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Luke 16:1-9
And he said also
to his disciples: There was a certain rich man who had a steward: and
the same was accused unto him, that he had wasted his goods. And he
called him, and said to him: How is it that I hear this of thee? give
an account of thy stewardship: for now thou canst be steward no longer.
And the steward said within himself: What shall I do, because my lord
taketh away from me the stewardship? To dig I am not able; to beg I am
ashamed. I know what I will do, that when I shall be removed from the
stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.
Therefore calling together every one of his lord's debtors, he said to
the first: How much dost thou owe my lord?
But he said: An hundred barrels of oil.
And he said to him: Take thy bill and sit down quickly, and write
fifty.
Then he said to another: And how much dost thou owe?
Who said: An hundred quarters of wheat.
He said to him: Take thy bill, and write eighty.
And the lord commended the unjust steward, forasmuch as he had done
wisely: for the children of this world are wiser in their generation
than the children of light.
And I say to you: Make unto you friends of the mammon of iniquity; that
when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings.
He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that
which is greater: and he that is unjust in that which is little, is
unjust also in that which is greater.
Commentary
from the Catholic Encyclopedia
The unjust
steward is, beyond question, the hardest of all our Lord's parables, if
we may argue from the number and variety of meanings set upon it.
Verses 10-13 are no part of the narration but a discourse to which it
gives rise. The connecting link between them is the difficult
expression "mammon [more correctly 'Mamon'] of iniquity "and we may
suppose with Bengel that Christ was speaking to those of His followers,
like Levi, who had been farmers of the taxes, i.e., "publicans". In the
contrast between the "children of this world" and the "children of
light" we find a clue to the general lesson. Mark the resemblance to
St. John's Gospel in the opposition thus brought out. There are two
generations or kinds of men-the worldling and the Christian; but of
these one behaves with a perfect understanding of the order to which he
belongs; the other often acts foolishly, does not put his talent to
interest. How shall he proceed in the least Christian of all
occupations, which is the handling of money? He must get good out of
its evil, turn it to account for everlasting life, and this by
almsgiving, "yet that which remaineth, give alms; and behold, all
things are clean unto you" (Luke 11:41). The strong conclusion follows,
which lies implicit in all this, "You cannot serve God and mammon"
(Luke 16:13).
A lack of wisdom has been shown by commentators who were perplexed that
our Lord should derive a moral from conduct, evidently supposed unjust,
on the steward's part; we answer, a just man's dealings would not have
afforded the contrast which points the lesson--that Christians should
make use of opportunities, but innocently, as well as the man of
business who lets slip no chance. Some critics have gone farther and
connect the hidden meaning with Shakespeare's "soul of good in things
evil", but we may leave that aside. Catholic preachers dwell on the
special duty of helping the poor, considered as in some sense keepers
of the gates of Heaven, "everlasting tents". St. Paul's "faithful
dispenser" (I Corinthians 4:2) may be quoted here. The "measures"
written down are enormous, beyond a private estate, which favours the
notion of "publicani". The Revised Version transforms "bill" happily
into "bond". It may be doubted which is "the lord" that commended the
unjust steward. Whether we apply it to Christ or the rich man we shall
obtain a satisfactory sense. "In their generation" should be "for their
generation", as the Greek text proves. St. Ambrose, with an eye to the
dreadful scandals of history, sees in the steward a wicked ruler in the
Church. Tertullian (De Fuga) and, long afterwards, Salmeron apply all
to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles, who were indeed debtors to
the law, but who should have been treated indulgently and not repelled.
