1 Jesus said to his disciples, “There was a certain rich man who had a manager. An accusation was made to him that this man was wasting his possessions. 2 He called him, and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’

3 “The manager said within himself, ‘What will I do, seeing that my lord is taking away the management position from me? I don’t have strength to dig. I am ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from management, they may receive me into their houses.’ 5 Calling each one of his lord’s debtors to him, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe to my lord?’ 6 He said, ‘A hundred batos of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘How much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred cors of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

8 “His lord commended the dishonest manager because he had done wisely, for the children of this world are, in their own generation, wiser than the children of the light”

Luke 16:1-8 - World English Bible

In Luke 16, Jesus made an astute judgment on those who sought riches; they were shrewd negotiators. To make his point, he told a parable about a money manager who got fired by his rich boss. In reality, the man acted as a loan negotiator between his employer and his clients; the man made his money based upon commissions he charged against interest from the loans. After the man got fired, he went to the clients and renegotiated the loans on more favorite terms. Did he give up his commission or did he cheat his boss? We don't know the answer, but he did place himself in a position to return to his boss and argue for his employment. After all, who else did the clients want to represent them? At the end of the story, Jesus compared the “children of this world” with the “children of light,” a favorite phrase for the faithful in the Dead Sea Scrolls. He actually compared priorities. The “children of this world” knew money matters simply because they placed those concerns at the top of their agenda. The “children of light” had different concerns: love of God and outreach to neighbor.

How are you a “child of the light” today?