Trinity IX Sermon

Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail,
they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
(St. Luke xvi. 9)     
 
In last week’s Gospel, we prayed that God’s never-failing providence that ruleth all things both in heaven and in earth [might] put away from us all hurtful things and [might] give to us those things which are profitable (Collect: Trin. VIII) for our salvation. And this week Jesus shows us how God’s providence demands stewardship and responsibility. Through the Parable of the Unjust Steward, Christ commends the virtue of prudence for our consideration.
         
The Parable of the Unjust Steward tells how the steward of a rich man’s treasure has been accused of wasting his master’s goods and mismanaging his estate. The rich man summons his employee to call him to account. How is it that I hear this of thee? Give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. (St. Luke xvi. 2) The rich man has discovered a truth about his steward that shocks him. He placed great trust in his steward only to learn that his monies have been misused. The employee is struck dumb with fear over what his master has learned and what steps he might take. He can make no excuse for his sin. So, he says to himself, What shall I do? For my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. (Ibid, 3) Digging ditches will not make him right with his lord. Begging will likewise only humiliate him. He has a good mind and so intends to make right with his master.

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. 
                                                                                                   (Ibid, 4-7)

Though he has failed to manage the rich man’s business properly in the past, he will nevertheless use prudence to make up for his corruption by calling in some portion of his master’s debts. So, he makes a deal with others who have loans with his master to repay what they can. He ends up collecting fifty percent of what one man owed, eighty percent from another, and returns to give an account of his stewardship. So, 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. (Ibid, 8) He has used unrighteous mammon and made friends through it to win back some favor with his lord. He has made friends through the mammon of unrighteousness (Ibid, 9) that his employer might show some mercy and forgiveness.
          
But what does Jesus mean when he says that in this instance the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light? (Ibid, 8) And why does He say that we are to make us friends with the mammon of unrighteousness? (Ibid, 9) It seems contrary to His habitual claim that ye cannot serve God and Mammon. (St. Matthew vi. 24) First, Jesus is not commending the children of this world’s wisdom absolutely. He is making a comparison to exhort us to use prudence. Insofar as the children of this world are prudent in their use of earthly mammon, they are to be commended. If mammon is king, they are prudent in finding ways to rescue themselves from the misuse of it. The children of this world are wiser [or more prudent] in their generation [or in their worldly things] than the children of light are in heavenly things, as Archbishop Trench writes. (Notes on Parables: Chapter xxv) Unrighteous mammon is a term used to describe material wealth. In the Parable, Jesus suggests that the prudence of the unjust steward is a virtue to be imitated. Of course, it is not the unjust steward’s end, his own earthly occupation, that interests Jesus. It is the prudence used in calling in his master’s material debts to regain favor with his earthly master. The unjust steward is still unjust, and the unrighteous mammon is a real threat to the greatest treasure to be found in Heaven. It is false mammon, ‘the meat that perishes’, the riches of this world, perishing things that disappoint those who raise their expectations from them. (M. Henry. Comm. Luke xvi.) But Jesus does insist that worldly men are more prudent over earthly and temporal mammon than Christians are in acquiring its heavenly equivalent. Again, with Trench, [here] the children of light [are] thus rebuked that they give not half the pains to win heaven which ‘the children of this world’ do to win earth. (Idem)
        
Our Gospel concludes with Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. (Ibid, 9) Jesus is concerned here not with the unjust steward but with just one. Something greater than what the unjust steward did must be learned by those who would be just stewards of God’s Grace. The unjust steward made friends with unrighteous mammon such that his master’s debtors were relieved and benefited of their earthly debt to his lord and would receive him into their houses because of his prudence. So, too, the just steward can have a friendship with unrighteous mammon that is spiritually sound, using earthly and temporal riches properly so that those whom he has helped might welcome him into the kingdom because of his spiritual prudence.

It turns out that unrighteous mammon figures prominently in the economy of our salvation. Because the love of money tempts all men as a chief source of damnation, we must come to understand the meaning of making friends with the mammon of unrighteousness. William Tyndale writes:
‘Make you friends of the unrighteous mammon;’ that is, shew your faith openly, and what ye are within the heart, with outward giving and bestowing your goods on the poor, that ye may obtain friends; that is, that the poor, on whom thou hast shewed mercy, may at the Day of Judgment testify and witness of thy good works…that thy faith…in thy heart before God, may there appear by thy fruits openly to all men. (W. Tyndale, The Parable of the Wicked Mammon)
 
The prudence in the parable restores the unjust steward to his lord or master. Jesus encourages us to translate the unjust steward’s prudence into Christian prudence. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that prudence is the application of right reason to action. Prudence is a virtue that makes its possessor good and his work good also. (ST: II, ii, 47, 4) Right reason will make us and others good. A prudent man, knowing the danger of using unrighteous mammon for selfish purposes, nevertheless uses reason to befriend it and make good use of it. Jesus says that he that is faithful in that which is least, is also faithful also in much. (Ibid, 10) Prudence knows that unrighteous mammon is the least of riches, to be used only as it aids the pursuit of heavenly treasure. We can use unrighteous mammon to help the poor without resentment and bitterness to reveal to them that our chief end is seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. (Matt. vi. 33) In helping others, we can make friends for Christ. Charity and generosity will overcome other men’s basic needs so that their souls can join ours in laboring [spiritually] not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life. (St. John vi. 27)

The prudent spiritual man, like the unjust steward, acknowledges his imperfect stewardship and will be determined to make right with his Master, God. The prudent spiritual man knows himself as always an unjust [spiritual] steward of God’s gifts because he is fallen. He knows that he can never repay His Master for God’s Grace and Mercy. Like today’s unjust steward, he pleads for patience and mercy from the Lord. Like the prudent unjust steward, he will help his neighbors, now with unselfish motives, because together they seek the treasure of Heaven.
Prudence is the spirit to think and do always such things that are right and what enables us to live according to [God’s] will by His Grace. (Collect: Trinity IX) Prudence is also the right reason that discerns that the Devil will tempt us to dig ditches or beg, indulging self-pity and despair. This morning, St. Paul reminds us that  

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. (1 Cor. X. 13)
 
Prudence opens our hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ in prayer as we plead His Grace to fight off the temptation to worship mammon. Prudence, using right reason, knows that the temptation to worship mammon is common to all men. Prudence remembers that God’s Grace will always provide a way to escape. Earthly prudence enables us to consider our fallen natures realistically and to remember that by God’s Grace we can use our earthly principles in our spiritual quest after God and His goodness. As we put our old friend mammon in his proper place and imitate the diligent and determined prudence of the unjust steward, we shall put today’s parable to work in our lives.  

Amen.
©wjsmartin