Commentary
By St. Augustine
1. Our duty is
to give to others the admonitions we have received ourselves. The
recent lesson of the Gospel has admonished us to make friends of the
mammon of iniquity, that they too may “receive” those who do so “into
everlasting habitations.” But who are they that shall have everlasting
habitations, but the Saints of God? And who are they who are to be
received by them into everlasting habitations, but they who serve their
need, and minister cheerfully to their necessities? Accordingly let us
remember, that in the last judgment the Lord will say to those who
shall stand on His right hand, “I was an hungred, and ye gave Me meat;”
and the rest which ye know. And upon their enquiring when they had
afforded these good offices to Him, He answered, “When ye did it to one
of the least of Mine, ye did it unto Me.” These least are they who
receive into everlasting habitations. This He said to them on the right
hand, because they did so: and the contrary He said to them on the
left, because they would not. But what have they on the right hand who
did so, received, or rather, what are they to receive? “Come,” says He,
“ye blessed of My Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world. For I was an hungred, and ye gave Me meat.
When ye did it to one of the least of Mine, ye did it unto Me.” Who
then are these least ones of Christ? They are those who have left all
they had, and followed Him, and have distributed whatever they had to
the poor; that unencumbered and without any worldly fetter they might
serve God, and might lift their shoulders free from the burdens of the
world, and winged as it were aloft. These are the least. And why the
least? Because lowly, because not puffed up, not proud. Yet weigh them
in the scales, these least ones, and thou wilt find them a heavy
weight.
2. But what means it, that He says they are “friends of the mammon of
iniquity”? What is “the mammon of iniquity”? First, what is “mammon”?
For it is not a Latin word. It is a Hebrew word, and cognate to the
Punic language. For these languages are allied to one another by a kind
of nearness of signification. What the Punics call mammon, is called in
Latin, “lucre.” What the Hebrews call mammon, is called in Latin,
“riches.” That we may express the whole then in Latin, our Lord Jesus
Christ says this, “Make to yourselves friends of the riches of
iniquity.” Some, by a bad understanding of this, plunder the goods of
others, and bestow some of that upon the poor, and so think that they
do what is enjoined them. For they say, “To plunder the goods of
others, is the mammon of iniquity; to spend some of it, especially on
the poor saints, this is to make friends with the mammon of iniquity.
This understanding of it must be corrected, yea, must be utterly
effaced from the tablets of your heart. I would not that ye should so
understand it. Give alms of your righteous labours: give out of that
which ye possess rightfully. For ye cannot corrupt Christ your Judge,
that He should not hear you together with the poor, from whom ye take
away. For if thou wert to despoil any one who was weak, thyself being
stronger and of greater power, and he were to come with thee to the
judge, any man you please on this earth, who had any power of judging,
and he were to wish to plead his cause with thee; if thou wert to give
anything of the spoil and plunder of that poor man to the judge, that
he might pronounce judgment in thy favour; would that judge please even
thee? True, he has pronounced judgment in thy favour, and yet so great
is the force of justice, that he would displease even thee. Do not then
represent God to thyself as such an one as this. Do not set up such an
idol in the temple of thine heart. Thy God is not such as thou oughtest
not to be thyself. If thou wouldest not judge so, but wouldest judge
justly; even so thy God is better than thou: He is not inferior to
thee: He is more just, He is the fountain of justice.
Whatsoever good thou hast done, thou hast gotten from Him; and
whatsoever good thou hast given vent to, thou hast drunk in from Him.
Dost thou praise the vessel, because it hath something from Him, and
blame the fountain? Do not give alms out of usury and increase. I am
speaking to the faithful, am speaking to those to whom we distribute
the body of Christ. Be in fear and amend yourselves: that I may not
have hereafter to say, Thou doest so, and thou too doest so. Yet I
trow, that if I should do so, ye ought not to be angry with me, but
with yourselves, that ye may amend yourselves. For this is the meaning
of the expression in the Psalm, “Be ye angry, and sin not.” I would
have you be angry, but only that ye may not sin. Now in order that ye
may not sin, with whom ought ye to be angry but with yourselves? For
what is a penitent man, but a man who is angry with himself? That he
may obtain pardon, he exacts punishment from himself; and so with good
right says to God, “Turn Thine eyes from my sins, for I acknowledge my
sin.” If thou acknowledgest it, then He will pardon it. Ye then who
have done so wrongly, do so no more: it is not lawful.
