The Unrighteous Steward
Luke 16:1-13
There is certain unusualness
about this parable which has oftentimes given pause to interpreters and
expositors. A superficial reading of it might leave the impression on the mind
that our Lord, by using this figure of speech, was condoning a fraudulent
proceeding. That impression is impossible, and incorrect by a careful reading
of the whole account. We note first then, the subject which our Lord was intending
to illustrate; second the figure He employed in the account He told; and from
that twofold consideration we deduce the teaching for all time.
When our Lord used this parable,
what subject was He intending to illustrate? That is an important question, in
view of the possible difficulty created by a superficial reading. To see the
subject He was intending to illustrate, we must once again go back to the
context. We find ourselves still in the last Sabbath afternoon recorded by Luke
14-16:10. Here then first notice that the words of this whole paragraph were
addressed to His disciples, though not to them alone. That is found in the
opening verse of the chapter, "And
He said also unto the disciples." He had spoken the parable of the
lost things especially to the criticizing scribes and Pharisees, but also to
the listening crowd of publicans and sinners. Now continuing, without any
break, "He said also unto the
disciples." That is the first thing to be noticed. That little word "also" is significant,
indicating that He was not leaving out those scribes and Pharisees, and the
listening multitudes; but He was specially addressing Himself to those close to
Him, His own disciples, in the hearing of the rest.
Glance on to Luke 16:14. We read, "And the Pharisees, who were lovers of
money, heard all these things." They were listening, "and they scoffed at Him." He
spoke then to His disciples immediately after He had uttered the threefold
parable, in answer to the criticism of His attitude towards sinners, by the
Pharisees and scribes. Why did they scoff at Him after they heard this parable
of the unjust steward; and His application of it? We are told the reason, "they were lovers of money."
That lay behind all this criticism of Jesus on the part of all these rulers; "lovers of money." Not money,
but the love of it. The Bible never says money is the root of evil, but the
love of it. "The love of money is a
root of all kinds of evil," (1 Tim. 6:10) is a very profound saying.
He was talking in the hearing of these men, to the disciples especially, but to
these men also who were lovers of money. That was the motive behind everything,
the motive of their criticism of Him, and of their aloofness from the unwashed
multitudes and sinning crowd. They were "lovers
of money." He talked about money, and began with an account. (False
religion is coupled with the love of money).
We see therefore that the subject
illustrated was that of motive, the method in the use of mammon, that is, of
material possessions. Our Lord had much in His teaching of the larger life, and
the world, beyond this, and spiritual verities; but here He was dealing
literally with the subject of money; talking to His disciples, but in the
presence of men whose master passion was money, wealth, possessions. That is
why He told them this account, and applied it as He did.
What a strange account it was.
Look at it carefully. It was an account of two rogues. Two? Yes. Who were they?
The steward who defrauded his master, and his master who condoned the sin. There
is always a hierarchy for it takes help. He was as big a rogue as the steward.
If a man condones sin in another he is partner with the rogue, even though the
rogue is his servant, if he commends him for his wrong-doing. We must be careful
in reading the account. Many have become perplexed when they reach the eighth
verse, "His lord commended the
unrighteous steward." But it is "his
lord, not "the Lord." Our Lord did not commend him. He had no commendation
for that action. It is an arresting fact however that his lord commended him.
What do we see? First of all
cleverness practiced. This steward when he discovered that he was found out was
perplexed at first. He said, "What
shall I do?" There is really a note of exclamation here, a sudden
discovery in what he said, "What
shall I do?" "I am resolved what to do." Don’t want to give
up my luxurious home, my fancy cars, and especially my plane. He was in
difficulty. He had been defrauding his master, but when he was found out, he
looked at the situation. He had lost his job. "I have not strength to dig." The lack of strength was
probably disinclination to work. It often is. "To beg I am ashamed." I am definitely not sorry. That
was pure pride. Then suddenly,—I know what I will do. I will defraud him a
little more to my own advantage, in order that the people who will reap the
benefit, will take me in, when the lord, my master, has cast me out. So he
proceeded, "How much owest thou unto
my lord? A hundred measures of oil. Take thy bond . . . and write fifty."
