Luke 16:1-131And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. 2And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. 3Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. 4I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. 5So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? 6And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. 7Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. 8And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. 9And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. 10He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. 11If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? 13No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (Luke 16:1‑13).
“There was a certain rich man. which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his-goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord’s debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat, And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when.ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
Of all the parables, this has generally been looked upon as the most difficult of interpretation, because of the apparent praise of that which is dishonest; but we hope a careful consideration of its detail will tend in a great measure to remove the difficulty, and help us to arrive at what is intended to be taught by the same.
It should first be noticed that it is not our Lord, who commended the unjust steward (the very reverse is pressed in the application of the parable), but it is ‘the lord’ of the parable—the “certain rich man.” He thought the steward had acted wisely ‘or’ ‘prudently’ seeking to make friends of others when being turned out of his lord’s service: indeed, it was, what appears to be the teaching of the parable—sacrificing present for future advantage. In this sense “the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.”
Our Lord adds His own interpretation, or perhaps we should say ‘application.’ “Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.” Here another difficulty presents itself, as to who are the ‘they’ here spoken of. But it is judged to be customary for the evangelist Luke to word sentences in this way, when the sense is made passive or impersonal; thus here it would read that ‘ye may be received,’ and the sense would be, ‘Make to yourselves friends by the mammon of unrighteousness [worldly possessions], that ye may be received hereafter into everlasting habitations;’ similar to the words, “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven”, “He that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord,” &c.
Then follows the assertion that the faithful and the unjust in little things will be so also in greater things. And then, “If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?” That is, who would trust a professed Christian with any spiritual mission that had not been faithful and just in worldly matters? Thus a bishop “must have a good report of them which are without.” (1 Tim. 3:77Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. (1 Timothy 3:7).)
Again, “And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own.” As Christians we are supposed not to have earthly possessions (still keeping up the character of “stewards”), so the goods are here called ‘another man’s’; and if we are not faithful in these temporal things, how can we expect the blessings of heavenly things which really belong to us?
The parable is summed up by showing the impossibility of serving God and mammon. We are to serve God, and in serving Him we are to be strictly faithful in dealing with that which belongs to others; and also to use what we have, not to seek present ease or advantage in this world, but to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt.
It will be seen then that this parable has not a gospel character, but it was addressed to the disciples, and is rather a call to faithfulness and devotedness in the Christian—in imitation indeed of that One who ‘emptied himself’ and who became poor that we might through His poverty become rich. As we sow so shall we reap (see 2 Cor. 9:66But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. (2 Corinthians 9:6)), and it may be that some of us have not that measure of heavenly blessing that we should have were we better stewards in earthly matters: we have not that which is ‘our own’ because we have not been using the things entrusted to our charge as stewards, as God would have us. May the Lord make us more faithful, spending and being spent for Him.