was an immoral lesson inculcated in the Parable of the Steward?

Question

He commends as wise and prudent the action of the steward, who, to provide for his future welfare, causes his master's creditors to defraud him. "There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he unto another, And how much owest t

Answer 1

with you on this one................

Answer 2

(Luke 15)
Note that it is HIS master who commends him --the very one you say he is defrauding. Surely, the master is not commending his own servant for defrauding HIM?!

So it's fair to say that the master isn't talking about fraud when he commends him, if indeed he DID defraud him. Rather he is marveling at his SHREWDNESS (a reasonable translation of "wise" in this passage).. And one can certainly take note of how shrewd an act is without entirely agreeing with it.

In fact, reading the whole thing in context, Jesus is NOT in any case commending the specific behavior of this man. He focuses on his thinking ahead to make sure that he was provided for.(making friends who would welcome him into their homes), and uses THAT point to suggest how much thought and care we ought to give toward providing for what comes AFTER this life. (Note, this parable is NOT a simple example -- 'do the same thing in the same situation' but rather, 'just as even this man showed shrewdness in dealing concerning THIS life, so you should be shrewd/wise in things concerning the life BEYOND this.)

(Actually, going back to the fact that it is the steward's OWN master who commends his prudence, perhaps we ought to look as something like modern day 'debt settlement' -- in which the go-between gets IMMEDIATE payment for the creditor in exchange for forgiving part of the debt.)

Also, if the manager's behavior is inappropriate, this is not the only time Jesus uses this method of pointing to *even* someone who is NOT most noble or worthy to illustrate something his disciples can learn from. In Luke 18:1-7 Jesus uses the parable of an UNJUST judge who finally gives in and helps a widow who has been bugging him. Jesus argues from this example --how EVEN an unjust judge will hear and respond if you don't give up asking, how much can you expect God your Father to respond to your cries

Answer 3

Chapter and verse, please?