Am I a good steward? That is really the question the Gospel is asking us today.
We don’t use the word steward much today so what is a steward? Merriam Webster defines steward as “one employed in a large household or estate to manage domestic concerns (such as the supervision of servants, collection of rents, and keeping of accounts).”
Jesus came to proclaim the Good News to the poor. When Jesus mentions the steward in the parable, everyone who was listening knew the function of the steward and the peasant farmers could even tell you the name of the steward in their lives.
There was a very strict class system in place that defined the rich from the poor. The peasant farmers, who rented the land, were controlled by the steward of the wealthy landowner who held the promissory note for their harvest. As in all situations, some were good, and some were difficult to live with or even downright evil. In today’s Gospel, the steward was caught squandering his master’s resources.
The steward is in a bad situation because tradition was that the steward was responsible for any losses they caused their employer, the master in the parable. The steward is extremely fortunate that the master didn’t have him thrown into jail until the loss for his mishandling of the resources was repaid. The steward knew that he didn’t have much time until word would get out that he was fired so he had to act quickly.
The steward position is what we would consider a management position in today’s world. When word gets out that he was dismissed for mishandling his master’s resources, no one would hire him in that position again. And he knew that.
The only options left for the steward would be physical labor or begging. The steward acknowledged that he was not strong enough for physical labor and that he was too ashamed to beg.
In those days, it was customary for promissory notes and contracts to be written in the handwriting of the person making the promise to pay. That explains why the steward had the person write a new note in their own handwriting.
We have talked about the value that was placed on honor in the ancient world. John Pilch helps us understand that the landowner is in a difficult position since the steward is the legal representative of the landowner and had the promissory notes rewritten. He wrote:
“When the master discovers the steward’s strategy, he faces a genuine dilemma. If he rescinds the steward’s new contracts, as he is legally entitled to do because they are unlawful, he will alienate the renters and the entire village. They have already been celebrating the master’s generosity!
If he allows these reduced contracts to stand, he will be short of produce this year, but his “honor” will spread far and wide (as also will the “honor” of the shrewd steward for arranging the deals). People will praise the noble and generous landowner.”
Notice that the dishonest steward also retains his honor if the master permits the contracts stand at the reduced amount. That meant the steward could live without physical labor or begging through the obligation that the peasant farmers would have for him because of their reduced promissory note.
Does this mean that dishonesty is right or condoned? Definitely not! While it may seem that the dishonest steward is being held up as an example, the dishonest steward is still dishonest. Jesus is telling us that we must be honest in all our dealings, with people and with God.
Dennis Hamm, a Jesuit emeritus professor at Creighton University, reminds us that the Aramaic word “Mammon” means wealth or property. Today’s Gospel ends with Jesus saying: “You cannot serve both God and mammon.”
John Kavanaugh, a Jesuit professor at St Louis University, expanded on Jesus’ words when he said, “Our attitudes to the poor and our attitudes about security are the best indications of our discipleship.”
If this is true, the steward in today’s parable is only concerned about his own security. He is only looking out for himself, not the poor who will be able to keep more of their harvest, nor his master who is going to lose even more of his resources because of the steward’s rewriting of the promissory notes.
Are we really that much different from the steward in the Gospel? We live in America, the best country in the world. While our freedoms are being eroded as time goes on, we still have more freedom and wealth than any other country in the world. We are so blessed and should thank God for these blessings he has given us.
This sense of comfort and security also makes it easy for us to become complacent with the level of security that we have attained. It is easy for us to focus on the retirement funds and business dealings, in other words – the mammon – the wealth and property, that will support us now and when we retire.
Jesus makes the point that while the dishonest steward was commended for his shrewdness, we are required to attain a higher level of service to God and all of God’s children.
We don’t like to think about the starving in Africa or Latin America because it makes us squeamish. It doesn’t fit our idea of security.
We generously support school children in Jamaica, but do we really understand the dire needs of the Jamaican people who live in poverty and fear of the crime all around them? Or the people in Haiti who are starving because they never recovered from the earthquake in 2010 that destroyed their infrastructure? Jesus is telling us to wake up from our complacency, to wake up from our love of mammon and truly care for those in the world around us.
John Kavanaugh’s statement really made me think: “Our attitudes to the poor and our attitudes about security are the best indications of our discipleship.”
It made me examine my life, and I invite each of you to take a moment and do the same. Am I more interested in security for myself and my family than the plight of the poor? Am I more interested in Mammon than eternal dwellings?
