Amos 8: 4-7
Psalm 113: 1-2, 4-8
1 Timothy 2: 1-8
Luke 16: 1-13
Why did the Lord Jesus present this parable to us? He surely did not approve of that cheat of a servant . . . It is not because that servant cheated but because he exercised foresight for the future. When even a cheat is praised for his ingenuity, Christians who make no such provision blush.
—Saint Augustine
How DO we make sense of a parable in which Jesus seems to be commending cheating? It's hard to say! So let's consider it from this point of view: for Jesus, relationships are more important than profit. The Master, while he lost out on the payment of produce, was thought of by the debtors as a generous and honorable man. The debtors, by the way, might finally see a year when they could provide for their own families, and feel gratitude to both the master and the steward. And the steward, who could have been imprisoned but 'merely' lost his job would find in those debtors advocates and potential future help.
Too often it is the poor who are cheated at the hands of the rich. Here, we are assured of God's gracious generosity in forgiving the debts of our sins, and in accepting the gifts we are able to offer.
- In your life, what 'debt forgiveness' would cause you great joy?
- What's preventing that from being accomplished?
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