The Application

Having indicated the meaning of the parable, the Lord then makes an application of it, which, though it does not pertain to the substance of the parable itself, contains thoughts that greatly serve to clarify the lesson of the parable.

The Lord said that “the sons of this age” are wiser than “the sons of light”, so as to stir the zeal of the latter to surpass them in wisdom, turning all their efforts and heart’s desires from earthly things to the promises of the age to come. He then indicated the very way to secure, even now, possession of those blessings, teaching them to divide all without grudging among their brothers in need. Since the condition for successful fulfillment of this is to regard oneself in relation to the goods of life as a steward—and this demands complete detachment from them, so that the heart is attached to nothing and bound by nothing—the Lord now directs His discourse to awakening this detachment.

What hinders most of all detachment from what we possess? The allure of what it is possible to acquire. This very allure from the face of what is possessed the Lord wishes to sweep away, saying: do not be attached to earthly things, for all these goods are trivial compared with those prepared for you in the other life—these are small, but those are great (Lk. 16:10); these are false, deceptive, unreliable, while those are true, unchangeable, and trustworthy (Lk. 16:11); these are alien to you, but those are yours (Lk. 16:12).

But since such indication could not be impressive for all, in one and the same discourse the indication is combined with the declaration of God’s eternal justice. If some are not enlightened by the first, they may be terrified by the second. For when the Lord says: “who will give you?” “who will trust you?” (Lk. 16:11,12)—He manifestly means to say: you will surely not receive. Unfaithfulness here is the same as attachment. The Lord speaks as it were: because you are attached to what is small, false, and alien, you shall not receive what is your own, what is true, what is great. Such is God’s judgment (Lk. 16:10–12).

The Lord completes these two indications—concerning the undesirable properties of earthly things and concerning judgment for attachment to them—with an indication of the impossibility of being with God while cherishing such attachment, and consequently of the impossibility thereby of achieving the ultimate goal of one’s being, which is communion with God (Lk. 16:13).

In this lies the principal purpose of the whole discourse. The Lord wished to dispose those who heard Him to renounce all things, so as to open the way to living union with God.

Verse 10. “He who is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in what is least is unrighteous also in much” (Lk. 16:10).

It is as if the Lord answers a perplexity: why are temporal goods held in such high regard that upon their use depends the eternal lot of each person? He speaks as it were thus: True, these goods are small and trivial compared with what is to come; but, you see, this is a universal law: he who is faithful in what is small is faithful also in much, that is, is in general ultimately faithful, and is worthy of the full recompense belonging to the faithful, and vice versa. Here the character of conscientiousness is taken into account. If someone, in regard to what is small, in which it is easy to err because it is guarded by lesser motives and obligations, displays such a sensitive conscience that he does not permit himself to be in the slightest degree unfaithful to it; then all the more will conscience not permit him to deviate in something great, which is usually attended by greater and stronger motives and obligations. Conversely, if someone’s conscience is so weak that in small matters it yields to contrary impulses, how can he stand firm in great matters, when these require both greater self-denial and greater sacrifices? “What is least” the Lord here calls temporal goods—all the gifts of life; and “what is much”, or what is great, He calls life in the spirit, according to God’s commandments, not in the interest of earthly affairs but in view of pleasing God. The Lord says: whoever in regard to the gifts of life conducts himself as God has commanded, that is, without attachment to them but using them for those in need, certainly fulfills all the other higher commandments and God’s will in general. Whoever, on the contrary, conducts himself unfaithfully in regard to these goods has already bent his conscience and in regard to the higher demands of God’s will. And from this it naturally follows:

Verse 11. “If therefore you have not been faithful with the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches?” (Lk. 16:11).

