COMMENTARY

Gospel. (Luke 16:1-13)
The parable in today's lesson has given people problems of interpretation. Why does Jesus tell a story of a manager who had squandered his owner's property to make a point? And why does the master commend the manager? Is it Jesus who is the master who commended the manager, or is it the owner who has been victimized by a poor manager? Why did Jesus tell this story immediately after the chapter with the parables of the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son? Or is it Luke who placed these parables in this order? Even if so, why did Luke choose this order?

Perhaps the difficulties arise because we do not understand the cultural background of the story. We may assume the kind of accounting and business operations of our society rather than the rural Palestinia…