The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 2 — Section 83

ruinous tlmn the snares into which the runners fall. ·when life's end comes and the accnmulnted hoard has to be left behind, the coodition of the soul is pitiful indeed. II. ON THE OTHER HAND, MONEY MAY BF: MADE A VERY USEFUL BEltVANT. (Vera. 1-9.) For nothing is i:i;ained by denying that money is a great power. How much it can accomplish! Every department of enterprise regards money as the" ono thing needful." Su powerful is it, that people by the use of it may become thoroughly hated, as many selfish speculators and covetous people are every day. On the other hand it may be so wisely laid out as to increase our friends to troops. A judicious us; of money can gather friends around us by the thousand. It may serve us by increasing our list of friends. III. MONEY CAN DE USED BY us TO SERVE Gon. (Vers. 10-12.) This is the aist of Christ's teaching in the parable before us; and we never use money ario-ht until we have got this idea driven home of serving God by it. And to emphasiz: this let us notice: 1. Money is God's, and we are never more than stewards of it. Thi; truth underlies the whole parable. The very rich man who has the steward is God. We are all his stewards, faithful or unfaithful, as the case may be, in our use of his money. It is never ours apart from God; it is ours only as his stewards. Other thin as are held far more surely-for example, education, thoughts, culture. They ente~ our being and become onrs, we have reason to believe, for evermore. But money is only ours for a time-a loan from God to be put out to a proper use. 2. We are faithful in our stewardship when we give ungrudingly to those who are in real need. God gives us " enough and to spare" for the purpose of laying the needy under obligation. In this way we transmute our money into gratitude. The gratitude of the assisted is better than the money, for it abides and can be enjoyed when money cannot, 3. God guarantees the gratitude and the reward. Some of the recipients may turn out to be ungrateful, but " he that giveth unto the poor lendeth unto the Lord," and " Inasmuch a.s ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." We a.re, therefore, sure of the highest recognition when for the Lord's sake we help our fellows. IV. THE TRULY GENEROUS A.ND LIBERAL SOUL H.AB A WELCOME AWAITING HIM IN THE ETERNAL TABEB..."ll'ACLES. (Ver. 9.) The expression, "eternal tabernacles," to adopt the Ikvised Version, seems to indicate everlasting progress to be realized in the next life. We shall be moving onwards even there to higher and higher attainment. Those we have befriended here will receive us into their eternal tents. There will be recog- nition and fellowship and its accompanying progress. What a judicious outlay to have all this awaiting us in the world to come I What a means of grace money may thus become I and what a help to glory! Let the so-called unjust steward, then, admonish us to make the most of our capital on earth, that we may have the best heavenly return from it when we have left the money behind us for ever.-R. M. E. Vers. 14-3L-The misuse of money. The possibility of ma.king" friends of the marnmon of unrighteousness " has been clearly set before us by our Lord in the pre- ceding parable. The "eternal tents" may afford us warmest welcome if we have con- scientiously used our money. But the Pharisees who needed the warning against covetoi,sness only derided him for his pains. It is supposed that it was his poverty which they thought took a.way his right to speak as be did of riches. He is conse- quently compelled to tum upon them a severer rebuke, and he does so in the sentences preceding, as well as in the substance of, the next parable. The intermediate sentences r,eed not long detain us. Christ charges the Pharisees with self-justification. Now, this can only take place "before men." It is an appeal to a mere human tribunal-to those who can only judge by the appearance, but cannot search the heart. God, he tells them plainly, will not endorse this justification. He will reverse the sentence of self-complacency. He follows up this by stating the permanence of the Law. The reputation of the Pharisees may wither and decay, but not one tittle of the Law shall fail. And in present circumstances he declares that the Divine kingdom is being stormed by anxious men who have learned to humble themselves in penitence and pass into exaltation through pardon. They ought to see to it that they are not induced by lust to play fast and loose with the unchanginii; Law, and to imagine that they can divorct their wives on the usual pretexts, and be gqiltless. But now we n1ust prooeed cu. xv1. l-31.) 'l'HE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S'f. LUKK 85