Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The first rule: prayer for the world
2 So, then, this is my very first command: God’s people should make petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings on behalf of all people— 2 on behalf of kings, and all who hold high office, so that we may lead a tranquil and peaceful life, in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good; it is acceptable with God our savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to know the truth. 5 For, you see,
There is one God,
and also one mediator between God and humans,
Messiah Jesus, himself a human being.
6 He gave himself as a ransom for all,
and this was testified when the time was right.
7 This is why I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I’m speaking the truth, I’m not lying!), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
The parable of the shrewd manager
16 Jesus said to his disciples, “Once there was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were laid against him that he was squandering his property. 2 So he called him and said to him, ‘What’s all this I hear about you? Present an account of your stewardship; I’m not going to have you as my steward anymore!’
3 “At this, the steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do? My master is taking away my stewardship from me! I can’t do manual work, and I’d be ashamed to beg . . .
4 “ ‘I have an idea what to do!—so that people will welcome me into their households when I am fired from being steward.’
5 “So he called his master’s debtors to him, one by one. ‘How much,’ he asked the first, ‘do you owe my master?’
6 “ ‘A hundred measures of olive oil,’ he replied.
“ ‘Take your bill,’ he said to him, ‘sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’
7 “To another he said, ‘And how much do you owe?’
“ ‘A hundred measures of wheat,’ he replied.
“ ‘Take your bill,’ he said, ‘and make it eighty.’
8 “And the master praised the dishonest steward because he had acted wisely. The children of this world, you see, are wiser than the children of light when it comes to dealing with their own generation.
9 “So let me tell you this: use that dishonest stuff called money to make yourselves friends! Then, when it gives out, they will welcome you into homes that will last.”
Teachings on stewardship
10 “Someone who is faithful in a small matter,” Jesus continued, “will also be faithful in a large one. Someone who is dishonest in a small matter will also be dishonest in a large one. 11 If you haven’t been faithful with that wicked thing called money, who is going to entrust you with true wealth? 12 And if you haven’t been faithful in looking after what belongs to someone else, who is going to give you what is your own?
13 “Nobody can serve two masters. You will end up hating one and loving the other, or going along with the first and despising the other. You can’t serve God and money.”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.