectionary gives the choice of omitting the parable.
The reading from the prophet Amos is a strong denunciation of the rich profiteers. It seems to echo the concluding saying in verse 13 rather than the parable itself.
Let us return to the main page.