Stewards in the time of Jesus

Stewards were present in the time of Jesus. He uses the stewardship relationship as the context for two parables in Luke 19:11-27, and Matthew 25:14-30. Take some time to read these two parables, and as you do, see if you can observe something that is absent that you may expect to be included.

Something was missing in Jesus’ parables

Did you notice what is missing in Jesus’ narratives? (Perhaps it is a little unfair to ask you to identify something that is absent.) Notice how he spends no time explaining to his audience the background to the scene that he frames his parable within. I often find myself doing a lot of this as I teach on this topic  because the concept and titles of steward and stewardship are not overly familiar to us today. Jesus didn’t have to do this because these were circumstances that were a common part of their culture and community.

Another example of this is in Luke 16:1-13. He begins his parable “There was a rich man who had a [steward], and this [steward] was reported to him as squandering his possessions.” Jesus does not explain what a steward was, what the title conferred, or how serious an offence it was for the steward to be accused of wasting what had been entrusted to him. The audience knew this. It was a familiar part of their culture.

Stewards were a familiar part of Jesus’ culture

Stewardship was a common relationship in Jesus’ day. While the parables in Luke and Matthew present a property owner’s use of a steward in the event of his absence, it was just as common for a property owner to have a steward while they were still locally present. Landowners, business owners, merchants, and the like, would routinely employ a steward, sometimes referred to as a manager, to oversee the affairs of their land, farm, holdings, or business so that they might focus on other tasks or activities.

The role of a steward was a significant position in society and came with a certain level of prestige and benefit to the individual who occupied that position. The steward would frequently have all the rights and power of his master to make decisions with the property under his care. The line of demarcation was drawn though in that he was not the owner of that property.

Stewards existed before Jesus taught his parables

As we read narratives throughout scripture we find this was a common practice in the centuries before Jesus was alive. As far back as Abraham we see that he employed a steward, a man called Eliezer who came from Damascus. (It is often believed that it was Eliezer who Abraham commissioned to find a bride for his son Isaac.) So significant was the position that Eliezer held as steward that if Abraham died without an heir, he would have inherited Abraham’s fortune. (Genesis 15:2)

Perhaps a better known example is Joseph. After being sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers, Joseph rises to significance in his master Potiphar’s house to the point where Potiphar “made him overseer over his house, and all that he owned he put in his charge.” (Genesis 39:4) While Joseph would eventually be forced from this position he would later rise to an even greater position of stewardship when he became the second most important ruler in the entire country to Pharoah and oversaw the affairs of that nation.

Stewards still exist today

When we consider stewardship in its simplest form being the activity of caring or managing something that belongs to another, there are a lot of other examples that spring out to us even if the label of ‘stewardship’ is not applied to it. The person who cares for your family’s pets while you are on vacation. The GM of a sports team managing that team on behalf of the owners. The manager of a fast food location running that restaurant for the franchise owner. While we often do not use stewardship as a label today, the activity still occurs frequently.

And if the activity is undertaken, the primary association that a steward has is vocational. The actual job title of steward is rare and often only associated with two roles. First, an individual who is responsible for looking after passengers on a ship, a plane, or a train. This usually includes activities like serving meals and taking care of personal needs. Second, they are workers at large sporting events and entertainment venues. They are responsible for supervising and keeping order among attendees. Others who may not have the word ‘steward’ in a job title, but perform the role are the pet-sitter, the plant-waterer, the hockey GM, and the investment manager. Many people are stewards vocationally.

Next time we will answer the question, ‘So what is Biblical stewardship?’ We will also investigate in more detail on just what this means for you and me as we embrace our role as stewards.