There was once a young businessman in Germany named Neckerman who had a burning ambition to build his small retail store into a large chain of department stores. His problem was that no one knew his name. He couldn't attract customers. He had only limited capital.
This was shortly after World War II. As you might imagine there were shortages in Germany of almost everything. Thus, the existing big department stores saw no reason to cut prices. They sold whatever they could get at healthy margins. Neckerman saw this as an opportunity. If only he could position his store as the low-cost, high-value leader, he could build the enterprise of his dreams.
As it happened, Neckerman managed to acquire a large shipment of spools of thread. Thread was in great demand in those days. Clothes also were in short supply. Women were constantly repairing their families' old garments. The obvious step for Neckerman would have been to sell these spools of thread in his own store. It would undoubtedly attract more business.
Instead he offered the whole shipment of thread to the buyer for the largest department store chain in Germany at only a slight profit. The buyer for this chain jumped at the opportunity and in only a few weeks had sold all the thread at a much more substantial profit.
It usually takes several months to use up a whole spool of thread. Thus, the whole transaction was forgotten by the time the executives of this large chain started to notice crowds of people shopping at Neckerman's. Soon the reason became apparent. It was the spools of thread the large chain had purchased so eagerly from this young upstart. As German housewives finished their spools of thread, a piece of paper that had been wrapped about the spool under the thread fluttered out. It read like this: IF YOU HAD BOUGHT THIS THREAD AT NECKERMAN'S, IT WOULD HAVE LASTED TWICE AS LONG. Overnight, everyone knew the name Neckerman. From then on, the firm had no trouble attracting customers. (1)
Shrewd. Even a little sneaky. Sometimes in business the line between ethical and unethical, shrewd and outright dishonest, is a little blurred. And nice guys, or gals, don't always finish first.
All's fair in love and in war, it is said. That's often true in business. Ask people who are losing their jobs as more and more companies outsource their work overseas. Ask the small merchant put out of business by the large superstore. Ask shareholders who have lost their pensions because some greedy executive manipulated stock prices. Be careful if you are in the marketplace. You never know when somebody who's both shrewd and slightly unethical is going to clean your clock.
Jesus knew such people existed. In fact, he told about such a person in one of his parables. And here's what might steam some of us--he had words of praise for this scoundrel. Amazing. Outrageous. Jesus says something good about a sleazeball. Let's see if we can't figure out what's going on here.
There was a rich man who had a manager who was cooking the books--lining his own pockets at the rich man's expense. So the rich man gave this rascal his pink slip. The soon-to-be jobless manager was mortified. He said to himself, "What'll I do? . . . I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg." And then this unscrupulous manager hatched a plan. He decided to use his remaining time to make a few friends. Summoning the people one by one who owed the rich man money, he asked the first, "How much do you owe my boss?"
"A hundred jugs of olive oil," was the answer.
"Make it fifty," said the manager. I can see him rubbing his hands together with glee and avarice. This is a good example of why some employees should not be given two weeks notice. Some should be sent packing immediately.
Then he asked another of his boss' creditors, "And how much do you owe?'
He replied, "A hundred containers of wheat."
The manager said, "Make it eighty."
Now here's the outrageous conclusion of this parable: According to Jesus, the rich man commended this dishonest manager because of his actions. Then Jesus added these interesting words: "For the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light."
This is disturbing--truly outrageous. Jesus, in effect, praised a dishonest man. What in the world could this mean?
First of all, Jesus is not praising the man's dishonesty. This is evident in the verses that follow. "Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much," said Jesus, "and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much." Jesus was not praising the man's dishonesty.
We don't need any more dishonest business people or dishonest lawyers, or dishonest doctors or dishonest clergy or whatever the profession may be. Everyone loses when people cheat--and that includes when people only half-way do their jobs.
Harry Emerson Fosdick developed a formula years ago that might help us today. He called it, "Six Ways to Tell Right from Wrong." He suggested we test our potential actions against these six criteria:
- The Common Sense Test. Are you simply being foolish? How would you judge someone else if they did the same thing?
- The Sportsmanship Test. Are you playing fair? How would you feel if someone else did the same thing to you? If it is not right for everyone, it is probably not right for anyone.
- The Best Self Test. Are you trying to be the best you can be? Will it help you become a better person?
- The Publicity Test. If everyone knew what you were doing, would you still do it? It is surprising how the light of public knowledge changes our perspective and our behavior.
- The Most Admired Person Test. Would the person you most admire do it? If you told that person about it, would you feel proud or ashamed?
- The Foresight Test. What can possibly go wrong? Could you live with those consequences? (2)
Practical, sane advice from one of America's great preachers. Jesus wasn't praising the man's dishonesty. Remember this is a parable. A parable only makes one point. I believe that what Jesus is praising is this man's willingness to act. He was about to lose his job. He was "not strong enough to dig, and . . . ashamed to beg." What was he going to do? Well, what could he have done? Put yourself in his position.