3. But if ye have done so already, and have such money in your
possession, and have filled your coffers thereby, and were heaping up
treasure by these means: what ye have comes of evil, now then add not
evil to it, and make to yourselves friends of the mammon of iniquity.
Had Zacchaeus what he had from good sources? Read and see. He was the
chief of the publicans, that is, he was one to whom the public taxes
were paid in: by this he had his wealth. He had oppressed many, had
taken from many, and so had heaped much together. Christ entered into
his house, and salvation came upon his house; for so said the Lord
Himself, “This day is salvation come to this house.” Now mark the
method of this salvation. First he was longing to see the Lord, because
he was little in stature: but when the crowd hindered him, he got up
into a sycamore tree, and saw Him as He passed by. But Jesus saw him,
and said, “Zacchaeus, come down, I must abide at thy house.” Thou art
hanging there, but I will not keep thee in suspense. I will not, that
is, put thee off.
Thou didst wish to see Me as I passed by, to-day shalt thou find Me
dwelling at thy house. So the Lord went in unto him, and he, filled
with joy, said, “The half of my goods I give to the poor.” Lo, how
swiftly he runs, who runs to make friends of the mammon of iniquity.
And lest he should be held guilty on any other account, he said, “If I
have taken anything from any man, I” will “restore fourfold.” He
inflicted sentence of condemnation on himself, that he might not incur
damnation.
So then, ye who have anything from evil sources, do good therewith. Ye
who have not, wish not to acquire by evil means. Be thou good thyself,
who doest good with what is evilly acquired: and when with this evil
thou beginnest to do any good, do not remain evil thyself. Thy money is
being converted to good, and dost thou thyself continue evil?
4. There is indeed another way of understanding it; and I will not
withhold it too. The mammon of iniquity is all the riches of this
world, from whatever source they come. For howsoever they be heaped
together, they are the mammon of iniquity, that is, the riches of
iniquity. What is, “they are the riches of iniquity”? It is money which
iniquity calls by the name of riches. For if we seek for the true
riches, they are different from these. In these Job abounded, naked as
he was, when he had a heart full to Godward, and poured out praises
like most costly gems to his God, when he had lost all he had. And from
what treasure did he this, if he had nothing? These then are the true
riches.
But the other sort are called riches by iniquity. Thou dost possess
these riches. I blame it not: an inheritance has come to thee, thy
father was rich, and he left it to thee. Or thou hast honestly acquired
them: thou hast a house full of the fruit of just labour; I blame it
not. Yet even thus do not call them riches. For if thou dost call them
riches, thou wilt love them: and if thou love them, thou wilt perish
with them. Lose, that thou be not lost: give, that thou mayest gain:
sow, that thou mayest reap. Call not these riches, for “the true” they
are not. They are full of poverty, and liable ever to accidents.
What sort of riches are those, for whose sake thou art afraid of the
robber, for whose sake thou art afraid of thine own servant, lest he
should kill thee, and take them away, and fly? If they were true
riches, they would give thee security.
5. So then those are the true riches, which when we have them, we
cannot lose. And lest haply thou shouldest fear a thief because of
them, they will be there where none can take them away. Hear thy Lord,
“Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where no thief
approacheth.” Then will they be riches, when thou hast removed them
hence. As long as they are in the earth, they are not riches. But the
world calls them riches, iniquity calls them so. God calls them
therefore the mammon of iniquity, because iniquity calls them riches.
Hear the Psalm, “O Lord, deliver me out of the hand of strange
children, whose mouth hath spoken vanity, and their right hand is a
right hand of iniquity. Whose sons are as new plants, firmly rooted
from their youth. Their daughters decked out, adorned round about after
the similitude of a temple. Their storehouses full, flowing out from
this into that. Their oxen fat, their sheep fruitful, multiplying in
their goings forth. There is no breach of wall, nor going forth, no
crying out in their streets.” Lo, what sort of happiness the Psalmist
has described: but hear what is the case with them whom he has set
forth as children of iniquity. “Whose mouth hath spoken vanity, and
their right hand is a right hand of iniquity.”
