The Gospel speaks of a manager entrusted by his master to care for his property. At first glance, we could be puzzled upon reading the parable. It is about a manager who was dismissed from his job for dishonesty. It is not the intention of the parable to praise the wrongdoing of the manager. It focuses rather on the enterprising way the clever manager wiggled his way out of his troubles. The parable calls our attention to the astuteness and the cleverness of the manager. He was able to find a way to survive in spite of his hopeless situation
The parable is a reminder for us of the Christian understanding of stewardship. As Christians, we can learn from the manager, not on his wrongdoings but on his cleverness. He is not a model of honesty or integrity. It is his tenacity, shrewdness and efficiency which are worthy of imitation. But before we consider imitating the shrewd manager, let us first be clear about our goal in life and use our intelligence and energy to achieve this. What is it that we want in life? As Christians, we have excellent goals like faithfulness to God, a happy family life, a peaceful community and concern for our neighbor but we often lack the desire, the determination and the efficiency to achieve these goals.
