Two masters

I’ve always found the gospel story of the dishonest steward a fascinating one, because Jesus appears to be praising dishonesty, as the steward who is to be fired is trying to assure his future situation by altering the financial notes of his boss’s debtors in their favor, so that they will take care of him when he loses his position—clever, but fraudulent.

Jesus is praising the inventiveness and ingenuity of the steward, but not what he is being inventive about. Jesus here makes use of a negative situation in order to make a positive statement about ultimate values. The steward is one of the “immoral heroes” of the gospel, who serve as an example of trying to deter the Reign of God, but who ultimately are doomed to fail.

The point Jesus is trying to make becomes clear at the end of the gospel reading, when he tells his disciples, “You cannot serve both God and mammon” (which is sometimes translated as money or worldly possessions). The desire for money and the attachment to possessions pose a difficulty to faith and discipleship. You can’t serve two masters: God and wealth.

For Jesus, wealth exemplifies all the powers that bind human beings and prevent them from loving God undividedly and being capable of discipleship. The key word here is “undivided,” because we want both, don’t we? We want God. We want God’s Reign and God’s values to prevail in our life and in our world. (Continued next week.)