The first one I thought of myself. It takes an historical angle on the parable. What if Jesus were saying that the scribes and the Pharisees are the dishonest managers? After all, the story begins like so many of Jesus’ stories, with a king or a master, who has a servant that fails to do what the master wants. In this parable, it is a rich man, and who is the richest person of all -- it is God, who created the world in all its diversity and abundance. And it can be argued, that God has given the care of his people to managers: last week we called them shepherds, who are responsible for making best use of the resources for the well-being of the people. Now the rich man has heard that the manager has squandered those resources. Perhaps this means that the scribes and Pharisees have not taught or guided the people in God’s ways, and have chosen to emphasize the small point of the law: you should bring a tithe of the mint you grow, rather than the larger principles of justice and mercy.

Is it possible that Jesus was saying to the scribes and Pharisees, that even though you are about to be dismissed, you still have time to teach some of God’s truth; you still can bring some justice to those who have suffered, and some mercy to those who are poor, or crippled, or excluded? In that way, they would be “making friends for themselves by means of dishonest wealth”.

Now let me offer you another interpretation, provided by one of the clergy deputies to General Convention, Tobias Haller of New York. He points out that we are familiar with stories about dishonest managers, both in the corporate world, and in government. The twist in the story Jesus told, arises from the manager’s strategy of offering a discount on the debts owed, AND the rich man’s approval of that strategy. Now, think for a moment of your own experience as a consumer. You and I know that at certain times of year there will be significant sales in certain stores: white sales in department stores in August, auto sales in the fall after next year’s models have reached the dealers, and excess Christmas merchandise on December 26th. Retail businesses often take a loss on their inventory by offering it for sale at a substantial discount. They take the loss, because the unsold goods are not money in the bank. Likewise, uncollected debts aren’t money in the bank either. The merchant needs to keep the cash flowing in order to buy new goods that can be sold at a profit. So the dishonest manager has made friends among the debtors, who now owe less, AND he has gained the approval of the rich man, who is better able to continue his business.

This interpretation presumes some knowledge on Jesus’ part, of the business practices of his day. It also leads us to the concept of debt and obligation. Since all the parables are intended to tell us something about God and God’s reign, we must ask, what does debt have to do with it? The answer is in the Lord’s Prayer: forgive us our trespasses, or forgive us our sins, or forgive us our debts! The Greek word used in this parable for debt is the same word used in both versions of the Lord’s Prayer, in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. Jesus told us to ask God to forgive us our debts, by which he meant any obligation we are unable to fulfill, any dishonesty we have committed, any injury we have caused. This prayer, that we say so often, asks God to forgive our own debts, in the same degree to which we have forgiven the debts of others.

I can imagine an objection to this interpretation: namely that the manager was fired because he had squandered the property of the rich man, and then he went on to cancel a portion of the debts owed, so that he was creating a double financial loss to the rich man. How could that be commendable? The answer is given in three places: first, in the parable of the prodigal son, which is in the immediately preceding chapter of Luke. Remember how the younger son’s squandering of the inheritance he received, is forgiven by the father who gave it to him. Second, in the story of the woman taken in adultery, the wife’s breaking of her marriage vow was forgiven by Jesus and all the witnesses who wanted to stone her. Third, when Peter asked how many times he had to forgive, Jesus told him seventy times seven. At the heart of the kingdom of God, is the great practice of forgiveness, in which we give up control of what was owed to us -- whether that be an apology, or money, or restitution of property. In the place of loss and hurt, by forgiveness we create the wealth of gratitude and healing.

Our Gospel reading includes several sayings of Jesus about wealth, which St Luke may have placed right after the parable, as a kind of interpretation of its meaning. The one I’d like you to reflect on is verse 11: “If you have not been faithful with dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?” We don’t know what Jesus meant, exactly, by dishonest wealth. My guess is, that it was a double meaning, somewhat like our use of the word security. When we ask about what securities a person holds, we are asking about stocks and bonds and any legal instrument, which records a debt. Then sometimes we talk about security issues, which means the defenses we have against harm: are the doors locked, is the alarm on, has anyone stolen my identity in order to use my credit cards? I suspect Jesus was calling into question all our securities, all the means by which we try to keep ourselves safe, and to hold tight to what we own. It is all dishonest security, because ownership cannot save us, and in any case, all that we have belongs to God. The important thing is to learn what the true riches are, and to seek our security in that relationship with God. Then we will truly be able to forgive the debts of others, because our wealth, is in heaven, where rising mortgages rates, falling stock markets, earthquake, fire and flood cannot touch us. Where our security is, there will our hearts be also.