"How much owest thou? A hundred measures of wheat. Take thy bond and write
fourscore." I have often wondered why in one case he suggested a fifty
per cent reduction, and only a twenty per cent in the other. Probably he knew
the situation of those people, that some were better off than others. It was
extremely clever. His lord commended him for his wisdom, rather, for his
prudence, his smartness. Cleverness practiced, and admired! There is no record
that the lord reinstated him. He simply looked at what he had done. He was
clever.
But Jesus told us why he commended
him. Mark the word "for" in
the middle of verse eight. He commended the unrighteous steward because he had
done wisely, smartly. Why did he do it? "For
the sons of this age are for their own generation wiser than the sons of
light." There is no word there of approval for the action of the
steward or his lord, but there is a declaration that on the earth level, for
this age, the sons of this age are wiser than the sons of light. The action of
this steward and that of his lord in admiration were actions influenced by the
fact that their thinking was bounded by the age in which they were living, and
bounded by their own generation. It was purely selfish; a selfish steward and a
selfish lord, both lovers of money, because they were looking at things from
the standpoint of the present age, limited by their own generation. The sons of
light are those who are not limited in their outlook by the present age, and
are not limited in their calculations, by the generations in which they live.
The sons of light are those who see far more than the near.
Yet Jesus said,—and this is the
arresting, the acid thing,—that for their own age and generation, the sons of
the age are wiser than the sons of light. Note that intended contrast of our
Lord. There they are, the sons of the age, of their own generation, with
limited outlook, a certain rich man and his steward. They saw nothing before
their birth, and they did not see that very clearly, but they knew it was a
fact; and they saw nothing beyond the end, and they were not very much
concerned about that. They were living in the age, in their generation. That was
the limitation.
The sons of light are those who see
far more than that. They see far more than the near. Peter when describing
certain people wrote in one of his letters, "seeing
only what is near." (2 Peter 1:9) What a condemnation that is. I
commend to thought the word of the Old Testament, "The eyes of the fool are in the ends of the earth."
People say it means that a fool is a man who, instead of attending to things
near him, is engaged in things in the ends of the earth. That is not what it
means. He is a fool because he sees nothing beyond the ends of the earth. He is
bounded by the material. He is acting as though the earth was all, and the
generation everything, and the age in which he is living is the only thing that
matters. The sons of light see beyond. They see the earth, they see the near;
but they walk in the light. The Light is now shining upon men, the One Who
said, "I am the light of the world;
he that followeth Me shall not walk in the darkness." (John 8:12)
They see the near, but they always
see more. They put upon today the measurements of eternity, upon the dust the
values of Deity, upon the age the measurement of undying ages, upon the
generation, "the generation of the
age of the ages." Sons of light! It is a descriptive phrase.
If that contrast is seen, what was
our Lord doing? While He had in mind those critical Pharisees who were lovers
of money, He also saw the group of disciples round about Him, and His words
constituted a rebuke. He was rebuking them because of their absence of acumen
in the highest things. Look at this rogue. See the cleverness with which he
manipulated things. But said Jesus—and He spoke with infinite knowledge and
understanding,—on the earth level, within the boundaries of the age and the
generation, they are so bounded; but they are more astute, more filled with
acumen than the sons of light, who are supposed to be living with the
measurements of eternity placed upon all the things of time.
We cannot finish there, because all
He said in immediate connection has its bearing. He then gave them instruction
on the right use of money, of mammon. Notice first with great care the nature
of mammon. The word mammon here signifies material wealth. We are justified in
saying money, because that is the symbol of wealth. He said to those listening
to Him, Make friends by means of the mammon, or money of unrighteousness, a
phrase that needs careful understanding. Mammon He called the wealth that was
possessed by that rich man, the thing that the rogue had been trafficking with
to his own advantage, "the mammon of
unrighteousness."
