Luke 16:2

CALLED TO ACCOUNT

‘Give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.’

Luke 16:2

We call this parable the Parable of the Unjust Steward—i.e. a fraudulent, dishonest steward—and such undoubtedly he did become; but not deliberately dishonest up to the time when his lord called him suddenly to account. He was accused to his lord that he had wasted his goods; not a purposed and continued fraud, but a long-continued faithlessness to his trust. He had forgotten that he was the trustee for his lord’s possessions, and he had lived on neglecting plain duties, until at last the goods began to perish.

The man, then, was guilty of being unfaithful to his trust. And it is this that gives the parable its terrible significance for us.

I. This, then, is the question which each of us has to ask of himself and of his own life: ‘What manner of steward have I been of those things that my Lord has entrusted to me?’ God has given each one of us something to do in His household. Every one of us is, in a larger or smaller degree, a steward of the Lord. Two great gifts of God, at least, are given to every one—Time and Opportunity.

(a) Time—that fleets so swiftly, and so often unheeded, passing by moments and days, and running up to years, bringing life to a close, is God’s great trust to every one of us.

(b) And Opportunity—those moments fraught with blessings and help, or hindrance and evil, to one’s fellow-men, and which may become the means of increasing the Master’s goods or of diminishing them.

II. We have to give an account, sooner or later, to our Lord and Master of how we have used these great gifts, and many another besides; but of these two surely every one of us has to give an account. Think for a moment of the many stewardships we all have from time to time given us; and how these stewardships are terminated—now, at one time, one stewardship, and now, at another time, another.

(a) There is the parent’s stewardship of the child.

(b) The master, the employer, the statesman, the citizen, who fills any place of trust, the parish pastor—all who have any charge, any duties, any power or influence—all these have some great trust of their Lord’s to answer for, and sooner or later there rests upon each the question: ‘Have I been faithful to my stewardship?’

If a man has not kept his Lord’s trust, and has to answer to Him for wasted time and wholly neglected opportunities, how awful must be his account!

—Archbishop Magee.

Illustration

‘In spiritual things, the effective use of stewardship is the being permitted to do true work for God. The joy of success, the joy of safety, the happiness of accomplishments, is solemnised, irradiated by the assurance within the soul of its real and vital union with Christ. “Rejoice not,” Jesus said to His disciples, after successful exercise of ministry, “rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” And then, just as the faithful use of one earthly post finds its reward in opportunities of a greater and wider field of usefulness, so a true use of the trust of earthly life shall one day have its exceeding reward in the greater opportunities of what Jesus called the true riches, even the fuller service and trust of the Kingdom of Heaven. To one who, in giving account of his stewardship, can show an increase in proportion to the trust bestowed, who, receiving five talents, brings other five talents, or having but two talents yet brings other two talents, Christ will say in the day of the final account of all stewardship, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” ’