The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
September 23, 2007
Vol. 10 no. 34

Everything But...
           It’s back to business as usual. That has acquired an ominous tone, except for the usual business people. We love to rail against those unethical business practices, insider trading, sports shoe companies that exploit under-age and under-paid labour, industries that crank out military hardware for very healthy profits. How to be an ethical business person, being fair to the consumer, compensating one’s employees well, practicing environmentally friendly production and proper disposal of waste materials - that is how one acts faithfully in the world of business and commerce.
           Until you read one of Jesus’ parables. Or at least this one in Luke.
           The parable is entitled “the dishonest manager.” He was not an ethical business person, probably skimming off the top. The jig was up with his superior - who shares annoying qualities with God.
           I am never sure whether the label “dishonest manager” applied to our hero’s behaviour before he was caught red-handed or afterwards. What he then does with each of his master’s debtors is not really illegal, especially in a society where barter was still a principal means of economic transaction. Some readers have suggested that all he did was cut out his own steep commission in striking a bargain with the debtors who would be ingratiated to him and probably would help him out once he was turned out on the street.
           The master, inexplicably, is pleased by his shrewdness and congratulates him - we never hear whether he got his job back. This shrewdness certainly was no moral gem we would want to imitate, yet the manager’s inner desire to find a workable solution struck the master’s imagination as something worth emulating. Do we understand this God?