It seems very odd that a devious steward would be commended by his employer for altering what was owed to his master (vv. 8, 9). Some see this parable simply as the crooked steward continuing to swindle his master for his own benefit. Yet it seems to me, considering not only the parable, but the words of our Lord directly afterwards, that the steward ‘made friends’ with money (see vv. 9–12) by paying the difference himself. It seems that by implication the steward invested