"But he refused, saying, 'Think of all the years that I have been serving you! Never have I once disobeyed you; and yet you have never given me even a little kid out of the flock of goats, for me to have a merrymaking with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours comes home, who has wasted your money with vile people, you kill the fatted calf and for him make a great feast.'

"'My son,' said the father, 'you and I are always together, and everything that I have is yours. We could not help being glad and rejoicing; for your brother here was dead, and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'"

You can see that in this elder brother of the story was the spirit of the Pharisees and the scribes, who were displeased because Jesus was willing to welcome those who had been sinful, when they came to him, sorry for their sins.

The Parable of the Dishonest Steward

CHAPTER 65

AT THIS TIME Jesus gave to his disciples the parable of "The Dishonest Steward." A steward is a man who takes care of any business or lands or houses belonging to another man who employs him. Jesus said:

"There was a rich man who had a steward who took charge of all his business. Some one told the rich man that his steward was cheating him and making a wrong use of his money. So the master sent for the steward and said:

"'What is this that I hear about you? Hand in your accounts, for you shall not be my steward any longer.'

"The steward was at first greatly troubled at this; and he did not know how he could live if his office as steward was taken away.

"'What shall I do,' he said to himself, 'now that my master is taking away from me my place as steward? I am not strong enough to dig in the ground as a farmer, and I am ashamed to beg in the streets. Oh, I know what I can do, so that when my office as steward is taken away the people will invite me to their homes to live with them.'

"One by one the steward called to him the men that were owing his master.

"'How much do you owe my master?' he asked of the first.

"'A hundred barrels of oil,' answered the man.

"'Here, take your bill,' said the steward, 'and instead of a hundred barrels, make it fifty barrels.'"

This, you see, was making a present to the man of fifty barrels of oil, but not from the steward himself; instead, stealing it from his master, to give to the man who owed him.

"Then to the next man he said, 'And how much do you owe?'

"'A hundred bushels of wheat,' answered the man.

"'Here is your bill,' said the steward; 'make it eighty.'

"And so he treated all those who were owing to his master, giving to each one a part of his debt; so that they would be friendly to him and give him help when he should need it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The dishonest steward]

"When his master heard of all this, he praised the steward, not for doing rightly, but for looking ahead and taking care for the time to come."

And Jesus said, "The people of this world often are wiser in looking ahead, and planning for the days to come, than are those who have the light of G.o.d. And I say to you: use the money of this world to make friends with it, not on earth, but in heaven; so that when you leave the earth, they may welcome you to homes in heaven that never pa.s.s away. He who is faithful with a small trust is also faithful with a large trust; and he who is not honest but tries to cheat in little things, will be dishonest and try to cheat in great things. So if you cannot be trusted with the money of this world, who will trust you with the riches of G.o.d?

And if you are not faithful with what belongs to another, how can you expect to have anything forever as your own?

"No servant can serve two masters at the same time; for either he will hate one master and love the other; or else he will stand by one master and despise the other. You cannot serve G.o.d and at the same time live for money."

All these things were spoken in the hearing of the Pharisees, who were fond of money and grasping. They listened, with contempt and scorn in their hearts.

Jesus knew what was in their minds, and he said to these Pharisees:

"You are the men who make people believe that you are good, but G.o.d sees and knows what is in your hearts. What is lofty in the sight of men is vile in the sight of G.o.d."

A Parable for the Lovers of Money

CHAPTER 66

JESUS KNEW that the Pharisees, for all their church-going and their carefulness in keeping the rules of their law, were in their hearts lovers of money, and were living for the things of this world and not for G.o.d. He gave to them a parable about a rich man who suddenly became poor, and a poor man who became rich. It is called "The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus."

"There was a rich man," said Jesus, "who dressed in purple robes, like a king, and lived in a splendid great house, with many servants to wait upon him, and feasted every day upon the finest food. Outside the door of the rich man's house was laid every morning a poor beggar named Lazarus, who was covered with sores and was glad to eat the crumbs and broken pieces from the rich man's table. The dogs of the street used to come and lick his sores.

"After a time, the poor man died, and his soul was taken by the angels to be in heaven with Abraham, the father of G.o.d's people; because in all his poverty he had lived for G.o.d, trying always to do G.o.d's will. The rich man died, too, and was buried. But no angels came to carry him to the land where Abraham was living in happiness. His soul went to the place of woe and sorrow and suffering; not because he had been rich, but because in his riches he had never thought of G.o.d.

"The rich man, being in torment, looked up, and far away saw Abraham, with Lazarus in his arms.

"'O Father Abraham,' he called out, 'take pity on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am burning in this flame!'

"'My son,' answered Abraham, 'remember that when you were alive on the earth you had all your enjoyment, while Lazarus in his life had poverty and pain. Now Lazarus has comfort for all his trouble and you are in misery. Besides all that, between us in heaven and you in the dwelling place of the wicked, there is a great valley, a gulf which no one can cross, either to go from us to you or to come from you to us.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: Lazarus before the rich man's door]

"'If that be so,' said the once-rich man, now so poor, 'and Lazarus cannot come to me, I beg of you, Father Abraham, to send Lazarus to my father's house; for I have five brothers; let him speak to them in time, so that they may not come to this place of terrible suffering.'

"'They have the writings of Moses and the words of all the prophets,'

said Abraham; 'let them listen to these.'

"'But, Father Abraham,' he said, 'if some one from the dead should go to them, they would turn from sin to G.o.d.'

"'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets,' said Abraham, 'they will not believe, even if some one should rise from the dead.'"

As the twelve disciples of Jesus heard this parable, they said, "Lord, make our faith stronger!"

"If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed," said Jesus, "you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

"Which one of you, if he had a servant plowing in the field or tending sheep, when he comes in from the field will say to him, 'Come at once and take your place at the table for your supper'? No, he will say to his servant, 'Get my supper ready; then make yourself ready to wait on me while I am eating and drinking; and after that you may have your supper.'

"Does a master thank his servant for doing what he has been told? Well, it is the same with you; when you have done all that you have been told, say, 'We are only servants; we have done no more than we ought to have done.'"