By Fr. Roy Cimagala *
ONCE again the parable of the dishonest steward (cfr. Lk
16,1-8) presents to us some intriguing questions and issues that we
have to try to resolve and reconcile with our Christian faith and
morals.
We can ask if God, who must have been personified in some
way by the rich man in the parable, is just ok with some cheating,
with being dishonest, with being calculating as leverage for one’s
personal gain and interest.
Remember that the conclusion of the parable was that the
master praised his dishonest steward for his ‘cleverness,’ saying that
the “people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own
kind than are the people of light.” (Lk 16,8)
I suppose what the parable is trying to tell and teach us is
that Christ is being realistic with our situation in this world. We
try to put everything in our life right, clean and moral. But no
matter what we do, we would always be hounded by evil and by all kinds
of dirt, physical, moral, spiritual.
This parable seems to tell us that we should just learn how
to live with this condition and do our best to come out ok in the eyes
of God in the end. What may be considered as aggravating circumstance
in human justice may be regarded as a saving grace in God’s eyes.
We may have to handle dirt in our life and deal with
situations that are fraught with moral irregularities, but as long as
we do not compromise what is essential, which is love that comes from
God as shown by Christ who became like sin without committing sin
(cfr. 2 Cor 5,21), then things will just turn out ok.
We have to learn to distinguish between what is a tolerable
cooperation in evil and an intolerable one. With the former, we should
feel the obligation to do whatever we can to clean up what is evil in
a given situation, system or structure.
So, we have to be ready to properly live this unavoidable
condition of our life here where evil and its increasingly powerful
structures are sprouting around like mushrooms.
Some of these immoral structures are already large and
well-entrenched in our culture and systems like the old acacia trees
that we still see around. They really pose as a tremendous challenge
to anyone who wishes to be consistent with his Christian life.
For sure, the attitude to take toward this unavoidable
reality is not to escape from this muddled world. We would be like
fish out of water that way. Yes, we might be able to flee from the
mud, but then we would die instantly if we are taken out of our proper
place.
Neither should our attitude be of just indiscriminately
accepting what comes or what is around. We are supposed to be the lord
and master of this world in the name of God whose best creature and
children we are. And so, we just have to do some discerning, some
purifying and some struggling. It cannot be helped.
Christ himself said, “Behold I send you as sheep in the
midst of wolves. Be therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves.”
(Mt 10,16) It’s quite a combination to attain. But if we have faith in
God and follow what is taught us, we can make it. Truth is we have
been provided with more than enough to be able to reach this ideal.
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