The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 2 — Section 61

bis future. The lesson of the Master is the debtors were carried out, &nd tho.t thoy spoken to 11\1; it is a solemn w1trning to were reo.Jly indebted to him for the release eRrh of m to see what we can do by way of a part of their indebtedness, and that the of pronding for the inevitable day when we owner of the property did not dispute the shnll find ourselves alone and naked and arrangement entered into by his steward pnhnps friendless in the greR.t, strange when in office. For the ohildren of this world to come. The hero of the parR.ble world are in their generation wiser than !!€'ems suddenly, R.fter a life of carelessness the ohildren of light. This Wl\s e. melan- and thoughtlessness, to have awakened to a choly and sorrowful re.lleotion. It seems t.o sense of his awful danger. So the voice of say, "I have been painting, indeed, from the real Oumer of the goods, which we have the life. See, the children of this world, men eo long deluded ourselves into thinking were aud women whose ends and aims are our own. comes to us, bidding us mR.ke ready bounded by the horizon of this world, who to give them back agR.in to him, their Owner, only live for this life, how much more and at the SR.me time to render an MOOunt painstaking and skilful a.re they in their of our administration of them. The voice working for the perishable things of this comes to us in the varied forms of conscience, world than are the children of light in their sickness, misfortune, old age, sorrow, and noble toiling after the things of the life to the like; well for us if, when we hear it, we come. The former appear even more in at once determine, as did the steward of the earnest in their search after what they parable, to make a wise use of the goods in desire than do the latter. There is under- our power for the little time they are still lying the Lord's deep and sorrowful reflection left to us to dispose of as we will. here, e. mournful regret over one feature Ver. 4.-I e.m resolved what to do. The that is, alas I charaoteristic of well-nigh all re- first part of the parable teaches, then, this ligious life-the unkindness which religious great and all-important lesson to men-that professors so often show to one another. they will do well to provide against the day One great division of Christianity despises, of dismissal from life. The second part almost hates, the other; sect detests sect; a points out very vividly how kindness, very slight difference in -religious opinion charity, beneficence, towards those poorer, bars the way to all friendship, often to even weaker, more helpless than ourselves is one kindly feeling. With troth Godet remarks way, and that a very sure and direct way, here " that the childrll'f! of this world use of so providing against the inevitable dis- every means for their own interest to miEsion, or death. Vers. 5, 6, and 7 simply strengthen the bonds which unite them to paint in the details of the interesting picture their contemporaries of the same stamp, but, of the parable. This singular plan of pro- on the other hand, the children of ligl,t riding for himself by becoming a benefactor neglect this natural measure of prudence; of the debtor, remarks Professor Broce, was they forget t.o use God's goods to form bonds by no means the only possible one under the of love t.o the contemporaries who might one circumstances; but the Speaker of the pa- day give them a full recompense, when they ?'J.ble made his hero make choice of it as the themselves shall want everything, and these aim of the imaginary narrative wa.s to teach sha.11 have abundance." the value of beneficence as a passport into Ver. 9.-And I say unto you, Make to the eternal habitations. Various explana- yourselves friends of the mammon of un- tions have been suggested to account for righteousness. Then, with his usual solemn the difference in the gifts to the debtors. formula, "I say unto you," the Lord gave It is probable that when our Lord spoke out his moral interpretation of the parable. the parable, reasons for these varied gifts His words were addressed to possessors of were given, such as the circumstances of various degrees of wealth. "You will soon the debtors. It is scarcely now worth while have to give up all your worldly goods; be to frame ingenious guesses re~pecting the prudent in time, make some real friends out details, which apparently do not affect the of the mammon of unrighteousness; by means grand lessons which the story was intended of that money entrusted to your care, do io teach. good to others who are in need." The Ver. 8.-And the lord commended the mammon of tJ111righteOUB11esB, This word unjust steward, because he had done wisely. "mammon" does not denote, as some have This, again, is a detail which has little supposed, the name of a deity, the god of bearing on the ma.in teachiag. It is e. wealth or money, but it signifies "money" graphic and sarcastic eulogy which a good- itself. It is e. Syriac or .Al'amaio term. The humoured man of the world would pro- words, " of unrighteousneBB," e.re added be- nounce upon a brilliant and skilful, although cause in so me.ny cases the getting of money is unprincipled, action, and it completes the tainted with unrighteousness in some form story as a story. It seems evident that or other; e.nd, when possessed, it so often the-'-intentions of the steward ill regard to he.rdens the heart, e.B the Lord himself said OB. xvi. 1-31.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. 63