How could servants in ministry got corrupted?

"I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes..." - The Unjust Steward of Luke 16

Last night my wife and I talked again, after a long board meeting. Eventually the subject turned to our weariness of the corruption from God's servant in regard to church's politics. She raised the question of, "How could people who know God so well, how could they play politics?" My answer at the moment was, "Perhaps because we started concern about the future of the church more than we concern about Christ." Then this morning, as I read the lectionary text (one of the hardest parables of Jesus), I start seeing some interesting implications:

Then Jesus said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.' Then the manager said to himself, 'What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.' So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' He answered, 'A hundred jugs of olive oil.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.' Then he asked another, 'And how much do you owe?' He replied, 'A hundred containers of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill and make it eighty.' And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. - (Luke 16:1-9)

And this is my paraphrase...

I, pastor, was accused by God for not managing His ministry properly (squandering His property = use and abuse it by my own will as it belongs to me). And He demanded a full accounting of my management practice. Worse, He was mentioning that He would no longer employ me as a pastor. That would be a big problem for my pastoral career. I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. It's hard to find another line of work, which would require expertise in Greek, Hebrew, Exegesis, Hermeneutics, etc. With my rhetoric skills, may be I could be a salesperson, but my conscience would hold me back from a successful sales career, I am sure... So, I started worrying. About my family finance, about my kids, about my future. And somehow in that worrying, I forgot the option of throwing myself down at the Master's feet and beg for mercy. May be my long time position of a respectable pastor prevented me from consider such a thing. So, I decided to use whatever time I have left to take care of myself. I need to network more with the parishioners if I want to save my career. As I spent more time with the parishioners (the powerful ones first to be sure), I get to know them more: "So, what were your issues and struggles?" "I am struggled with the sins of ______ and ______". They answered. "Well, don't let it bother you too much; it's not that bad. You see, according to _____, the real issue is _____." And I started to rationalized and helped them feel better, and that of course, made me feel better too. In the final analysis, if I got many parishioners to like me, if I got many to appreciate my helps to them, then I will have a better chance of continue to be their pastors. And at the end, I've succeed in keeping my pastoral job. I pitied many of my friends who called themselves "children of light". They have no skills whatsoever to function tactfully in a congregation. They have no idea what to do to soften a hellfire and brimstone passage in order to survive in a parish. They forgot that you need to survive first, in order to fight another day. Just the other day I received a commendation from God Himself. He liked my pastoral work, the fact that I care and lift up these people. I guess someone will need to lift the burden of sins and guilt for them. And if I can make them feel better about the struggles they have, that's good. God likes that too (at least from His commendation). There's only one thing I am not quite sure about His commendation. God said that my friends will "welcome me into the eternal homes". I thought God Himself would do the welcoming. And I thought there was supposed to be one eternal home for all of us, not "homes".

What's up with that? But well, I need to run to a marital counseling appointment for these guys down the street...

We all could end up like that the servant in the parable, without even knowing it...