And having called him, he said to him, What [is] this that I hear of thee? give the reckoning of thy stewardship, for thou canst be no longer steward.
A rich man has heard that his steward is wasting his goods, so he calls him in: hand over the books, the job is over. Two questions follow — who really owns what we handle, and what can a steward do once he has lost his place? (A steward ran another man's property; where older versions say "steward," the ESV says "manager.")
The parable opens with an accusation. Commentators read the wasteful steward as a picture of man in general, and of Israel in particular. God had entrusted Israel with more than anyone else, so Israel owed more.
Man in general had wasted his master's goods, of course, but the Jew especially. He was the most favoured, and so under a stricter responsibility. He was not only a man, but a steward. The Jew held a trust beyond all others, and he deserved the charge of wasting his master's goods. What had he done for God? He should have been a light in the earth; he should have been a guide to the blind; he should have been a witness to the true God.
The demand for an account comes with a verdict attached. The steward is finished as a steward — yet he still holds the property.
Looked at as a steward, man has proved completely unfaithful… Man here has gone to ruin. So now man is a steward out of his place. "Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward." He is dismissed from the stewardship — he has lost his place, but not the goods he still manages.
If the sentence stands, what has grace changed? One writer answers: grace has not put us back in the old place. It has given us time instead.
Grace has not recalled the sentence, "You can no longer be steward." It has given us far more, but it has not reinstated us in the place we have lost. Death, in fact, is our removal from our stewardship. For us as Christians, though, it is the entrance into something we must admit is "far better." But grace has delayed the carrying out of the sentence, and meanwhile our Master's goods are in our hand. All that we have here is His, not ours.
Once the steward knows his job is over, everything turns on foresight. Notice what he does with goods that are not his own.
First of all, our Lord explains here that the tenure of earthly things is now gone. It was no longer a question of holding a stewardship, but of giving it up. The steward was judged… He is a prudent man. He thinks about what will become of him when he loses his stewardship. He looks ahead to the future. He is not absorbed in the present… So he makes a wise use of his master's goods… Rise above the unbelief that looks at money, or other present possessions, as if they were your own. They are not.
The same words turn up outside the parable. One writer hears the Lord saying them to the churches — a Master who had given blessing and now looks for fruit.
Here, in Revelation 2, it is the Lord in "the house of God" challenging the churches to answer for themselves. He had already set them in the blessing, and now He looks for fruit. It is as though He had heard a report of their unfaithfulness and was now saying to them, "How is it that I hear this of you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward."
The practical edge is ownership. What we hold is on loan, and the account covers more than outward behaviour.
Our danger lies in the tendency of our hearts to seek a portion here, to hold present things as though they belonged to us. Whereas in truth nothing here belongs to us. Our portion is in the eternal things. What we hold here is only entrusted to us as stewards. We must give account for all of it. Not only for the deeds done in the body, our outward conduct, but for the use we have made of everything in this life that was entrusted to us. The motives, too, and the intents of the heart, will all be brought to light.
- Trust. A steward handles what belongs to someone else. The more God entrusts, the stricter the responsibility.
- Report. The master acts on what he hears. The summons in this verse answers a report of wasted goods.
- Sentence. The verdict comes with the audit: the post is lost. Grace gives far more, but it does not reinstate the old position.
- Interval. Grace delays the sentence, and the goods are still in our hand. Spend the passing present on the lasting future.
- Reckoning. God will call in the account. It covers not just our conduct, but our use of everything entrusted — motives included.
And the steward said within himself, What shall I do; for my lord is taking the stewardship from me? I am not able to dig; I am ashamed to beg.
The manager in this parable — older translations call him the steward — has just lost his job, and here we hear him panic in private. His words raise two questions: what do they say about man's real state, and why does the Lord hold up a cheat as an example?
His panic only matters once we know whom he stands for. One writer reads him as man in general, and as Israel, the nation God trusted with His law and promises.
Man in general is God's steward. Israel was God's steward too, in another sense and in another way. God put the nation into His vineyard and trusted it with law, promises, covenants, worship, and so on. But in it all, Israel wasted His goods. Seen as a steward, man has proved completely unfaithful. So what now? In the sovereignty of His grace, God steps in and turns what man has abused on earth into a means of heavenly fruit… "Give an account of your stewardship, for you may be no longer steward." He is dismissed from his stewardship. He has lost his place, but not the things he manages.
The steward asks his question in that gap: dismissed, yet still holding the goods. One writer says we stand in the same gap.
The unjust steward is our picture here. He pictures those under sentence of dismissal from the place God first put them in, because they dealt unrighteously in it — and as to the old creation, that is where we all stand. Grace has not cancelled the sentence, "You may be no longer steward." Grace has given us far more, but it has not put us back in the place we lost. Death is our real removal from our stewardship. Yet for us as Christians it is the entrance into something we must admit is "far better." But grace has delayed the carrying out of the sentence, and meanwhile our Master's goods are in our hand.
Each half of his answer carries weight. One writer reads "I am not strong enough to dig" as an admission of having no power, and "I am ashamed to beg" as pride refusing to depend on God.
He had no power, for the law provokes evil ways rather than giving good ones… On the other hand, the Jew was ashamed to beg. He would not take the place of a lost, good-for-nothing sinner who depends on God for everything. Such a man looks up to God to do and give what he cannot do himself. Sad to say, the stubborn pride of the Jew rebelled against God's verdict that he had no power.
