The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.
Luke 16:8-9
Yesterday we noted that reducing the debts owed to his master was the socially responsible thing to do in the circumstances. That is, it would have been if the manager had been acting out of concern for the community rather than to his own advantage!
Jesus’ other parables about business show a similar social pragmatism. In the parable of the vineyard workers recorded in Matthew 20, the owner hires people at 6am, 9am, noon and 3pm but at the end of the day pays them all the same wage. The owner had promised to pay each worker ‘whatever is right’ and so paid them all the daily living wage. Today we struggle to see how this can be fair but the owner was ensuring the welfare of all the workers and their families, for the good of society as a whole.
By contrast, the rich farmer with an abundant harvest, who we considered a few days ago, was foolish when he decided to hoard it to finance his early retirement. He should have thought about the needs of his workers, their families and the community as well his own future.
In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, also in Luke 16, the rich man was condemned because he ignored Lazarus: he did not mistreat or abuse Lazarus, he just ignored the man in need sitting by his gate. Or could we argue that Lazarus was not the rich man’s responsibility, just because he sat by the gate? It seems, however, that the rich man’s indifference can be confirmed by the way he ignored the needs of his own servants, who were his direct responsibility, if we are to understand that he ‘feasted sumptuously every day’ implies they were not allow a day off on the Sabbath!
I have heard Luke 16:8 described as one of the hardest verses in the Bible to interpret but there is difficulty only if we think that Jesus commended the manager. As it is, Jesus says only that the master commended the manager. Jesus did, however, observe that, ‘The sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light’. By that, he meant that ordinary men and women living according to the ways of society will do what is right when it is in their own self-interest but the children of light, his own followers, are not usually so pragmatic about living the way he described.
We have contrasted the ways people did business in Jesus’ parables with modern capitalism’s maximisation of profit, once popularly summarised as ‘gaining wealth, forgetting all but self’. Is, however, the growing practice of social responsibility, charitable giving by companies to relieve poverty and to support education and art, curbing corporate greed and creating a form of ‘compassionate capitalism’ more in line with Jesus' ideals?
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Copyright © All Souls Clubhouse Community Centre & Church and Philip Evans 2012.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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