Parable of the Unjust Steward

[Arsenios]

And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. - Luke 16:1-9

What does this parable teach?

[Justin Kissel]

I've always been stumped by this parable too. Here's what some of the Fathers say, though I'm still not sure that I fully understand...

For, because He knew that we would make a good use of our substance which we should possess by receiving it from another, He says, "He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise." (Lk. 3:11) And, "For I was an hungered, and ye gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was naked and ye clothed Me." (Matt. 25:35-36) And, "When thou doest thine alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." (Matt. 6:3) And we are proved to be righteous by whatsoever else we do well, redeeming, as it were, our property from strange hands. But thus do I say, "from strange hands," not as if the world were not God's possession, but that we have gifts of this sort, and receive them from others, in the same way as these men had them from the Egyptians who knew not God; and by means of these same do we erect in ourselves the tabernacle of God: for God dwells in those who act uprightly, as the Lord says: "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that they, when ye shall be put to flight," may receive you into eternal tabernacles." (Lk. 16:9) For whatsoever we acquired from unrighteousness when we were heathen, we are proved righteous, when we have become believers, by applying it to the Lord's advantage. - Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 4, 30, 3

Patience in losses is an exercise in bestowing and communicating. Who fears not to lose, finds it not irksome to give. Else how will one, when he has two coats, give the one of them to the naked, (Lk. 3:11) unless he be a man likewise to offer to one who takes away his coat his cloak as well?(Matt. 5:40; Luke 6:29) How shall we fashion to us friends from mammon, (Lk. 16:9) if we love it so much as not to put up with its loss? We shall perish together with the lost mammon. - Tertullian, On Patience, 7

But in another place Tertullian says:

Even now, the declarations of the Lord have reasons and laws of their own. They are not of unlimited or universal application. And so He commands us to give to every one who asks, yet He Himself does not give to those who ask a sign. Otherwise, if you think that we should give indiscriminately to all who ask, that seems to me to mean that you would give, I say not wine to him who has a fever, but even poison or a sword to him who longs for death. But how we are to understand," Make to yourselves friends of mammon," (Lk. 16:9) let the previous parable teach you. The saying was addressed to the Jewish people; inasmuch as, having managed ill the business of the Lord which had been entrusted to them, they ought to have provided for themselves out of the men of mammon, which we then were, friends rather than enemies, and to have delivered us from the dues of sins which kept us from God, if they bestowed the blessing upon us, for the reason given by the Lord, that when grace began to depart from them, they, betaking themselves to our faith, might be admitted into everlasting habitations. Hold now any other explanation of this parable and saying you like, if only you clearly see that there is no likelihood of our opposers, should we make them friends with mammon, then receiving us into everlasting abodes. - Tertullian, Concerning Flight in Persecution, 13

I hope we can discuss this in some depth (once we figure out what is going on! ). I don't miss most things about Protestant theology boards, but one thing I do miss is the in-depth discussion of the Scriptures. Here we are with all these resources: the very mind of Christ as discernable in the collective Church Fathers, and we hardly ever talk about correctly understanding the Scriptures. If there's enough interest, it'd be cool to even maybe start looking at an entire epistle (like Galatians or Ephesians) and going through it. Anyone else up for that (after this thread dies down)?

[尼古拉前执事]

Have you asked your spiritual Father? I will look up some stuff tonight, but that might be a good step to see what he says about it.

[Julianna]

It means men of the world'll not beg forgiveness when they're caught in shortcomings or failures but kiss up to others in hopes of obtaining their favor and having a new Lord to shelter them. They'll always be looking out for themselves to gain and not the best for their Lord as children of the Light should.

At least I'd think so. Fr. Dionysi could've said better than I. What Bible's that quoted from?

[Arsenios]

Nicholas I have not asked my spiritual father about this but I may very well do that the next time he and I speak together. I will try to remember to do that.

Julianna I guess the problem I do not understand, like with your interpretation, is that the steward is commended and Jesus seems to tell us to be like him and do what he did. The passage I took from the King James version of the Bible since that is the one I happened to have next to me.

[尼古拉前执事]

Arsenius, I think part of the problem is that you cut off the quote too soon. Further verses help explain the parable.

However let me quote Blessed Theophlact from the ORTHODOX NEW TESTAMENT Vol. 1 The Holy Gospels Endnotes, which if you do not have, it would behoove you to procure it.

"The significance of what he is saying is this: Those who are stewards of human concerns manage by every means not to be taken out of the stewardship, so as to possess comfort. But those in the ranks of the sons of light, who have been entrusted with spiritual wealth, do not at all contrive how to make this benefit them after this life. ... We find that in human affairs we administer shrewdly, so that if we should ever fall from stewardship we might find a refuge in life. But with that wealth that should be administered according to God's will, we take no forethought for the day when we are translated from this life and find ourselves deprived of consolation. ... We are called senseless fools because we were not mindful for those things which could have profited us after this life." [P.G. 123:414DA (cols. 965, 968).]

"We must make friends for ourselves of this 'mammon of unrighteousness' which is the money and wealth the Lord has given us to spend for the necessities of the brethren and fellow slaves, but which we have kept back for ourselves." [P.G. 123:413A (col. 965).]

There are many, many, quotations from the Fathers on this small piece of the Holy Gospel, but I do not have the time to write them all down from The Orthodox New Testament, which many here, myself included, will tell you is the best Orthodox Bible available. (Sorry about that major run-on sentence!)

[Arsenios]

Nicholas which passages?