We Are What We Do

The parable in today's Gospel certainly gives a lot of detail about Jesus's thoughts on money, those who deal with finances, and what can get in the way of a relationship with God. He recounts the story of the dishonest steward on the verge of being fired after squandering his master’s wealth. The steward swindles his master’s debtors in order to protect himself after he is inevitably let go from his master’s employ. The master, impressed with the “good” business sense his steward demonstrates, praises his shrewdness. 

This passage challenges me on many levels. First, I wonder if my context is too far removed from the reality lived in this parable for me to fully grasp what Jesus attempts to impact on his disciples. The way in which the debts are handled and the role of the steward do not translate easily into my everyday life. This leads to the next challenge; the difficulty lies in the behavior of the master toward his steward. Generally in Christ’s parables, the character of “the master” represents God in heaven - think about the master in the parable of the Great Feast, the parable of the Talents, or the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. The master is generally wise, generous, and merciful. This master seems different from our archetype. How are we to understand the role of this master? Would God fire us, the stewards, and then praise us for being clever? It is hard to picture what that might mean and how we should interpret this. 

The end of the Gospel seems a bit more straightforward, but there is still an interesting commentary on honesty and wealth that I cannot quite grasp. I’d like to focus on the end of the passage that looks at dishonesty and trustworthiness in small and great matters. Reading this Gospel story reminded me of my personal mantra: “we are what we habitually do.” We have to practice being the people we want to be; like everything else in life, practicing virtue makes perfect (or as perfect as we can get in this life). The same is true in the other direction. It is easy to think that committing the small sins of indifference, ignorance, lying, cheating, plagiarism, and seemingly victimless crimes are no big deal. 

However, the more we practice these insignificant missteps, the more accustomed we become to them and the more comfortable we become with them. I recognize the slippery slope argument at play in my own logic but I still find it worth exploring. If we start with small wrongs, at what point do we become comfortable justifying larger wrongs? We cannot serve two masters. We cannot put material possessions before God. We cannot put worldly comfort before God. We cannot put wealth accumulation before God. Every small action we take is a step either toward or away from eternal love and light. 

Christ seems to be warning about this in his message to the disciples, “The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones.” While only a brief moment in the story, this is my takeaway. We become the people we practice being, even in the moments that seem insignificant.