Why Do We Care About Injustice? Pt. 2: Under New Management

 

Jesus told a puzzling story once. 

The story is about a manager, a steward, which in the Roman world was a person who had access to his master’s wealth and was an agent of his business affairs. The manager, though, had made a mess of things. He had “wasted his goods” (Luke 16:1, KJV). He was called by the master to give an account of his management, and informed that the position of management would be taken away from him. When the manager heard this, he decided on a plan. He went to all the people that owed his master money, debts he no doubt should have collected long ago, and offered them a discounted bill-- not altogether unlike our modern creditors who will gladly take what they can get from a person in debt. “You owe a thousand dollars? Give me eight hundred and we’ll call it good.” And on he went, trying to make things right. He couldn’t fully undo the damage he had done; he could not collect the full amount of what was owed. But he he did what he could and Jesus praises him for his shrewdness. 

Such praise seems strange. Wasn’t the man being dishonest? Didn’t Jesus imply that the manager was simply trying to ingratiate himself with the people who owed him money in the event that he made need their assistance in the future? Isn’t this like a guy who knows he’s about to get fired from Apple giving away company secrets to Microsoft in the hopes of landing a job with them after his firing?

Not quite. For whatever other layers of lessons are in this parable, there is one that stands out clearly to me now that I have never quite noticed before. The clue is in Jesus’ closing remarks: 

“ ‘Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?’ ” (Luke 16:10-12, NIV)

Jesus, in Luke’s gospel, has said something like this before. It appears in Luke 12: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” (Luke 12:48b, NIV). There’s that phrase again: trusted with much. In Luke 12, the story is about a master who will return at an unexpected hour. A wise and faithful manager is one who is taking care of the servants, getting them their food allowance and such in a timely fashion. That manager will be placed in charge of all the master’s possessions. But the manager who gets impatient with the master’s absence and decides to beat the servants and feast and get drunk will be severely punished. 

In both stories, there is a master and a manager. And in both stories the manager will be held accountable for the things that were trusted to his care. If he manages them well, he will get to manage more, the antecedent, perhaps, of our modern maxim, “If you want something done, give it to the busy guy!” Both stories, when taken together, give us a picture of our human calling as stewards of God’s world.

Humanity, beginning specifically with the first humans, were given charge of God’s good world. But they squandered His treasure, and we have followed in their example. Humans, meant to be God’s agents, the viceroys of His estate, have instead made a mess of things. In our attempt to live like the sovereign, we have gotten drunk on the power and lost all resemblance to His rule. We have beaten the servants and wasted His possessions. We are the worst of both stories’ depictions of a bad manager.

And yet. There is still time. Will we be shrewd enough, wise enough, to do what we can do, to try to set things right, even if not all the way? Clearly, that is how we are to live as we wait for the Master’s return. Jesus, in the earlier less enigmatic parable, said that the one who “knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants” will be punished severely (Luke 12:47, NIV). In that light, it makes sense then that the apparently “unjust” manager who did what he could to set things right is praised by the master. Alright, so you’ve made a mess of things. And no, you can’t truly set it right. But will you even try? Will you do what you can?

Taken together, these stories of stewardship show us how to anticipate Christ’s return. He is the Master; we are the managers. Everything in the world-- the whole cosmos!-- had been entrusted to mankind. By our original sin, we made a mess of things. And in doing so, we lost our place as managers. Chaos reigns; evil abounds. Even if we wanted to set things right, it is no longer within our power to fully do so. But there is One, fully God and fully human, who could. That is explained by another story Luke told, a true one, of the Son of Man who went to cross and gave His life “as a ransom for many.” Because of Jesus, all who are in Him have recovered their original vocation as God’s stewards. We have been re-entrusted with things. And even as we wait for the Master’s return there are things that we can set right, even if it is not all the way. The only question that remains is: will the “people of the light” take a lesson from this shrewd manager of the world and do what they can to set things right in the meantime?

Will the world notice that Redeemed Humanity, the people of God, are living even now on the earth? Can anyone tell that the earth is, so to speak, under new management?

[EDITOR'S NOTE: This post and "Why Do We Care About Injustice, Part 1" are both an adapted excerpts from Chapter 7 of my new manuscript. The book is called "Lucky" and is slated for an April, 2011 release with David C. Cook. All rights reserved.]

Comments

[Spencer Roberts]

Interesting - nice link between the scriptures, thanks for that Glenn.

So, you asked, "Will the world notice that Redeemed Humanity, the people of God, are living even now on the earth? Can anyone tell that the earth is, so to speak, under new management?"

Great question, I ask myself that all the time. I would have to say in general, my current observation is, "Probably not". Too often Christians not only behave just like the world, but "the world" finds it even worse when they profess to be different - hence the constant accusation of hypocrisy.

I like your exposition of the concept of shrewdness, and I really believe that is the biblical application of the term. But not all shrewdness is goodness. I guess that's what I'm getting at - the notion that "sometimes we have to hurt one group to help another" and "ends-justifies-the-means" thinking that shrewdness otherwise might imply. I find that form of shrewdness un-Christian.

Anyway, here's to bringing Heaven to Earth!