Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-14
THE UNJUST STEWARD
One Of the Parallels the Application
of Which Is Not Plain.
PROBABLY 70 TEACH PRUDENCE.
The Wise Father 0verlooks Little Infrac-
tions of His Rules.
SERMON BY TIE REV. GEORGE HODGES
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH,


The unjust steward was commended.
"His lord commended the unjust steward
because he had done wisely" The lord of
the unjust steward seems also to be COM
mended in the parable for his wise COM
mendation. "For the sons of this world, 4"
Christ says, and he appears to be thinking
of the stewards master, 'the sons of this
world are wiser for their own generation
than the sons of the light" The unjust
steward and his master are both present for
our initiation. "Make to yourselves friends
by means of the mammon of unrighteous-
ness; that, when it shall fail, they may re-
csive you into the eternal tabernacles.
| The story, you will remember, is that the
steward of certain rich man was accused
to his master that he was wasting his goods;
and the master, sending for the steward, de-
manded of him an account of his steward
ship, which being presented he was to be
no longer steward. Exactly what was the
relation between the lord and steward in
| the management of the Syrian estates, we
do not know. 1t seems likely, however,
that the steward had in his responsibility
the general conduct of his masters business.
He made the contracts, bought and sold ac-
cording to his own judgment, and had for
his salary percentage of the receipts.
The Steward DIdn't Get Rich.
The steward is, indeed, called s'uniust"
in the narrative, but that is word which
here means simply bad, in the sense of un-
satisfactory. The accusation that he had
wasted the goods of his master may haye
been true or false 1t is made probable by
what follows that he had made no money
for himself out OF his transactions. For at
once he says within himself. what shall
do, seeing that my lord taketh away the
stewardship from me? I have not strength
to dig, to beg I am ashamed. He must
make choice, it seems, between these two
alternatives. He has no purse, filled with
the waste of his masters property, to live
on. At the end of the parable, his master
evidently approves of him. The chances
are that the accusation was false one.
Nevertheless, here is the steward on the
eve of dismissal, what shall he do? am
resolved, he says, what to do, that when
am put out of the stewardship they may
receive me into their houses. And he sends
for certain of his lords debtors and reduces
their bills To one who owes a bill of wheat
he gives a discount Of 90 per cent; to an
other who owes a bill of oil he gives larger
discount than that, he divides the sum BY
two. The steward probably had right to
do that 1t was his business to make the
bargains 1t is likely that he had himself
set the first prices. He might reduce them
it he would.
The Lesson That Was Intended
This transaction the stewards lord ap-
proved, and Christ applauded his approval.
10 fhof oh ir1If Ifofn he
steward. But how? What is the applica-
tion of this Oriental story to our modern
life? Nobody knows; that Is nobody knows
accurately and absolutely. There are plen- |
ty of answers to the question, and many of !
them are very good and profitable answers |
But exactly what it was that Christ Him.
self had in His mind not the wisest COM
mentator can say.
This indeed, it is likely, is one OF the de-
signed characteristics of Christ's teaching
by parable. He desired that there should |
be a wide choice of explanation and of ap-
plication. He wanted us to do our own
thinking. He stated truth in such words
that it could not be discovered without !
thinking. And even when it was discovered |
the discovery might not be revelation of !
all the truth. Some other thinker might
work the words over again and still find out
more of the truth in them. And thus the
alive in mems minds always. The "truth
as it is In Jesus" is so great and SO deep
that no man and no generation of men may
say, We know it all.
Christ also recognized the fact of diff
ference. He perceived that We are not |
alike, that by nature we look at truth from
various points of view. And He so taught
truth that it should meet this condition of
our thinking. That is, He clothed His truth,
not so much in the dress of precept, as in
the dress of illustration.
The Precept and the Parable.
Precept, by which mean automatic state
ment, does not so easily allow of different
points of view as narrative, example, par
able. A parable is like a page of human
lite; it possesses countless shades of mean
ing. Truth in parable is stated POLITICALLY,
that is, in its largest way. There is oppor-
tunity for endless and boundless interpreta-
tion. Think of the difference between
great picture, and even the greatest artists
explanation of it! How much there is in
the picture which even the wisest man
misses in his commentary! That is the diff
ference between teaching.b common speech
and teaching by parable.
This parable of the unjust steward is not
The only one which offers wide variety of
application. Christ meant that all the
parallels should be variously interpreted,
to the needs of men, according to
The clearness of our spiritual sight
The most widely accepted explanation of
his parable is that 1t teaches prudence.
The unjust steward was mindful of the
uture He was aware that an hour of need
was coming, and he hastened to make wise
provision for it. The moral is that we, who |
,ught to know as well as he did, that all
hings cannot go on just as they are for
,ver, but that sooner or later we too will be |
equired to give an account of our steward
hip-we also ought to be making ready.
Improving the Opportunity.
The children Of this world are wiser than
he children of light. Men show more sense .
n business than they do in religion. Our
teward is the strength, the opportunity,
specially the money that we have 1t is
ur possession of unrighteous mammon;
hat is of false riches as contrasted with
rue riches, of treasure down here as COM
jared with treasure up above. This we 6
ught to use in such manner that it will 1
ring us in a spiritual and eternal return. ,
The time when the account will be rem .
cred is the Day of Judgment.
The moral is true enough, and we all need
t badly enough. But that it fairly repre- T
ents the meaning of the story, is not so t
ure. The disciples, to whom Christ spoke d
he parable, had no money, and He never +
expected them to have any. 1t does not g
eem likely that He would preach q sermon
bout money to that poor congregation. !
1t has lately been suggested that what our t
,ord had in mind here was not the prudent il
Sc of money, nor of worldly advantages o
out of spiritual authority. The apostle "
Tere presently going out into the world to t
e the preachers and the teachers of the new t
o otiUinn tn ha Chricf'a aoorad;tad raora | r