The Story

The story is about a steward who had charge of a rich man's property, renting his farms and selling his crops. He had many and valuable things to take care of and make use of, but they were his master's, not his own. The steward was to lose his position. The master was going to dismiss him because the steward had wasted his goods. What would the steward do? "I cannot dig," he said, "I am ashamed to beg." It would be very hard for him. What could he do? He thought, and he made a plan. He would do something which would make people feel friendly to him so that they would take him into their homes. His plan was dishonest. There were people owing wheat and oil and other things to his master, and the steward would let them change their accounts, which were perhaps scratched on a wax-covered tablet, and pay only a part of what was owed. This was not right. That is why he is called an unjust steward. But the people would be grateful to him and would be kind to him by and by and would take him into their houses. He did this, and the master learned what he had done. What would the master say? No doubt he condemned the dishonesty, but he praised the steward for his shrewdness in using the chance while he had it to make friends who would be kind to him by and by.

We can think of ourselves as stewards of the Lord's goods. Our homes and money and books and playthings, and knowledge, and all our powers are really the Lord's. He gives them to us to take care of and to use for Him. If we are faithful in using the things that the Lord has given us to use, angels in heaven will be our friends, and when we leave this world they will receive us into their homes. By using faithfully a little that we have, we are prepared to use much. So a boy or girl may rise from running errands for a store to managing and perhaps owning a business, from helping to set the table to taking the whole care of a home. By using faithfully the things of this world we are prepared to use the still better things of heaven.

Read the parable of the unjust steward, verses 1-12. What is a steward? Do you remember the steward of Joseph's house? (Genesis 44) Notice in Genesis 2:15 it is not said that the Lord gave the garden of Eden to the man, but that He put the man into the garden to dress it and to keep it. Read of the faithful and wise steward in Luke 12:42. In what way are we all stewards? In what way is the steward in the parable an example for us to follow? In what way is he not an example? We may think of the wheat and the oil as due in payment of rent. Both are large amounts, one measure of wheat being eleven bushels, and one measure of oil nine gallons. Who is the lord in verse 8, who commended the steward for his shrewdness? Our Lord compared this worldly prudence of the steward and of worldly men with the carelessness of religious people in not using the good things and the opportunities of this world in ways to prepare them for the larger blessings and responsibilities of heaven. If men like the steward in their way are prudent, why are religious people less prudent in using life in this world to prepare for the higher life? Faithfulness in little things prepares us for greater things. Faithfulness in things of this world prepares us for heaven.

"Mammon" means riches, verse 9. Why are riches of this world called "mammon of unrighteousness"? Not because they are necessarily evil. They may be gained honestly and used well. They are called "mammon of unrighteousness" because they may so easily lead astray. What are the true riches?

Why are things of this world called "that which is another man's," verse 12? We have no permanent hold on them. They may be taken from us at any time. We cannot take them with us when we leave this world. But spiritual blessings are "your own." They are a part of yourself. No one can take them from you. They go with you to the heavenly world.

1. The parable is about a steward; what is a steward? How are we stewards?

2. In what way does the Lord wish us to make friends by means of the things of this world?

Spiritual Study

Develop the thought of stewardship in relation to our money, our education, our abilities of body and mind. Read of this in A. 1795.

Do not be troubled because the unjust steward is made our example. He is not our example in his dishonesty, but in using present opportunities so that they will result in future good. He was wise in his way. If we are wise in ours, we shall so use natural good things that we can be trusted with heavenly good things. Verse 9 in the Revised Version reads: "Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when it shall fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations."

How is verse 13 consistent with the Lord's saying, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's"? We may seem to be serving many masters, but if one could look deeply into our minds he would see that we are serving inmostly the Lord or ourselves. All other interests are subordinate to our central love. (N. 54-61; A. 2588; E. 409)

Read what is said in A. 6138 about the need of total surrender to the Lord and the resulting blessing. Living with divided mind, partly for ourselves and partly for the Lord, we destroy our true relation as servants of our Lord and Master (verse 13), and our possible relation with the Lord is so interior that it is called a marriage; this also we destroy by living for ourselves and for worldly gains. (Verse 18)

In a deeper meaning the steward's action in the parable represents exactly what is right for us to do. The debts of oil and wheat represent what we owe the Lord for His goodness and His truth. Writing a smaller number in both places suggests that we cannot fully confess how large the debt is, but we must confess it as fully as we can. Fifty measures of oil means as much gratitude for the Lord's goodness as we can give. Five and fifty are associated with what is complete, but at the same time little or few. (A. 2252) Eighty measures of wheat means such gratitude as we can give for the Lord's truth, with the resolution to be faithful to what we know, through whatever trial or temptation. Eighty, like forty, is associated with temptation. (A. 1963, 4617) The steward said, "I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed." It expresses the impossibility of receiving heavenly life hereafter if we do not prepare for it now. "Cannot dig" expresses the impossibility of thinking truly, and "ashamed to beg" the impossibility of desiring what is good.

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