Chesapeake Parson

  Today’s gospel is one of the strangest parables Jesus ever told. A dishonest manager, caught squandering his master’s possessions, faces dismissal. He panics—too weak to dig, too proud to beg. And so he schemes. He calls in his master’s debtors and reduces their bills, hoping they will owe him favors later. And then comes the shocking part: the master commends him—not for cheating, but for being shrewd. And Jesus adds this piercing line:  “The children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.”   At first, it feels all wrong. Why would Jesus tell us to learn from a scoundrel? But His point is clear: the world is clever in pursuing its own interests. Shouldn’t the children of God be at least as wise, as discerning, and as purposeful in pursuing the things of God?   The World’s Shrewdness Think about how shrewd the world can be. Look around our society. Political leaders, advertisers, media voices—they know how...