What We Thought

We thought that He just wanted us to be nice, and then Jesus said, "I have come not to bring peace, but a sword."

We thought He just wanted us to get along, then Jesus said, "I have come to turn a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

We thought He just wanted us to be good, then Jesus told us the parable of the shrewd manager, who was commended.

We thought the dishonest manager was despicable, but Jesus tells us he is shrewd.  Jesus said, "the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their generation than the sons of light."  What in the world does he mean by this?  When I read it I hear Jesus saying that your not going to change the world if you try to just get by on good behavior.  The sons of this world, the ones who do not walk in the Truth of the Living God, know better how to deal with their own generation, and so the generation will be lost.  The sons of light aren't shrewd enough to make a difference.

What's wrong with the sons of light?  Why aren't they shrewd?  Jesus is not saying you have to sink to their level to be shrewd or to win your generation.  I know that the knee-jerk response of many would be to assume I am advocating that kind of approach.  For my part, I don't want to be a "Christian" version of whatever the world is doing.  What I've seen in my life is that this just doesn't work.  We now have entire industries built around "Christian" versions of whatever the world is peddling: Christian music, Christian self-help books, Christian radio or TV stations, Christian movies.  The implication with this alternative universe is that if you're a Christian you should pursue those things with the "Christian" label; or that they are inherintly valuable because they're "Christian".  I don't have the time I would need to ridicule this approach, so I'll move on to my point, which is this: the sons of light need to stop trying to get by just on good behavior, just on being "Christian".

Notice that the master in this parable, who in the beginning fires the manager, ultimately commends him for his efforts, even though those efforts are injurious to the master.  What?  Is the master an idiot?  We know that he is not ignorant of what the manager is doing, because Jesus tells us the master commends the manager for his shrewdness in these dishonest dealings.  And yet, fully aware of how his (former) manager is losing him money, he commends the man rather than having him thrown in jail.  Commends him for his shrewdness; not for his dishonesty, for his shrewdness.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines shrewd as a) marked by clever discerning awareness and hardheaded, and b) given to wily and artful ways or dealing.  There is no doubt that the manager in this parable is shrewd, and given these definitions of shrewdness, it's easy to see why Jesus would want us to be shrewd as well.  Wasn't Jesus himself quite clever in dealing with his generation?  Look at the ways he pokes and prods the religious leaders of the day.  Look at how he consistently undermines the Jewish rules and laws while somehow always talking his way out of popular backlash.  Even in this very parable he pokes his finger in the eyes of the Pharisees.  Luke 16:14 says, "The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him."  Jesus had pissed them off by saying they couldn't serve both money and God, which is exactly what they thought they could do.  Somehow - shrewdly, no doubt - Jesus uses this parable both to praise shrewd dealing and to criticize greediness.

Jesus had a way of getting under the skin of the religious folks.  He still has a way of doing this, in fact.  Somehow he managed to earn the hatred of the religious leaders while charming the general populace.  Somehow he managed to be clever and perfect, to upset the established order and yet not sin.  Jesus was as shrewd as they come, and yet never did anything wrong, and so I have to conclude that this shrewdness he describes in the parable of the dishonest manager is in harmony with the character of God.  Isn't that something, to think that cleverness is the very nature of God?  Why not?  Think about it.