He could have done nothing. He could have sat around, wringing his hands whining, "Oh, I am so unfortunate. Woe is me. I never get any of the breaks." You would be surprised how many people react to hardship that way.
One guy, from personal experience, described how many people react to the loss of a job:
Stage one: I'll make a few phone calls and be working in no time.
Stage two: None of these jobs in the paper are good enough for me. Now that I've stopped shaving, maybe I'll just stop bathing too.
Stage three: Geez, I'm not qualified for any of these jobs, but the house sure is clean.
Stage four: Maybe I'll try a whole new career. I wonder who's on "Oprah" today? I've got to put something on my unemployment claim this week.
Stage five: The capitalist running dogs want me to fight for their filthy money? I'm going to weave hats out of palm fronds and sell them on the beach. I won't participate in this sublimation of true human needs.
Stage six: "You'll pay how much? Well, I've always enjoyed being part of a team!" (3)
The dishonest manager could have gone home and spent his days watching Oprah. He could have waited for someone to give him a break. That's the first thing he could have done, nothing.
The second thing he could have done was ask God to solve his problem for him. Now I have to be very careful here. It sounds so pious to say, "I'm just going to pray about this, and if God wants me to work, God will provide a job." Have you ever known anyone with that kind of attitude toward life? It sounds like such a nice, religious idea--waiting for God to provide our need. But friends, it can also be an evasion of responsibility. And as such, it can be deadly--deadly personally, professionally and spiritually. It's very much like saying, "If God wants me to lose weight, God will keep me from desiring ice cream." Or, better yet, "If God doesn't want me to stop at [Krispy-Kreme], there won't be a parking place out front when I drive by." One guy prayed that prayer, and as providence would have it, there WAS a parking place--his sixth time around the block. Friends, the little platitude, "God helps those who help themselves" isn't in the Bible, but it very easily could be.
Dwight L. Moody was one of the world's great evangelists. He was on a ship that was crossing the Atlantic. The ship caught fire. The crew and the passengers formed a bucket brigade to transport water to the fire. One man in the line turned and said, "Mr. Moody, don't you think we should retire from the line and go down and pray?"
"You can go pray if you want to," Moody replied, "but I'm going to pray while I pass the buckets." (4)
Moody understood the relationship between prayer and personal responsibility.
Jesus praised the dishonest manager because the man had a problem,
and immediately took action to solve it. Jesus follows this parable with these words which provide the clue to its meaning: "For the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light." Who are the "children of light"? That's us. But listen carefully: the "children of light" can actually be very frustrating to both God and their friends when they refuse to help themselves; even worse, when they use their religion as an excuse for inaction.
You may think I'm being a little harsh, but it happens so often. And it is demonic. There are people who are ruining their health, ruining their relationships, ruining their careers waiting for God to give them some kind of sign before they ever do anything. Do you remember what Jesus had to say about this? It will surprise you. He said, "An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign . . ." (Matthew 12:39) The context was slightly different, but the point was the same. We can evade all kinds of responsibility looking for signs. Pray about your situation, yes! But then use the good brain that the good Lord gave you and tackle the problem head on. That's the winning way to deal with life--whether in business or family life or with regard to your own well-being. "The children of this age are more shrewd . . . than are the children of light."
A great philosopher once told about a make-believe country where only ducks live. On Sunday morning all the ducks came into church, waddled down the aisle, waddled into their pews and squatted. Then the duck minister came in, took his place behind the pulpit, opened the Duck Bible and read, "Ducks! You have wings, and with wings you can fly like eagles. You can soar into the skies! Ducks! You have wings!" All the ducks yelled, "Amen!" and then they all waddled home. (5) No one flew.
Friends, there's just too much truth to that little fable. It's time for the children of light to quit waddling. It's time for us to soar. If there is something honorable that you and I need to do to better our own situation or to better the world, it's time for us to get into action. No more wringing our hands helplessly saying, "What will I do? What will I do?" No more praying that God will solve our problems for us, and thereby absolving us from responsibility. May we be the people that Jesus praises. Why? Because we saw something that needed to be done and we did it.
1. Peter Engel, The Exceptional Individual (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998), pp. 63-64.
2. Merrill Douglas, Success Secrets (Tulsa: Honor Books), p. 83.
3. Mike Spitz in Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel , "Heroes for Today," Reader's Digest, August 1996, p. 48.
4. Stan Toler, God Has Never Failed Me, but He Sure Has Scared Me to Death a Few Times! (Tulsa: Honor Books, 1995).
5. Jim Burns, Radically Committed (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1991).