The Parable of the Unjust Steward
Luke 16:1-17
This parable is considered by many scholars and students of the Bible to be the most difficult parable that Jesus ever told. The problem is that it appears to commend dishonest behavior.
Most people just skip over that part of the parable and them concentrate on the straight forward admonitions on stewardship that they see there, with the summary of the teaching being that all we have been entrusted in life should be handled in a way that is pleasing to God.
The Parable of the Unjust Steward really is much richer than that when you consider the context, though.
This parable is a part of a discourse that Jesus began in response to Scribes and Pharisees grumbling about Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners. The crowd is still the same, and this parable cannot truly be understood apart from the Parables of The Lost Sheep, The Lost Coin and The Lost Son which precede it. It is actually a rebuke of the Scribes and Pharisees who have been mishandling the great responsibilities entrusted to them by God, a warning to them, and an invitation for them to step into the Kingdom of God themselves.
