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Be shrewd
One of Jesus’ most perplexing comments was “…make friends for yourselves by means of worldly wealth…” We need to take to heart his warning of being naive and avoid idolizing “nice" even as we embrace biblical shrewdness.
One of Jesus’ most perplexing comments was “…make friends for yourselves by means of worldly wealth…”1
It sounds… off, doesn’t it? Christians are ambivalent about wealth. There are so many places in the New Testament where we’re warned about its siren call and temptations that this instruction seems to advocate the pursuit of wealth in order to influence others.
It doesn’t sound ethical.
However, we know that Jesus was totally righteous, sinless, perfect, and always revealed His Father clearly to us. So what did He mean? When you approach a passage with convictions and truth, you are able to understand what Jesus didn’t mean as well as what He did.
In another conversation with His disciples, Jesus warned and prepared them that the world wouldn’t be excited to receive His message.
“Look, I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves.”2
Be shrewd not shrill.
These days, everyone seems to be “shrill.” The word means “high-pitched or piercing,” but I mean it in the sense that from social media to academia, from bombastic sound bites to complaining first-world privelegers, there’s a lot of irritating yipping going on. We have owned two chihuahuas (you’d think we would have learned after the first one). Both were incessant yippers when someone knocked on our door. That’s like our culture these days. So much yipping… shrillness.
When you go back and read Jesus’ words about using money to influence others from Luke 16 in context, you see that Jesus’ instruction is from the “Parable of the Dishonest Manager.” It’s a moral lesson. Jesus is telling his disciples to not be naive. Being naive will get you eaten by the world.
It’s why Jesus also tells the disciples to be wary of their motives and be pure (“be innocent as doves”) but to also “be shrewd.”
Today’s churchianity advocates a false theology of “nice.”
Nice is not the goal. Nice presumes not “hurting someone’s feelings.” In these days where we have enshinred feelings as gods, we need to focus on being lovingly truthful instead of being nice.
In the parable, Jesus commends the manager for his shrewdness in handling financial affairs. In doing so, Jesus ends this parable with a teaching about money that is more familiar to us:
“No servant can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”3
Jesus could have simply said, “Some of you are worshipping money. That needs to stop. You’re addicted to wealth and as a result, you turn your back on God.”
However, Jesus was shrewd even in the telling of the parable. He wasn’t shrill. He wasn’t mean spirited. He was profoundly clever. As a result, followers of Jesus today can understand the value of thinking critically and communicating with wisdom. We need to take to heart his warning of being naive and avoid idolizing “nice.”
Some things need to be said. Don’t be shrill. Be shrewd. With a smile.
[…] on our door. That’s like our culture these days. So much yipping… shrillness.[1]From my entry Be Shrewd, August 30, […]
[…] enshinred feelings as gods, we need to focus on being lovingly truthful instead of being nice. [7]Be shrewd. August 30, […]