The steward stops making excuses and acts. He gives up the present for the sake of the future, and one writer turns that against the way most people live.
So the steward takes it on himself to sacrifice the present for the sake of the future… There is no ground for thinking the parable makes light of his dishonesty. It brands him the "unjust steward." That was exactly the position and character of the Jew: they were all unrighteous in God's sight. But had they done what the steward does when he is about to be discharged? No! He looked forward to the future, and acted at once on that conviction. Were they not, on the contrary, absorbed in the present? Is this not the great snare of men — to sacrifice the future for the present, instead of the present for the future?
Readers stumble at the praise given to a cheat. Two things clear it up: who gives the praise, and what he praises.
First, the one who commends him is not the Lord Jesus, but the imaginary master in the parable. Second, that master praised the steward for his wisdom, not his honesty. A clever rogue is bound to win a certain admiration from those watching. The point of the parable is that the man acted with his eye on the future.
When the Lord turns from the story to His disciples, He asks for something other than shrewdness. First, though, one writer rules out any idea that our faithfulness earns the welcome ahead.
Faithfulness here does not give, or form any part of, a right to be received there. That right is found only in the grace that receives sinners, and first has to seek them (Luke 15:4-10)… When verses 10-12 apply the teaching of the parable to the disciples, it is not prudence but faithfulness in handling earthly things that the Lord commends.
- Sentenced — The steward pictures man, and Israel in particular. God trusted them; they proved unfaithful; the post is already forfeited.
- Delayed — The dismissal stands, but grace holds it back. Death is the real removal. Until then the Master's goods are still in our hands.
- Helpless — "I am not strong enough to dig" admits the strength is gone. "I am ashamed to beg" is pride refusing the place of a lost sinner who depends on God for everything.
- Farsighted — The one thing worth copying is that he spent the present on the future. Most people do the reverse and trade the future away for the present.
- Faithful — The master in the story praised shrewdness, not honesty. When the Lord turns to His disciples He asks for faithfulness, and the welcome ahead rests on grace alone.
I know what I will do, that when I shall have been removed from the stewardship I may be received into their houses.
The steward has just been told he is finished, and his first recorded move is inward: he makes up his mind. The verb behind "I have decided" carries force.
"I know" (ἔγνων) means "I am resolved."
That settled purpose is the exact thing the Lord holds up for us to look at.
"I know what I will do, that when I shall have been removed from the stewardship I may be received into their houses." This was prudent, and the precise point of earthly wisdom in the parable which the Lord commends for our admonition.
Older translations say "put out of the stewardship." Commentators see more than a lost job here. The same notice already hangs over every human life.
The steward was called to give an account, and told that he had forfeited his stewardship. In the same way, because of Adam's sin man came under the sentence of death, "and so death spread to all men because all sinned" (Rom. 5:12). We have forfeited all right to any place on earth. For each one of us, the actual putting out of the stewardship happens at death. Until then we still hold our Master's goods. How shall we use them?
The steward is not out yet. He still holds the account books, and he spends that short window making friends.
Between the sentence and the day it takes effect, he makes up his lord's accounts and makes friends with his lord's debtors. He uses his lord's money so that these friendly debtors will welcome him into their houses when he is put out of his lord's house. In the same way, man has proved unfaithful in his stewardship. He has lost his place on the earth... Now the question is how to make the best use of the unrighteous mammon, so as to gain a welcome into heavenly homes.
The steward gives away property that is not his. That awkward detail is the point of the story, not a flaw in it.
It does not matter that the goods belonged to his master and not to him. In fact, we see the deepest wisdom in the parable just as it stands, once we apply it to the way we live. The only way we can look ahead like this is to count what people — what self — would call ours as our master's resources. We have no way to secure the future unless we use everything as belonging to God. But this is the victory of faith: instead of looking at the present moment with a natural eye, we keep our eyes on the future and act on it.
In the story, real people open real doors to the dismissed steward. Later the Lord applies the picture, and Kelly warns us not to press "they may receive" too hard.
The words "that they may receive you" just mean "that you may be received into everlasting habitations."... We should put no weight on the exact form of the phrase "they may receive you." It has misled many. Taken literally it could hold true on earth, as we see in verse 4, but in spiritual terms it just means "that you may be received."... God alone receives into heaven. No one else has the right to receive anyone there.
Someone in the parable praises this plan. That praise needs careful limits.
First, the one who gives this praise is not the Lord Jesus, but the imaginary lord in the parable. Second, the steward was praised for his wisdom, not for his honesty. A clever crook always draws a kind of admiration from those who watch him. The point of the parable is that the man acted with his eye on the future. He used his short time as steward with a view to the years that lay beyond.
- Sentence. The notice is already out. The stewardship is forfeited, and the removal itself comes at death.
- Interval. The steward still holds the accounts until the day he is put out. That gap is his whole opportunity.
- Resolve. "I have decided" is a settled purpose, not a daydream. The man weighs the future and acts at once.
- Goods. He wins a future by spending what was never his. Faith does the same, treating money as the Master's.
- Welcome. The doors he wins point beyond earth to the everlasting habitations. God alone has the right to receive anyone there.