. His own disciples and the
Pharisees wondered by turns why he came so close to the unclean; but if
they had been free from sin as he was, they could have handled it freely
when in their ordinary ministry it crossed their path. Inflammable
matter must be kept far from fire; whereas matter that is incombustible
may, when a necessary cause occurs, safely pass through the midst of the
flame. (2.) A shorter parable in another place presents and explains the
same difficulty: "Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves."
Serpents are proposed to the disciples as examples to be imitated; but
it is the wisdom only and not the hurtfulness of the serpent that their
Master enjoins them to imitate. Foresight and dishonesty are not more
closely or inseparably united in the character of the cunning steward
than wisdom and hurtfulness in the nature of the serpent. In both alike
the Master meant that one quality which is commendable should be
selected for imitation, and the other quality which is vile should be
cast away with loathing. (3.) The key-note of the parable is expressed
in verse 8: "The children of this world are wiser in their generation
than the children of light." The line of interpretation must be drawn
through this point, and all the scattered features of the picture
brought up or brought down to meet it. Thus the tinge of dishonesty that
runs through the prudence of the steward, so far from rendering his case
unsuitable for the purpose of the Lord, imparted to it additional
appropriateness and point. The methods, as well as the ends of the
worldly, were different from those of the spiritual. This example shows
that, from the ungodly man's own view-point, and according to his own
maxims, he prosecutes his object with energy and skill. Let the
Christian, with his clearer, purer light, prosecute his high aim by holy
means with an energy and zeal similar to those which the ungodly exhibit
in the pursuit of their gains or pleasures. It was the design of the
Lord not simply to give his disciples generally an example of wisdom,
but to give them specifically an example of the wisdom of the world--the
wisdom that neither fears God nor regards man. An example of prudence
taken from a good man's history, and exercised under submission to the
law of God, would not have suited the Master's purpose so well as the
one that has been chosen.

It is important to notice at the outset, that in this instance the Lord
addresses his instr