The Story of the Clever Manager
1 Jesus told his disciples another story. He said, "There was a rich man who had a manager. Some said that the manager was wasting what the rich man owned.
2
So the rich man told him to come in. He asked him, 'What is this I hear about you? Tell me exactly how you have handled what I own. You can't be my manager any longer.'
3
"The manager said to himself, 'What will I do now? My master is taking away my job. I'm not strong enough to dig. And I'm too ashamed to beg.
4
I know what I'm going to do. I'll do something so that when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.'
5
"So he called in each person who owed his master something. He asked the first one, 'How much do you owe my master?'
6
" 'I owe 800 gallons of olive oil,' he replied. "The manager told him, 'Take your bill. Sit down quickly and change it to 400 gallons.'
7
"Then he asked the second one, 'And how much do you owe?' " 'I owe 1,000 bushels of wheat,' he replied. "The manager told him, 'Take your bill and change it to 800 bushels.'