Message of Abbot Paul - Friday 10th November 2023

Pope St Leo the Great died on this day in the year 461. He had been Bishop of Rome for eleven years and was aged just over sixty. He is undoubtedly one of the most important popes in the history of the Church. He lived in turbulent times and did much to unite the whole Church, East and West, to clarify and support the decisions of the great Councils of the Church, especially that of Chalcedon, and to turn the heart of Attila the Hun from invading the Italian peninsula. Today we celebrate his feast day and ask his intercession for the world and the Church today.

 

It’s a pity that the liturgists who produced the Mass lectionary decided to omit the Parable of the Prodigal Son, as it’s known, the third parable following on from yesterday’s two on the theme of Jesus reaching out to sinners and offering his life for them. Today’s passage is yet another parable (Lk 16: 1-8), which Jesus addresses to his disciples and possibly to a group of Pharisees as well. It’s about a steward, dismissed by his employer for being wasteful with his master’s property. Not knowing what to do to earn his living after he leaves his employment, he hits upon the idea of settling up in an astute if dishonest way with some of his master’s debtors. “He called his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ‘One hundred measures of oil’ was the reply. The steward said, ‘Here, take your bond; sit down straight away and write fifty.’ To another he said, ‘And you, sir, how much do you owe?’ ‘One hundred measures of wheat’ was the reply. The steward said, ‘Here, take your bond and write eighty.’” He thinks that by acting in this way, those debtors will welcome him into their homes when he begins to feel the pinch. The result of this behaviour is that his master praises his astuteness. Jesus sums up the parable by saying, “For the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light.” This is a somewhat unconventional parable for Jesus, as both the main characters are dishonest, unworthy types. He’s not suggesting that his disciples should behave in the same way, but is aware that some of the Pharisees might well do so.

 

​One way of interpreting this parable is to see Jesus as the dishonest steward and the Father as his rich employer. We, his disciples, could be the debtors. Why do I say this? Well, the preceding parables were about God’s mercy and forgiveness and there are other parables where Jesus casts himself as an outcast, the Good Samaritan, for example. Jesus has come to forgive sinners and lead them to conversion and new life. Therein lies the astuteness of God. This might not sound like an orthodox interpretation, but it’s one that’s often come to me in Lectio and makes a good deal of sense to me. God will go to any length in order to save me, and the cross of Jesus is proof of that. Jesus died like a criminal: there’s a parable here too.