The parable of the unjust steward always left me scratching my head. But it made sense experiencing the mentality I have when justifying my sins. For the audience is people who loved money, who also justified themselves.
There is a certain mentality when a person justifies themselves, we are unwilling to let go of the wrong things we love, yet we like to pretend we are not wrong. And one way to do this is to go hard against the exact same thing we love so much!
Perhaps this is one reason why Christ told the story the way he did, the protagonist is not a moral man(he cheated his master to prepare for his future in case he got fired, and was called unjust), yet Christ told the story to commend how he used money to make friends(for both him and his master!!! Christ did not commend the unjust aspect though) so that Pharisees learn from him. Perhaps this is also to rattle our self righteous feathers a bit.
He then built up on the theme of money handling and went on to the real issue, the love of money, and he does it graciously and truthfully, pointing to how giving away their idol(money in this case) would benefit them - they would have friends, and also pointing to the fact that they would be able to serve God, no longer being bound to money.
Not surprisingly, the Pharisees justified themselves and rebuked Jesus.
How do we be shrewd? Get to know Christ from the scriptures and imitate him, he is the most shrewd of them all. People were blown away after hearing him speak, or they were convicted because his words pierced their hearts.
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