The Unjust Steward – The Rich Man And Lazarus
These two parables occupy a special place in our consideration of the Parables of Jesus. Please reread the whole of Luke 16.
Generally, the first parable appears to be reasonably clear, until we come to the injunction to make friends with the mammon of unrighteousness, which makes us pause to think. Then, reading on, we come to v.18, which refers to divorce, and we wonder if the critics are right when they ‘suggest this verse has strayed in from somewhere else. Why is this verse interjected here; It seems to have no connection with the remainder of the chapter. And then the second parable. Who does the rich man represent, and who is the beggar? And does this parable support the doctrine of hell fire punishment?
What a bewildering lot of questions. Where shall we start?
We have noticed in passing that vv.16 & 17 deal with the Law of Moses. Does this give any clue? Then in the course of our daily readings, we come to Romans, ch. 7, and light begins to break.
Romans 7:2-4 reads, “For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”
These verses seem strangely parallel with Luke 16:18, which also deals with marriage and adultery. Paul is telling them:
- While the Law was “alive” you were “married” to it, and not at liberty to be married to the “gospel”. Had you done so, you would have been guilty of (spiritual) adultery.
- The Law died with Christ on the cross, and consequently you are free from it.
- Now you can be married to the gospel, centred in Christ who was raised from the dead, and being thus married you must bear “fruit” (spiritual children) to God.
Going back to Luke 16, we now see that is what Jesus is talking about. The Law was still “Alive”, but they were violently embracing the gospel (they even tried to take Jesus by force and make him a king!), as Matthew 11:12 says “Men of violence take it by force”. Jesus says this is (spiritual) adultery. (He also anticipates the alternative — to insist on being married to the Law when it had been “put away” — like the Galatian believers were trying to do, and Jesus says this equally is (spiritual) adultery.) So then what Jesus is talking about is that the Law is coming to an end and the gospel is going to take its place.
Hitherto the Jew had been the custodian of the Law, but he had proved unfaithful to his trust, and when the’ Law comes to an end (being fulfilled in the death of Christ) then they are dismissed from the position they had occupied for so long, just like the Unjust Steward was dismissed from his position.
Do the details of the parable support this conclusion? Let us examine them:
A rich man : God.
A steward : The Jew, especially the Scribes, Pharisees and Lawyers.
Charges against the steward : “It is Moses who accuses you.” (John 5:45).
Wasting his goods : The Jew was not using the Law to lead them to Christ.
Account of stewardship : Christ summarised it in Matt. 23. — Thoroughly unsatisfactory.
No longer steward : “Kingdom taken from you.”
I cannot dig : “When we were without strength.” (Rom. 5:6)
I am not strong enough to dig (RSV) : “The Law was weak through the flesh.” (Rom. 8:3).
I am ashamed : The pride of the Pharisee, “I am not as other men.”
They may receive me into their houses (RSV: It may receive) : A wise decision to insure the future. These “discounts” are probably what the steward had originally intended for himself.
The Lord’s commendation : For gain the steward was prepared to sacrifice his own interests in order to safeguard the greater issue.
The sons of this world : They know what they want, and go for it wholeheartedly without divided interests.
The children of light : Frequently try to have both the present and the future, and often their divided interests are calamitous.
Dishonest in little : In his conduct of his Lord’s affairs.
Dishonest in much : His unfaithfulness would appear in greater issues.
Two masters : The steward was trying to serve himself and also his Lord. It cannot be done.
Spiritual Applications
The unrighteous mammon : The translation “mammon” is unfortunate and prevents the getting of the right idea. The word should be “riches”.
The Law was holy, just and good, but the Jew had hopelessly debased it. To give one illustration, the Law of Corban. The Law required parents should be looked after. “Honour thy father,” etc. The Law of “Corban” allowed them to evade it. Similarly divorce customs. Consequently, God said of the Law (Isa. 1) ” incense is an abomination to me ” “Your new moons and your sabbaths my soul hateth…” “Bring no more vain oblations” “… no soundness in it, full of wounds and putrefying sores which have not been bound up…” The Law really was riches, righteous riches, but they had so debased it that it had become “unrighteous riches”.
When it fails : The Law had waxed old and was ready to vanish away. What should take its place?
It was rich : The Law was very “rich”, for it was there’ “to lead them to Christ” (Gals. 3.24). When the Law finally ended on the cross of Christ, the gospel was there to take its place, to terminate finally in the “everlasting habitations” of John 14:2.
The gospel was the “true riches” : The Law was “the shadow of good things to come”.
The gospel was the substance and consequently was “the true riches”. Faithfulness in the Law would lead to faithfulness in the gospel, but only one could be served. The Galatians tried to serve both and found it could not be done.
Make friends with the mammon : This much disputed and misunderstood passage now falls into line. As we have seen, the “mammon of unrighteousness” was not money, but rather the Law, which they themselves had made unrighteous, but which basically was 100% righteous. Consequently, Jesus advises them to make friends with the Law, for it was one of God’s ways of leading them to Christ. They ought to have realised this, but did not. For their own advantage they had debased it.
