{"id":11282,"date":"2025-09-18T11:43:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T15:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/?p=11282"},"modified":"2025-09-18T11:43:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T15:43:57","slug":"community-through-redistribution-wealth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/2025\/09\/community-through-redistribution-wealth\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Through Redistribution of Wealth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"redistribution
Image by Canva<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The indebted merchants begin to talk among themselves and realized the advantage they\u2019ve gained, something the steward likely claimed credit for. By agreeing to the reduced contracts, they\u2019ve put themselves in the steward\u2019s debt and will owe him a favor in return. In public, however, they will only express gratitude and admiration to their noble and generous patron. When they do, the patron faces a choice: he can accept their praise and keep the steward in his position with the newly negotiated amounts, or he can reject the revised agreements and turn the steward into a martyr.<\/p>\n

Welcome Readers! <\/i><\/b>Please subscribe to Social Jesus Here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

This is Part 3 of <\/strong>The Parable of the Dishonest Manager<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

(Read this series from its beginning <\/b>here<\/b><\/a>.)<\/b><\/p>\n

With these moves, the steward reminds the master of his skill. He is responsible for the master\u2019s accumulation of wealth. I\u2019m not convinced that giving the steward temporary housing is the real goal here. It would only have been a temporary solution. What the steward is aiming for is to preserve his position. To preserve his social status, the master needs a steward who is willing to engage in these kinds of practices, and the steward has done that. Whatever faults he may have, he\u2019s not lazy about looking after the master\u2019s concerns. By his actions, therefore, the steward reminds the master of his value (see William R. Herzog II, Parables as Subversive Speech<\/i>: Jesus as Pedagogue of the Oppressed, p. 369).<\/p>\n

The author of Luke\u2019s gospel takes this story from Jesus and applies another narrative lesson: \u201cMake friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.\u201d Again, I\u2019m not convinced that housing was the steward\u2019s goal in the story, butI can see how it could have been the point of Luke\u2019s gospel. Using wealth created by taking \u201cnecessities from the masses to give luxury to the classes\u201d and then using that wealth to create relationships for the kingdom would fit the tactics of the early Jesus movement. This is one of the central themes of the book of Luke as well as its companion book of Acts:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sell your possessions, and give them to the poor. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Luke 12:33-34)<\/p>\n

All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. (Acts 2:44-45)<\/p>\n

There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles\u2019 feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. (Acts 4:34-35)<\/p>\n

The early Jesus movement built community through what was called \u2018dishonest wealth.\u2019 It was about forging bonds through shared resources and mutual aid. Even now, this parable whispers through time, urging us to transform the riches of the few into a wealth shared by all, to redistribute wealth not to the few, but for the good of all, and to create a robust common wealth rooted in compassionate, empathetic care for everyone\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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