The story we are looking at today is one of the more difficult passages in the gospels. It highlights a facet or aspect of discipleship; we are told at the beginning that Jesus is telling this story to the disciples — that is to say, he is speaking, not to the crowds who happened to show up to check him out for whatever reason. No, he is speaking to people who have not only chosen to follow him, but to people who have chosen to put themselves under his discipline and take on the way of life to which he calls and about which he preaches.

            Jesus turns to his disciples — his disciplined and committed followers — and tells them this difficult and challenging tale. What is going on here? Who are the players in this drama, and what insights about discipleship — what “word from the Lord” — is there in this for us, today?

The parable

            Let’s look at the characters, both animate and inanimate, at work here. There is a manager or steward; we could call him the main character. And then there is his boss, obviously a rich man, the master. We have property — the master’s property, which is being squandered by the manager charged with managing it. The manager has been grievously mismanaging the master’s property, so he is going to be fired. And then there are debtors, people indebted in various capacities to the master. And finally, we have players more mysterious, in some cases otherworldly: the children of this age and the children of the

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