In Luke Chapter 16 Jesus tells a parable that has always fascinated me. On its surface it is an admonition not to get absorbed in the “love of money.” You can’t serve both God and Money. What fascinates me about the narrative is that Jesus describes how when confronted with wasting (or embezzling depending on which translation you read) his boss’ money, the accountant goes to his employer’s creditors and discounts their loans so they will take care of him after he’s fired. That’s not the weird part. What I don’t get is how his employer is quoted as saying that he “admired the rascal for being so shrewd.” Jesus didn’t say that his employer grabbed him by the shirt collar and threw him out on his butt. Didn’t say even that he carried through with firing the guy. The story we have is that this fellow was “admired” by his boss as being “shrewd.” Why was there no punishment related in the telling of the story? My assumption is that it wasn’t Jesus intent to have the boss man do the punishing. Jesus wanted to show how corrupted you can become by the desire for wealth and earthly comforts, but in the end if it corrupts your relationship with God, you have lost everything of value and will see punishment far more eternal in nature than just having to find another job or your next meal and a place to sleep.
Why do you think it doesn’t say his boss fired him?
In verse 2 the rich man intended to fire his steward. But for some reason he waited and it cost him even more. The mans reaction in verse 8 seems to indicate he thought the steward guilty of incompetence rather than fraud. The rich man had been outwitted and he admired the stewards criminal genius. This shows that he too was a wicked man. It seems all the characters in this parable are crafty, unjust and corrupt. Perhaps this is why he didn't fire him on the spot after finding out his unscrupulous dealings.
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