At first, it may seem a little contradictory and difficult to understand this story of the dishonest steward, because the owner praised his dishonest manager for he acted shrewdly when he knew he would be fired. So before he was accountable for what his administration has done, he met with each of those who selling to his boss and negotiated the debt for less, to ease the burden to those who, therefore, who might need them later.
Let me explain to you: it is not that the Word of God is used to extol, exalt or appreciate dishonesty; quite the contrary, it is showing the cleverness, shrewdness that those living in this world use in the business world. Yes, they are smart, they are alive!
It is as if Jesus said, “The children of this world are much smarter, clever, intelligent, have a lot more passion, more stamina to do their business than the children of light.” Because often we who are called to be part of this wonderful light, which is Jesus, we are too passive, we have no excitement, no flavor, no taste. This is how we behave taking care of things of the Lord.
When famous singers come to Brazil, many people stay five, six days in a row to get a ticket. There are rabid fans that are crazy for their football team, people to defend their business give it your all. But for the things of God, they are soft, they are slow and often even say, “I’ll give if I can.”
Ability, delivery and lack passion, lack immersion shrewd, because those who do evil know to apply themselves to make it work, but those who want to live well do not have the same application, the same delivery, same dynamism the other has. Therefore, evil spreads more easily, it propagates itself more successfully who knows what is right, often do not do it with intelligence and enforcement required. Now those who do evil know how to be much smarter than us! So things of the world grow more easily; and we, in our timidity, fail to expand the Kingdom, the Good News, kindness, generosity, because we do not apply ourselves in earnest to do the things of the Lord.
God bless you!
Fr Roger Araujo