“The master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light…Make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth…”
Truly an intriguing statement of our Lord. Does he want us to cheat, to be dishonest, to be a crook? I don’t think so. In that same gospel, he also said, “You cannot serve both God and mammon.”
If we analyze his words more closely, what we can conclude is that we ought to be realistic in dealing with the imperfections of our human condition. He is calling for prudence, a certain shrewdness, an unrelenting effort that does not surrender to defeatism, complacency, despair.
That’s why he said, “Be simple as doves but shrewd as serpents.”
Our Lord himself lived what he is teaching us now in this particular case. Being God in whom nothing is impossible, he allowed himself to have a flawed human genealogy, he submitted to the many limitations of the wounded human nature, he consorted with sinners, he let all the sins of men to fall on him.
But he followed his Father’s will to the end, to his death on the cross. “I do no other than fulfill the will of my Father.” And with that, he achieved what he came here for—the reconciliation of fallen man with his Father God.
We have to be careful not to fall into a false idealism full of self-righteousness as we pursue the goals of goodness in all its forms in our life. We have to warn ourselves of this very likely possibility, and learn to be skilful in handling it properly.
We should never forget that even as we develop not only materially and externally but also spiritually and internally, we still live in a very imperfect world, where evil predominate. Our growth in Christian perfection should not lead us to ghettoes and ivory towers, but should ground us more in both heaven and earth.
How often have I heard so-called good people complaining how much more suffer since they decided to take their spiritual life more seriously. I have to remind them of a basic point they are missing.
Our progress in goodness, if authentically based on God, should develop in us both greater sensitivity and longer patience. Our growth in holiness should not blind us nor make us intolerant to the world’s imperfections. It should rather make us see and suffer more, and do more to solve these anomalies.
A true man of God is always compassionate, not critical. He is flexible, not rigid. He is “slow to anger and quick to forgive.” He is always hopeful and cheerful, not desperate and sad. He knows how to combine tolerance with intolerance, justice and mercy, etc.
But he cannot ignore the imperfections in this world. They are rampant everywhere—in business, politics, entertainment. Have you tried dealing with some government agencies? There you will see these imperfections institutionalized.
I remember when I had to secure my driver’s license sometime ago. I felt I was thrown to the dogs, made to survive in the Amazons. The place was like a snake pit. There was disorder and chaos galore. Everyone had his fixer, who was not from outside but rather inside the office.
The office was a mess, with damaged benches, aircon units not working. I was made to go there twice because the computers went offline. The last straw that broke my patience was when in spite of all that I had to endure—the eternal waiting, the lecture, etc.—my name was not called for the exam.
Instead, other people were called whose faces I did not see in the long wait and lecture. I had to complain, and that’s when they corrected themselves. Later on, someone told me everyone else, except me, paid a “package deal,” to facilitate their application even without appearing. And so, my name was always at the bottom.
It took me sometime to be Christian again about the whole experience. Next time that I need to visit such agency, I really have to go through a kind of pre-Olympic preparation, physically and spiritually.
But there were some saving graces, thanks be to God. Everyone, except for an old cranky woman worker in that office, was smiling and tried to be nice, even while they were doing their under-the-table deals.
Well, this is one clear example of our damaged human condition which we have to learn to live with Christian realism.
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