Thus has he set them forth, and said that their happiness is only upon
the earth. And what did he add? “They are happy the people that hath
these things.” But who called them so? “Strange children,” aliens from
the race, and belonging not to the seed of Abraham: they “called the
people happy that hath these things.” Who called them so? “They whose
mouth hath spoken vanity.” It is a vain thing then to call them happy
who have these things. And yet they are called so by them, “whose mouth
hath spoken vanity.” By them the “mammon of iniquity” of the Gospel is
called riches.
6. But what sayest thou? Seeing that these “strange children” that they
“whose mouth hath spoken vanity,” have “called the people happy that
hath these things,” what sayest thou? These are false riches, show me
the true. Thou findest fault with these, show me what thou praisest.
Thou wishest me to despise these, show me what to prefer. Let the
Psalmist speak himself. For he who said, “they called the people happy
that hath these things,” gives us such an answer, as if we had said to
him, that is, to the Psalmist himself, “Lo, this thou hast taken away
from us, and nothing hast thou given us: lo, these, lo, these we
despise; whereby shall we live, whereby shall we be happy? For they who
have spoken, they will undertake to answer for themselves. For they
have ‘called’ men ‘who have’ riches ‘happy.’ But what sayest thou?” As
if he had been thus questioned, he makes answer and says, They call the
rich happy: but I say, “Happy are the people whose is the Lord their
God.” Thus then thou hast heard of the true riches, make friends of the
mammon of iniquity, and thou shalt be “a happy people, whose is the
Lord their God.” At times we go along the way, and see very pleasant
and productive estates, and we say, “Whose estate is that?” We are
told, “such a man’s;” and we say, “Happy man!” We “speak vanity.” Happy
he whose is that house, happy he whose that estate, happy he whose that
flock, happy he whose that servant, happy he whose is that household.
Take away vanity if Thou wouldest hear the truth. “Happy he whose is
the Lord” his “God.” For not he who has that estate is happy: but he
whose is that “God.” But in order to declare most plainly the happiness
of possessions, thou sayest that thy estate has made thee happy. And
why? Because thou livest by it. For when thou dost highly praise thine
estate, thou sayest thus, “It finds me food, I live by it.” Consider
whereby thou dost really live. He by whom thou livest, is He to whom
thou sayest, “With Thee is the fountain of life.” “Happy is the people
whose God is the Lord.” O Lord my God, O Lord our God, make us happy by
Thee, that we may come unto Thee. We wish not to be happy from gold, or
silver, or land, from these earthly, and most vain, and transitory
goods of this perishable life. Let not “our mouth speak vanity.” Make
us happy by Thee, seeing that we shall never lose Thee. When we shall
once have gotten Thee, we shall neither lose Thee, nor be lost
ourselves. Make us happy by Thee, because “Happy is the people whose is
the Lord their God.” Nor will God be angry if we shall say of Him, He
is our estate. For we read that “the Lord is the portion of my
inheritance.” Grand thing, Brethren, we are both His inheritance, and
He is ours, seeing that we both cultivate His service and He
cultivateth us.
It is no derogation to His honour that He cultivateth us. Because if we
cultivate Him as our God, He cultivateth us as His field. And, (that ye
may know that He doth cultivate us) hear Him whom He hath sent to us:
“I,” saith He, “am the vine, ye are the branches, My Father is the
Husbandman.” Therefore He doth cultivate us. But if we yield fruit, He
prepares for us His garner. But if under the attention of so great a
hand we will be barren, and for good fruit bring forth thorns, I am
loth to say what follows. Let us make an end with a theme of joy. “Let
us turn then to the Lord,” etc.
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