This week’s Gospel reading—The Parable Of The Dishonest Manager—is difficult. I mean, really difficult. Why? Well, it seems to show Jesus approving of dishonest and unethical business practices. Wait. What? How can that possibly be? The story centers around a man who is about to be fired for wasting his master’s property. He is not suited to physical labor and he’s too proud to become a beggar, so he devises an ingenious scheme in order to provide for his retirement. He goes around to each of his master’s creditors and he revises their bills such that they end up in his debt. His master is a religious man and doesn’t want it exposed that he was skirting the laws of usury, so for the sake of his own righteous reputation, he is forced to let the matter pass. Jesus commends the urgent scheming of the manager.
Upon closer inspection, the point of this parable seems to be that a wise person understands that their season of strength, opportunity and wealth is fleeting. Sooner or later we all run out of vitality, our prospects dim and our wealth deserts us. Every person fades and eventually fails, but the wise man thinks about the future and orchestrates a plan. The main point Jesus is trying to make is that a wise person sees the end approaching and makes an intelligent plan! He takes what he knows about the Master and he makes a plan that accords with the Master’s own obligations!
God has obligated himself to his own promises. He promised that men and women could live with him forever if they obeyed his Word. Of course, none of us has done that but the Good News of the Gospel is that Jesus has done that—he obeyed God perfectly! Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves, and he paid for what we did do—that’s the good news of the Gospel! Jesus has kept our end of the bargain for us (perfect obedience) and now God is happy to deliver on his assumed obligations. The Bible says: “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.” (2 Corinthians 1:20) All of the riches and blessings that God promised to give men and women are now freely available in the person and Lordship of Christ. If you are in Christ through faith, then you are co-heirs to every good thing of God. That is an excellent retirement plan. We might want to take advantage of that!