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Every year especially on the day of Yom Kippur, Jews across the world recite the Book of Jonah, the only Israelite prophet to preach to Gentiles, and the only prophet who clearly hates his job. And yet Jews read the text on the holiest day of the year because of its message of atonement and forgiveness.

The history of the Jews is a story of connection. Eastern European Jewish immigrants who arrived in this country at the end of 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries have remarkably altered the position of U.S. Jewry. Like in Europe their history is one centered around money. Many of them have their names all over the banking system like in Britain and they are prominent in business and finance, science and education, media and politics and their sense of being Jews, their identity: their attachment and commitment to their religion are still pretty strong. In Germany, for instance, they are seen as the richest and most exclusive community and that perception whether correct or not caused the Holocaust.

I remember one of Shakespeare's plays, "The Merchant of Venice," which is all about the worst stereotype of the Jew as portrayed by Shylock, a Jewish usurer who demands a pound of flesh from the debtor Antonio, who, due to ill fortune at sea, he cannot pay the money back. Though Shakespeare may not have intended Shylock, the Jew, to be the central character of the play, but there's truth in it. Jews, for instance, were the only people who could employ usury in the Middle Ages. They were hated for being rich and this led them to control big chunks of the World Economy.

Today's gospel The Parable of the Unjust Steward' also deals with the issue of wealth, money. It has many subtle currents in the story that it is hard to take them all in details. It is a story that is difficult to understand or for some to interpret the conflicting morality in it since on the face of it, Jesus appears to be commending dishonest behavior of the steward. Countless NT scholars have struggled to understand its meaning, its allegorical interpretation for centuries. Jesus, being a member of the lowly peasant class, is simply continuing his kingdom agenda which is rooted in the peaceful, non-violent resistance through the subversive guise of parable.

The story itself begins with two main characters the master of the household (vv 3, 5, 8: kyrios, or oikodespotes) and steward (oikonomos which refers to the manager of the estate). We see here that the steward betrayed the trust he

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