Shrewd for the Lord

            Today's gospel reminds me of a story I read about an enterprising soldier. A young man 

joined the Israeli army and, after his training, etc, he was assigned to a tank division near the Israeli 

Syria border.  He had only been working for one week when he went to his commanding officer and 

asked for a leave.  The commanding officer started laughing and then said to him, "You want a leave?  You just got here.  OK, I'll give you a leave, but on one condition, you have to capture a Syrian tank." 

            "No problem," said the young man. 

            Later on that afternoon, a Syrian tank waiving a white flag pulled into the Israeli camp.  The 

young Israeli soldier got out.  The commanding soldier said, "The leave is yours.  But how did you 

get this tank?"

            "Simple," said the soldier, "I drove to the DMZ in one of our tanks, saw a Syrian soldier on 

one of his tanks.  I asked him if he wanted a weekend pass.  He said, ‘Sure,’ so we switched tanks."

            I heard another story recently about two salesmen, Harry and Al.  Harry saw Al walking down 

the street and said to him, "Al, I have a great deal for you.  A real bargain!  An elephant.  A whole elephant.  Yours for only $500."

            Al said, "Are you crazy? What am I going to do with an elephant?"

            "Al," said Harry, "This is a magnificent beast.  All grey.  Complete with a working trunk." 

            Then Al said, "But I have no place to keep an elephant.  I live in a small three room 

apartment." 

            "Al," said Harry, "Did I tell you about the tusks?  Two three foot long tusks.  This is a 

beautiful animal. They don't make them like this anymore." 

            At this Al went wild and started screaming, "Look I live on the third floor, I couldn't feed 

the elephant.  I don't even want an elephant." 

            "You're a hard man, Al" says Harry, "OK, I'll throw in a second whole elephant for only a 

hundred bucks extra." 

            And then Al said, "Harry, now you're talking." (with thanks to Danny Thomas)

            It is amazing how astute we can be when making business deals.  Whether it's buying a 

used car or selling a house, all of us learn how to get the most for our money.  This is not something new.  It's part of human nature to get the best deal possible.  Jesus was aware of this.  The parable 

he told about the steward who had to think quick to get himself out of a financial jam recognized 

human ingenuity. 

            The Lord's point is that we often demonstrate our intelligence, but we don't apply this 

intelligence to the one thing that really matter: our eternal salvation.  Consider the number of times 

we've sat down and worked out how we can use our talents to be better Christians.  Consider the 

number of times we've thought out how we can put ourselves in situations which would avoid moral problems we've had in the past.  Consider the number of times we've  plotted out how we can 

implant the practice of our faith in our families. If we were to add up the minutes spent a month 

doing this and compare them to the minutes a month spent working out our financial deals, would 

there be any comparison at all? 

            Christ tells us, "You have the intelligence, use it. Use it to fulfill the mission you assumed 

when I called you to be my disciples. We must be as resourceful and dedicated in the ways of God 

as we are in the ways of commerce and politics.  Jesus' parable challenges us to be as eager and ingenious for the sake of God's reign, to be as ready to use our time and money to accomplish great things for the Gospels as we are to secure our own happiness.

            Some people, like those in the first reading from the prophet Amos have perfected how 

they can out smart others.  They cheat with their scales.  They inflate money. That is not why God 

gave us intelligence.  He gave us intelligence to make his presence real in the world.  The cleverness, 

skill and plain nerve that the manager used to save his skin, and that the soldier used to secure a weekend pass, and that Al used to get a good deal from Harry, we must use to make God's ways 

real in our world.  Today we ask the Lord to help us to our ingenuity to promote his kingdom.