I'm not ready to comment on Luke 16:1-13. I don't know what Jesus is saying, except that maybe GOD doesn't punish people for shrewdly dealing with worldly matters by being more gracious than one is supposed to be. The bad manager decides to cook the books by offering borrowers a reduction in debt payments. He is commended by the boss for being shrewd. By being gracious toward customers, he put himself in good relations with debtors as he will likely become one himself in unemployment. And he kep the boss happy by collecting some of what was owed. Perhaps partial repayment is better than none? So he was gracious to clients and able to secure some liquid funds for the lender. What does that mena for us?
Being gracious is not a practice accepted by our culture. We expect to have to pay full price. One houses, cars, etc...there's no real discount or deal, is there? But Christians are supposed to give omre than they receive. Generosity, howver, doesn't have to mean becoming overly vulnerable. In fact, being generous can lead to a greater communal security. Quite the opposite of what we might think would happen.
Of course, the lender could have been angry with him for having reduced the debts, having expected to be repaid in full. But he wasn't. Perhaps God is that way with us. We don't get the job done. We aren't good trustees of what God has given us. But at least we can be foolishly gracious with what isn't really ours to be gracious with. God seems to like that in an odd twist.
I still don't know how this works into a message for others. Maybe somethig will stir in the next couple of days or in pryer on Saturday.
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