Saint Paul realizes his mission is to proclaim the GOoD News to the

Gentiles. As St. Paul comes to the close of his letter to the faith community
in Rome, he summarizes his ministry, both what he has done and what he
hopes to do. He is proud of his living out the call to preach the Gospel to
the non-Jews, especially in areas where the message of Christ has not yet
been preached. Each of us has opportunities each and every day to
announce the GOoD News by the way we treat others. People should
sense that we are committed to our mission of being heralds of the
Gospel. It should be obvious that we are dedicated to what we believe and
we should want to share it with others, not in a judgmental way, but in a
way that shows we are excited and enthused (“in GOD”) with our faith.the
.Gospel proposes a question, which, at first sight, is rather extraordinary.
Luke's text, indeed, says: And the master commended the dishonest
steward for his intelligence (Lk 16:8). It goes without saying we are not
being told here to be dishonest in our relationship among ourselves, much
less, with our Lord. It is not therefore a praise to which would simply be a
dishonest steward.
“Why did the Lord present this parable to us?” St Augustine say. “He surely
did not approve of that cheating servant who cheated his master, stole from
him and did not make it up from his own pocket. On top of that, he also did
some extra hook. He caused his master further loss, in order to prepare a
little nest of quiet and security for himself after he lost his job. Why did the
Lord set this before us?” With natural truth he hit the point: “It is not
because that servant cheated but because he exercised foresight for the
future.” It is not an allegory, but a parable. An allegory has many points of
application, a parable has only one.
What Jesus actually manifests in this example is a grievance for the
intelligence in dealing with the matters of this world and the lack of true
message of the sons of light in building God's Kingdom: «The people of this
world are more smart in dealing with their own kind than are the people of
light» (Lk 16:8).
A sharp person is one who grasps a critical situation with resolution and
foresight. Perhaps Jesus was trying to tell his listeners that there was
something more critical in the steward's situation than a simple financial
crisis. Perhaps Jesus has been reminding us that we can avoid spiritual
crisis through the exercise of faith and foresight. If Christians would only
use as much foresight and energy in spiritual matters as much as they do to
earthly matters, then perhaps the world would indeed be a better place. As
God’s stewards we need to be prepared to give an account of our lives at
any time.
Let’s ask the Lord to help us to be a good steward of our time, finances, and
possessions and free us from greed and possessiveness, and fill us with
generosity towards others. Amen.