To the unrighteous mammon is opposed what is true. Consequently, by the unrighteous is understood what is not true, that is, what is false, deceptive, impermanent, unreliable, in contrast to the true, which consists in the goods of the Kingdom of Christ, which are lasting, unchangeable, eternal—that is, in the gifts of grace and future blessedness in the eternal dwellings (Blessed Theophylact, Euthymius Zigabenus). The Lord says: if you have been unfaithful in regard to the first, who will trust you with the second; if you could not manage the first well, how can it be expected that you will manage the second well? This conveys the thought that the Lord speaks here, first of all, of the impossibility of entrusting the gifts of grace to those who are attached to the goods of life, for their use in their own salvation or for their administration with a view to the establishing of the Kingdom of Christ. In this case the instruction concerned, on the one hand, the tax collectors and those like them, and on the other, the Apostles, and it rebuked Judas most strongly, upon whom this sentence was fulfilled. But, secondly, the saying of the Lord can be taken as a sentence of God’s justice concerning only the eternal goods of recompense. In this case the Lord’s words would have this meaning: if, therefore, it proves that you were unfaithful in the use of goods that are false, deceptive, unreliable, then do not expect to receive, that is, to be granted, goods that are true, unchangeable, eternal in the heavens, in the Kingdom of Christ. The recompense the Lord presents under the image of entrusting goods—for administration and management, in keeping with the course of His discourse. In this way the exhortation embraces all the faithful in general—of all times, places, and conditions. The Lord deliberately used the word: “unrighteous mammon” (and not “false wealth”) so that thereby He might strike a mightier blow to the consciences of the tax collectors (and those like them) and further stir the feelings of repentance that had begun to trouble them, and urge them to swifter self-correction—from fear of being deprived of a share in the true, imperishable, and most trustworthy goods of the Kingdom of Christ on account of unfaithfulness (so manifest) in regard to the transitory goods of life. Opposed to this word is set: “the true riches”—also deliberately, to show that in the first case He means, in general, all temporal good as untrue, and thereby to take away every pretext for those who possess wealth obtained not unrighteously to excuse themselves from the judgment pronounced, and to dispose even them to receive the earnest care to manage it according to the intention and instruction of the Lord.

Verse 12. “And if you have not been faithful with what is another’s, who will give you what is your own?” (Lk. 16:12).

“Another’s” are likewise called the temporal goods, both because they are not ours but are entrusted to us for a time by God, and because they do not belong to our nature and do not enter into it, but are added from without and pass by us. That they are indeed such is evident from the fact that we bring nothing of them into this world, nor do we carry anything out (1Tim 6:7). “What is our own” is called the eternal blessedness predestined for us in communion with God, as those created in the image of God, and, as the means to obtain it, all “the divine powers…, which pertain to life and godliness” (2Pet 1:3), given according to faith in the Lord (Blessed Theophylact, Zigabenus, Augustine). This which is ours is not given us in unfaithfulness concerning what is another’s not only because the unfaithful one is subject to punishment and deprivation, but also because, in such a case, the capacity to receive “what is one’s own” is lost, sympathy for it is stifled, and the vessels for receiving it are damaged. This reminder embraced all; but it is not hard to see that it (besides the tax collectors) was especially directed to the conscience of Judas and should have awakened in him the fear of losing that which should have belonged to him by his election to the apostleship, pointing at the same time to the path of correction. And this saying about unfaithfulness concerning another’s property has the meaning of an eternal decree of God’s justice, as the previous one about unfaithfulness concerning the unrighteous, deceptive, and false, as it were: he who is unfaithful in another’s shall be deprived of his own. Yet it is expressed in keeping with the course of the discourse concerning the steward, to whom was entrusted or given for management—not what was his own.

One cannot but pause to consider the peculiarities in the Lord’s use of words. He gives a general instruction suited to all, but in each saying He deliberately inserts a word that strikes directly to the conscience of one or another of those who heard Him. “He who is faithful in what is least”—comforted and encouraged the Apostles; “he who is unfaithful” “in what is least” (Lk. 16:10), as well as unfaithful in what is another’s,—struck at Judas; “he who is unfaithful in unrighteous mammon” (Lk. 16:11)—convicted the tax collectors; the discourse that follows enlightened the Pharisees, who hoped both to possess much unrighteously and with attachment, and to please God or to appear to be working for Him. This cannot be, the Lord says.

