"There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? Give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? For my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord's debtor's unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations" (Lk. 16:1-9).
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There has been much discussion of this parable, some commentary wise, and some faulty. As the Venerable Bede says, Our Lord exhorts us here to give alms to the poor as penance for our sins. The worldly wise man was cunning in that he saw that "judgment day" was coming. The steward's lord warned him that an accounting was coming, and soon. The wicked man (as the children of light tend to do with their spiritual wealth) squandered his master's wealth instead of following his master's command to build his kingdom.
Like the worldly steward, we receive a stewardship from our Lord. We receive graces and talents. Jesus Christ opens to us the coffers of His Church and gives us graces through the Sacraments, His Real Presence, and the company of angels and saints. He gives us talents with which to give Him glory, to spread His love and to do His will. Every single one of us is in the shoes of the unjust steward in two ways:
[1] We have all in some degree squandered our stewardship in that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23); and
[2] We therefore need to cooperate in the salvation won for us by Jesus Christ by sharing the bounty we receive from our Master with others.
If we are wise, we will prepare for that day when we shall meet our God. We have sinned and we have not always used our gifts properly, far from it. He gives us the opportunity to make amends. (Thank God for that!) The wise man looks forward and finds all kinds of ingenious ways to care for God's children in this life, so as to build up graces for the next, so that his earthly goods and talents, in union with Christ earn him God's favor on the last day. As Christ Himself says of that day: "Whatsoever you did to the least of My brethren, you did unto Me."
The earthly wise build up capital for a comfortable retirement. They spend countless hours working and calculating their investment to ensure their comfort and an inheritance for their heirs. Those of us with Faith, on the other hand often put off our preparation for a heavenly "retirement" until the last minute, as if we would live forever. This is precisely what Jesus meant when He said that the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light in theirs. A wise Christian lives his life in the light, loving God and his neighbor now, making reparation now to prepare for an eternity with Jesus.
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