Symbol of Man's Life
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Did Jesus really commend and give praise to someone who was dishonest?? How easy it is to focus on that one line!
Did we not also hear of Jesus making a distinction between the children of light and children of the world? Which was the dishonest steward?
The parable of the unjust steward is a symbol of man’s life. Everything we have is a gift from God, and we are his stewards or managers, who sooner or later will have to render an account to him. The Lord is commending not the dishonest steward for what he did but for his prudence or astuteness to prepare for his future.
Quality to have: smart, prudent, astute
Remember what we have been focusing on as we go through the Gospel of Luke the last several weeks: the cost of discipleship (Luke 14), his desire to show us mercy and brings us back into the fold last week (Luke 15). With that, he is challenging all, not just the Pharisees and disciples listening to him.
We are supposed to be creative and ingenious in life, however, as Christians it has to be aimed at the project of preparing for eternity. What does the world do though? Distracts us by saying that this is all there is, there is no God, or we are so distracted by our phones, our non-stop schedules, or excuses.
We see what can happen by people who focus on their goal with their tenacity, determination, and prudence. Nothing stops them to reach their goal: inventors, entrepreneurs, business leaders, political leaders, athletes. We as Chrsitians should be doing the same thing.
What he emphasizes and praises, however, is his shrewdness and effort: he tries to derive maximum material advantage from his former position as steward. In saving our soul and spreading the Kingdom of God, our Lord wants us to apply at least the same ingenuity and effort as people put into their worldly affairs or their attempts to attain some human ideal. The fact that we can count on God’s grace does not in any way exempt us from the need to employ all available legitimate human resources even if that means strenuous effort and heroic sacrifice. “What zeal people put into their earthly affairs: dreaming of honours, striving for riches, bent on sensuality! Men and women, rich and poor, old and middle-aged and young and even children: all of them alike. When you and I put the same zeal into the affairs of our souls, we will have a living and working faith. And there will be no obstacle that we cannot overcome in our apostolic works” (St J. Escrivá, The Way, 317)
That is the beauty of the example of the Saints in our lives! They model for us how the Lord uniquely called them to follow him and they lived it out. I encourage you to read my bulletin article for this week because starting next week, we have two weeks filled in the liturgical calendar with so many wonderful saints.
I could talk about each of them in some many ways, but I believe they all shared these two qualities that can help us to be more prudent or astute as the Lord challenges us today:
Regular daily prayer
Daily quiet time that is set aside
10 min in the morning / 10 min in the evening
Being sincere in prayer
Must speak from the heart
Memorized prayers can help but we have to go beyond just routine or memory
With these, we can begin to realize where my heart is in regards to following the Lord. It gives us a moment to give an account of our stewardship with the Lord’s gifts.