No longer steward : Their stewardship had been unfaithful. The Kingdom was “taken from them”. “Ye shall see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.” “The axe is laid to the root of the tree.” No longer was Israel the privileged nation. The Gentile could now become fellow heir with the Jew. The Jew can now only finally attain immortality on precisely the same terms as the Gentile. His exclusive privilege is gone.
Summary : In this parable, under the figure of the dismissed steward, Jesus is telling the Jew that he, too, has forfeited his position as steward of the Oracles of God (Rom. 3:2). They had proved to be unfaithful stewards and consequently had demonstrated that they were not suited to be custodians of the gospel.
This parable of the unfaithful steward was addressed to the disciples, but the Pharisees had been listening. They loved money, and now they scoffed at Jesus. Jesus, temporarily using the superficial meaning of the parable, said “You are they who justify yourselves before men (like the steward had done) but God knows your hearts. What is exalted among men (they thought there was nothing like the details of the Law) is admonition in the sight of God” (Luke 16:14-15) (as witness the quotations already given from Isaiah 1.)
The second parable was evidently addressed particularly to the Pharisees, although it is not specifically stated to be. Now note he details, as in the parable, Jesus tells them that their position is going to come to an end (as the favoured and privileged nation) and the despised Gentile is going to occupy the position they have treated so lightly. Let us look at the details:
A rich man : The Jewish nation, headed up in the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Clothed in purple and fine linen : The general richness of the Jew, but also it could refer to the priestly vestments of the High Priest.
Fared sumptuously every day : They lived on a very lavish scale, on the physical plane, but they also fared sumptuously in spiritual things with all the magnificent temple services.
At his gate : In the temple the Gentile was only admitted a little way, they then came to the soreg partition on which it was stated, in Latin, Greek and Aramaic, “It is death for any Gentile to pass this wall”.
Full of sores : Hitherto the Gentile had been outside the things of God. The disciples were told to go only “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” and Jesus told the Syro-Phoenician woman the same. The Gentile had none of the comforts of religion and so the “sores” persisted.
Fed with what fell from the rich man’s table : Jesus told the Syro-Phoenician woman “It is not meet to take the children’s food and give it to the little dogs.” “No,” she replied, “but even the children eat of the crumbs which fall from the master’s table.” (Matt 15:27). The Gentile could only have the benefits of the Jewish religion if he became a proselyte.
The dogs came and licked his sores : The “dogs” were the Gentiles (cf. Matt. 15:27) who eased the position and helped their fellow Gentiles as best they could, but hitherto all the advantages of the things of God resided with the Jew.
The poor man died : With the reversal of positions when the gospel was preached to “every creature” throughout the whole world (Mark 16:16), to obtain the blessings the Gentile had to “die” in the waters of baptism.
Carried to Abraham’s bosom : When baptised the Gentile becomes Abraham’s seed and an heir according to the promise (Gals 3:29).
The rich man died : His “death” was national in A.D. 70, when Jerusalem was destroyed (cf. Ez. 37 and Rom. 11:15, “Life from the dead”).
In Hades, being in torment : In their “dead” condition they have been in “torment”, buffeted from pillar to post, ill-treated, tortured, starved, falsely accused and submitted to every indignity. The “torment” is there very literally (and still is!).
Saw Abraham afar off : The Jew has drifted a long way from his original position in God’s sight.
Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom : Occupying the position the Jew has rejected.
Send Lazarus to dip his finger : Before, he begrudged the “crumbs” to the Gentile, but now he wants the “drop” to ease his anguish.
In your lifetime : The Jew had all the good things and the Gentile nothing. Now the positions are reversed.
A great gulf : The Jew is as separate as ever he was. Circumcision is still practised and food customs (Kosher food) still maintained. This exclusiveness has been continued all down the centuries.
Five brothers : The description of the rich man could apply to Caiaphas, the high priest, as representative of the nation, and if so, then Caiaphas had five brothers-in-law who were sons of Annas and who all had been high priests.
Send Lazarus to warn them : The Jew, in his agony of bitter persecution, would have welcomed relief. But they had had sufficient warning. Deut. 28 gives very detailed description of the suffering that would come if they were disobedient to God, and it has all come to pass. They had Moses and the prophets.
If one goes From the Dead: One did rise from the dead, even from the dead Jesus himself. While some did repent, the nation as a whole rejected the witness of the risen Jesus, and does so to this day.
This parable, then, follows on that of the unjust steward, which tells of the dismissal of the Jewish nation from their hitherto privileged position. The second, parable tells them that in their rejected condition, bitter suffering would be their portion. Despite the fact that Jesus rose from the dead, their unbelief continued.
Over the years there have been many Gentile endeavours to convert the Jew, but all have been unsuccessful. When “the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” then the one who did rise from the dead will return to take up the position for which he was crucified, the King of the Jews. But in the meantime, they “continue in unbelief”. To understand Luke 16 it is essential that it be studied as a whole.
The Solution