Verse 13. “No servant is able to serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will cleave to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Lk. 16:13).

The unfaithfulness which the Lord has repeatedly mentioned before is manifest, as is evident from the meaning of the Lord’s lessons, in those who use the gifts of life, received from God in order to use them well for the benefit of their brothers, for their own pleasure, for empty comforts and luxury, and, besides, become so attached to them that they become for them idols, which they serve slavishly, wasting both time and strength to no purpose. It is clear that what was required of those who had become attached—as a reminder of the danger of their condition—was detachment from that attachment. Since it is very difficult to transform oneself, to give the heart an altogether different disposition, those who understood the lesson, to avoid the painful sacrifice of the heart, might think and wish to know whether it were possible to combine both: to live in pleasure with attachments, and yet to please God. Such were the Pharisees. To them and to those like them the Lord speaks, saying that this is impossible, illustrating it by an example well known in everyday life, the meaning of which in relation to spiritual life is clear. The Lord demands decisive—wholehearted, undivided—dedication to eternal goals, to that which He has called our own, true, trustworthy, and great, and decisive detachment from all else, the false, fleeting, trivial, alien to us. Whoever wishes to combine earthly selfish strivings with the hope of the eternal dwellings attempts the impossible. These are two opposites. Whoever stands on one side cannot stand on the other. It is impossible with one and the same heart to pursue successfully both temporal and eternal interests, as one cannot serve two masters as one should. The possession of temporal goods, their acquisition and preservation are inevitable in this life. It is not against this that the Lord speaks, but against attachment to these goods, against the unceasing care only for acquiring more and living more comfortably here. This care for the earthly, which from morning to night torments and drives those attached to the love of gain, is the yoke of bondage, under which, like serfs, labor these slaves of mammon, having neither time nor desire to sigh for that which is above the earth and which awaits them after this temporal life. The Lord says: have what is given, but do not be a slave of it, but rather a master, freely possessing, freely disposing, and freely giving it without grudging. How to possess without the love of gain, how to acquire, preserve, and use without the servile care—this is the Christian wisdom taught by the Spirit of grace to those who seek it with all their heart. But that this is not impossible is shown by and continues to be shown by experience; and that it is obligatory, lo, we hear the word of the Lord. And the word “steward” best expresses how everyone ought to conduct himself in relation to the gifts of life. Own all and manage it, but as what is another’s, entrusted to you for a time for good use, according to the intention of the giver, with the accountability that lies therein. Through this you will prove yourself no less wise than “the sons of this age” (Lk. 16:8); through this you will acquire for yourself eternal friends and the eternal dwellings; through this you will prove your faithfulness in what is small, unreliable, transitory, and another’s, and will be worthy to receive what is great and truly your own; through this alone will you testify that you serve God, not mammon.

“You cannot serve God and mammon” (Lk. 16:13).

To this conclusion the whole discourse has been tending. The discourse appeared to treat an outward prudent action in regard to temporal goods; but the inner, guiding thought was—wholehearted service to God alone, through detachment from all attachments in walking according to God’s will, and in this sphere of deeds small in comparison with others. Their value in the eyes of God is conditioned by the complete belonging of the heart to God. Over all that is entrusted to man for this life, the Lord writes a superscription: this is for you, but to Me “give… your heart” (Prov. 23:26). Only he who is so disposed is a true servant of God. A divided heart makes a double-minded man, unsteady in all his ways (Jas. 1:8). The condition under which it pleases the Lord to recognize the wise use of wealth and all that is possessed as service to Himself is this: that, with the heart cleaving to God, with the hands one only touches what you have and possess, and all in accordance with God’s intention. In this too lies the means to possess without the love of gain. Let the heart be wholly possessed by the love of God and there will be no place for the love of money.