"The Unjust Steward"
Richard W. Church
"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." (St. Luke 16: 8)
"The children of this world:" that is, the people who plainly and entirely live for this world alone and do not care, or profess to care, for anything beyond it. "The children of light:" that is, those whom God's grace and calling has enlightened and drawn to the light of goodness and truth, whose hearts and consciences feel and acknowledge what is right and lovely and of good report, and who in various measures try to follow it--wish to be on the right side and in God's favor, [and] hope in the end to attain by His mercy to the light of His countenance and the blessedness of His kingdom. And the lesson which our Lord means to teach by the remarkable story of the unjust steward (the dishonest servant who did his evil work thoroughly, and, having begun by cheating his master and not being willing to repent and do better, did not stop half-way but carried out his cheating to the last and made the most of it as a provision against the evil day)--the lesson, for the sake of which our Lord is not afraid to represent the master as praising the unjust steward because he had done wisely, is this:
that the men of this world, in the sense which they show and in the thoroughness and consistency with which they live for the world, outstrip and put to shame the men with consciences.
That was the general sight when our Lord was among us. It was never different before He came and has never been different since. The world is served more perfectly, more wisely, more successfully than God [is served]. Men think, and look forward, and take trouble, and even suffer for the world in a way in which they will not think and act and suffer for the sake of the world to come. The children of this world do their work with a whole heart; the children of light do theirs with only half a heart.
"In their generation." With a view to the object for which they choose to live and work, "the children of this world are wiser than the children of light." They are wiser, more prudent and sensible in what they do because they are more in earnest in what they want, and use the proper means to gain it. If the unjust steward wants still to enjoy himself and to have friends to receive him into their houses, he knows that he must think beforehand of the most likely way to gain his end; and when he has thought of the means, he must use them. He knows that he will never reach what he wants by dreaming about it, or wishing it, or talking about it, or beginning and then drawing back. Yet this is the way in which "the children of light" seem to think that they may gain their ends, may fulfill the will of God and please Him in their lives.
There are two points worth noticing in that wisdom of the unjust steward for which his master commended him. One is, that the unjust steward had the sense to look forward. The evil day, he knew, must come--the day when, unless he had something wherewith to meet it, things would go hardly with him. He knew it was no good shutting his eyes and wishing and hoping that it would not come. He did not try weakly and foolishly to escape from what cannot be escaped from. But he knew that he had certain means of preparing for it. He had time still; he had that knowledge of the business of his master's debtors and their affairs that gave him the opportunity of doing something for himself before the evil day came. We are not talking, as the parable does not talk, of the right and wrong of what he did. The point is, that there were certain things to be done and he did them.