What is "the mammon of unrighteousness"? What is the meaning of
unrighteousness there? Not wickedness, but the absence of wickedness; not
goodness, but the absence of goodness. In other words, the mammon of
unrighteousness is neither moral nor immoral; it is non-moral. Mammon or money
is an instrument, an agent for good or for evil. Everything depends on how it is used, and how we use it depends upon
how we think in our deepest life. Nothing reveals the thinking of a man
more clearly than the use he makes of
money. Our Lord had one thing to say. Make friends to yourself by means
of it. That is an alteration from the Authorized rendering. He never told men
to make friends of mammon, but to make friends by means of it. So use money as
to make friends. Friends? Yes. A man may say, I have got some money, but I want
it for myself. Is he using it for himself alone? Christ said; Do not use it
that way. Make friends by means of it. So use wealth as to gather friends.
Then mark how He swept out beyond
the age and the generation. "That
when it"—the mammon a man has made use of—"shall fail, they," the friends made by the use of it,—"shall receive you into the eternal
tabernacles." He is beyond the age and the generation. He is looking
at the vastness of the life that lies beyond, and He is saying plainly, so make
use of money as to make friends who will greet us on the other side of the line
that divides between this life and the eternal ages. Make friends by means of
the mammon of unrighteousness, for it shall fail. It always does. We can use
it, and it is still there, but we have used it, whether we have got it, or some
one else. We that use it, and the others that get it, will die on the earth
level; and then, as Jesus in another parable said of the rich fool, "Then whose shall these things
be?" Oh that wonderful list of wills and bequests in our papers. I
would eagerly write that word of Jesus over every such list. Men die, and leave
a hundred thousand, twenty thousand, five thousand, and millions sometimes! "Leave!" What had they done
with it when they were here? Were they so making friends that they were met by
them on the other side? Many call the hymn doggerel, but there is a truth in
it.
"Will anyone there at the Beautiful
Gate, Be watching and waiting for me?"
Have we done anything with the wealth, the means we have, to
get ready for that day that lies beyond?
See how He linked the now with the
forever, the present with the eternal. When He had made that direct application
to the use of money, and had shown the true use of it, He gave the principle of
fidelity; faithful to the much, in order to be faithful in the little. If we
want to be faithful in the little things, the mammon, we must be faithful in the
big things, the much of eternity and God, and relationship thereto.
Then He gathered everything up in
that sentence that stands for ever blazing in light. "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." How this comparison of
Jesus remains true. How much there is in the world to prove its truth today,
that the sons of the age are more acute, are more business-like, have more
acumen than the sons of light. Many a fine business man on the earth level, honorable
and capable, becomes a fool when he enters into the business of the Christian
Church. If all the acumen and business ability of the members of the Christian
Church were consecrated in the light as they are dedicated to the earth level,
there would be no Missionary Society problems, and no other missionary problems.
It remains true, sons of light are failing to walk according to the light,
lacking wisdom, and there is no more revealing symbol than money, and the use
men make of it.
Many years ago in the home of a
very wealthy man, who was a Church member and a Christian, one morning at
Family Prayers he was eloquent and tender as he prayed for the salvation of the
heathen, and for the missionaries. He was startled beyond measure when the
prayer was over, one of his boys, a young man of ten, said to him, "Dad, I like to hear you pray for the
missionaries." He answered, "I
am glad you do, my boy." And the boy replied. "But do you know what I was thinking when you were praying, if I
had your bank hook, I would answer half your prayers!"
Two motives. The one, love of
money, which is love of self, and forgetfulness of the needs of others. The
other, love of man, which is always the outcome of the love of God. How are we
using anything God has committed to us? Is the true passion of life, love of
self, or love of man, because we love God?
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