Article October 20, 1906 Issue

THE WORLDLY-WISE STEWARD

REV. WILLIAM P. MC KENZIE

The story of the unjust steward, as it is called, might well be named the story of the dishonest steward; but since the peculiar form of dishonesty described involved such scheming as drew forth a compliment from the defrauded employer, as if he thought it an evidence of cleverness, the above title may not be inapt. At any rate the inference from the story teaches that we should not adopt the really short-sighted methods of worldly wisdom in order to make present gain, but rather should so plan our lives as to secure enduring riches. In discussing the translation the endeavor will be to throw a ray of light on the meaning of the passage, such as we may sometimes gain from a consideration of the original text. Our suggestions are. however, put forth for consideration, not as a final or authoritative interpretation of the text.

This story recorded in the sixteenth chapter of Luke's Gospel is not called a parable in the text. It does not have the sign of the parable, as when Jesus said, "Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? It is like a grain of mustard seed;" or "like unto leaven." So we may expect that in it we are not going to find a parallelism in human affairs with spiritual processes. Indeed the teaching from this story is drawn by direct contrast rather than likeness, as we shall see.

Let us first relate the story. There was a man of wealth who had an overseer, and this overseer was accused to him of squandering his property. So, having summoned him, he asked, "What is this thing I hear concerning you? Make out an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be overseer."

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