OT XXV [C]: Am 8:4-7; I Tm 2:1-8; Lk 16:1-13 

Different people will react to a crisis situation in different ways. Some people tend to go to pieces in a crisis. They feel overwhelmed by the crisis and sink down under it. Then there are others who are at their best in a crisis. They stay calm in the midst of the crisis and get clarity as to the best course of action to take. They keep a cool head and find a way through the crisis for themselves and others.

The parable that we have just heard is probably one of the strangest parables that Jesus spoke. The main character in the story, a rich man’s steward, seems to be a bit of a rascal, but he has some good instincts. When he went about the business of reducing what the tenants owed his master, it was because he wanted to be welcomed into people’s homes when he was dismissed from his job. In his own perverse way, he was trying to make friends. When the chips were down and he was about to lose his good salary, he realized that what mattered most in life was not money but human relationships. Yes, he was trying to buy friends, but he had enough insight into himself to realize that he would need all the friends he could get.

 

       The tenants must have been delighted when their debts were reduced, but, in a way, they were now in debt to the steward and they would have to give him some hospitality after he was fired, at least until he found his feet again. There isn’t a great deal to admire about this steward. Yet, his rich employer had a grudging admiration for his steward’s energy, his ingenuity, his resourcefulness, his decisiveness. ‘The master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness’, according to the last line of the parable.

 

       Jesus is saying that we need something of the steward’s astuteness, his decisiveness, his ingenuity, in our efforts to allow the light of Christ to shine through our lives. It took a serious crisis to bring home to the steward that people were more important than material possessions. I think we all know that other people are more important than possessions. It doesn’t take a crisis to bring that home to us. If we were asked what is most important to us in life, we would surely name people before material possessions, the people we love and who love us. Perhaps the steward didn’t have such loving relationships in his life and it took this crisis to bring this truth home to him.

 

We can all get our priorities wrong from time to time. We can give too much importance to what doesn’t really matter and not enough importance to what does matter. Sometimes it takes a crisis in our lives to help us to see everything more clearly. A health crisis can often bring home to us what really matters in life, how people are so much more important than work or possessions. Saint Ignatius of Loyola was the founder of the Jesuits. It was while he was recovering from a serious leg wound that he came to realize that, in the words of the gospel reading, he had been serving Mammon rather than God. While recovering, he allowed God to find him, to touch him deeply. He began to see everything with new eyes, with God’s eyes, and he went on to give his life to the service of the Lord.

 

In this parable Jesus implies that the qualities that the steward displayed in a crisis will also be very necessary in the service of God’s kingdom – in particular, his sense of urgency, his decisiveness, his cleverness, his imagination. If God’s kingdom is to come, the followers of Jesus will need all of these qualities. We cannot wait for God to do everything; decisive action from us is needed if God’s will is to be done among us, if the future God intends for our world is to come about.

 

 As disciples of Jesus, we are both children of this world and children of light. We live in the midst of the secular world and we can learn from how the secular world operates. Yet we are called to live in the secular world as those who have been enlightened by the gospel of Christ. We are called to allow the light of the gospel to shape the way that we live in the world. We are to bring the values of God’s kingdom to bear on that world where we live and work. We seek to promote God’s vision for our world.

 

In the end, the lesson of the Shrewd Manager is not about dishonesty but about urgency and foresight. Just as he acted decisively when he knew his time was short, so must we. Our life is brief, and our opportunity to use what we have for God’s Kingdom is fleeting. 

In 1997, Princess Diana of Wales—one of the most photographed, admired, and influential women of her time—died suddenly in a car accident at just 36 years old. She had wealth, fame, and the admiration of millions across the globe. Only hours before, she had been enjoying dinner and laughter, unaware that her life would be cut short that very night. The shocking news reminded the world that no amount of privilege or power can shield us from mortality. Her funeral drew millions into grief but also served as a stark reminder that life is fragile and fleeting.

Her story echoes the words of the Psalmist: “Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow” (Psalm 144:4). No matter how high we rise or how much we possess, life remains temporary. Death does not ask whether we are rich or poor, young or old, powerful or powerless—it comes to all. What matters, therefore, is not the length of our days nor the abundance of our possessions, but how faithfully we live, love, and prepare for the eternal life to come.

May we, then, be as shrewd as this steward was—though not in dishonesty but in holy wisdom—using every resource entrusted to us for God’s glory, so that when our days are done, we may be welcomed joyfully into eternal dwellings by the One who said: “Well done, good and faithful servant. Come enter into my joy”