How to make use of Mammon

Of the right use of Riches. The unjust Steward.

(The Gospel History, Section 111)

And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when it shall fail, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles. He that is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much: and he that is unrighteous in a very little is unrighteous also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your
 own? No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Commentary by J. R. Dummelow

Lk 16:9. Make to yourselves] i.e. make to yourselves friends in heaven by means of a prudent use of your wealth (viz. by hospitality, alms-deeds; etc.), that when it fail, (i.e. your wealth, ‘fail’), the angels may receive you into the eternal habitations. Friends] i.e. either ‘the poor,’ who by their prayers obtain your admission to heaven, or, more probably, ‘the angels,’ who become the friends of those who give alms, and at the last carry their souls to heaven. The mammon of unrighteousness] A common rabbinical expression. It occurs in the pre-Christian book of Enoch. It does not here mean wealth unrighteously acquired, but simply ‘deceitful wealth.’ So we speak of ‘filthy lucre,’ not meaning unjust gain, but gain in general: see Mt 6:24. So rightly Calvin: ‘By giving this name to riches, he intends to render them an object of our suspicion, because for the most part they involve their possessors in unrighteousness.’

Lk 16:10, 11. V. 11 explains v. 10. If you are unfaithful in such an unimportant matter as money (i.e. if you do not spend your incomes to the glory of God), God will not entrust you with those spiritual gifts, graces, and virtues which are much more important.

Lk 16:12. If you do not spend your money rightly, you will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Money is here called that which is another’s, because Christians are to regard it not as their own, but as a trust for which they must one day give account. That which is your own is the joy of heaven, ‘the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’

Lk 16:13 > Mt 6:24. Two masters] It is a common idea that virtue shades off into vice by imperceptible gradations, and that the majority of men are neither bad nor good. Our Lord pronounces absolutely that in the last resort there are only two classes of men, those who are serving God, and those who are serving the world. Mammon] Not a proper name as readers of Milton would naturally suppose, but an Aramaic word for ‘riches’. Here it stands for ‘worldliness,’ which finds its chief expression in the love of money.

How to make use of Mammon

(The Saviour of the World, Vol VII Book I Poem II)

As one who looks from out a tower of peace
As raging lie below, and desperate men
Whom he would rescue catch they the rope
He throws to save—watches with anguished hope
Their struggles, reaching for the saving rope
Their futile efforts, now supreme despair,—
So Christ looked out on these, the men beloved
To whom He cast salvation urgently
Would they but seize!

“My children, see ye not condemned,
More in thee late than negligence,
Dishonesty and greed? Ye chide yourselves
For these be your offenses; ye do well.
But there is more; the men had wit to find
A way of help; concerns us not to note
Just how, if his way were right; he used his mind;
Behold text set for imitation!
There are who cry, all wealth’s a snare to man
E’en the common wealth of daily bread,
And later them to the wilderness to lack:
Used they their minds, that first intelligence
Your Father gives to men, they would perceive
That wealth and happiness, bread sought more,
May serve a man as steps on the ladder set
From earth to heaven.

Wherefore make your friends
Of whatso wealth of opportunity
Lies in your way. Let it not be wasted,
Squandered in revelry, let rust in sloth:
Consider what good service ye may yield
To your beneficent Lord for every trust
Offering a substance in your hands. Behold,
The Mammon of unrighteousness, maligning—
The foe men fall before as clean cut sheaves
Before the reaper’s sickle—is transformed,
Become a friend to him knows to take thought—
And use as servant him who would pose as lord,
When fortune fails, when life is running low,
So have ye friends awaiting you elsewhere,
In th’ eternal habitations! Prudence smiles,
Justice bids welcome, generous love extends
A hand of greeting. Gratitude bestows
Her reverent kiss upon the very hem
Of th’ robe you wear; Faithfulness, meek of eye
Makes room for you beside her, faithful found!

All men have riches; one may set aside
This instrument mens’ souls try skill upon;
Riches, that which ye have, is for a dutiful use,
But little have ye; use to good effect,
And, lot, fit servants ye, in your Lord’s house
Should he with much entrust you; but the man
Unfaithful in a little, how much more
Unfaithful he with lavish wealth endowed!
Money and place and power—these he trusts too
Tho’ unrighteous Mammon claim them; verily,
Who fails in these trusts, he shall not succeed
In husbanding and dealing out that wealth
Of love, joy, peace, good will, the currency
Of God’s kingdom.
We as the livery of God, proclaim his work
That men may see, and all the separate joy
Men seek of Mammon, as truth ye blow aside!
The two ye cannot serve; how, then, give thought
Obsequious service, adulation, praise,
To Mammon when God’s service waits for you?

St. Luke xvi. 9-13

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