Sometimes the master, more versed in things of heaven than those of earth, taught a still more singular political economy.  In a strange parable, a steward is praised for having made himself friends among the poor at the expense of his master, in order that the poor might in their turn introduce him into the kingdom of heaven.  The poor, in fact, becoming the dispensers of this kingdom, will only receive those who have given to them.  A prudent man, thinking of the future, ought therefore to seek to gain their favor.  “And the Pharisees also,” says the evangelist, “who were covetous, heard all these things:  and they derided him."[1] Did they also hear the formidable parable which follows?  “There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:  and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table:  moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.  And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom:  the rich man also died, and was buried;[2] and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.  And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.  But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things; and likewise Lazarus evil things:  but now he is comforted and thou art tormented."[3] What more just?  Afterward this parable was called that of the “wicked rich man.”  But it is purely and simply the parable of the “rich man.”  He is in hell because he is rich, because he does not give his wealth to the poor, because he dines well, while others at his door dine badly.  Lastly, in a less extravagant moment, Jesus does not make it obligatory to sell one’s goods and give them to the poor except as a suggestion toward greater perfection.  But he still makes this terrible declaration:  “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."[4]

[Footnote 1:  Luke xvi. 1-14.]

[Footnote 2:  See the Greek text.]

[Footnote 3:  Luke xvi. 19-25.  Luke, I am aware, has a very decided communistic tendency (comp. vi. 20, 21, 25, 26), and I think he has exaggerated this shade of the teaching of Jesus.  But the features of the [Greek:  Logia] of Matthew are sufficiently significant.]

[Footnote 4:  Matt. xix. 24; Mark x. 25; Luke xviii. 25.  This proverbial phrase is found in the Talmud (Bab., Berakoth, 55 b, Baba metsia, 38 b) and in the Koran (Sur., vii. 38.) Origen and the Greek interpreters, ignorant of the Semitic proverb, thought that it meant a cable ([Greek:  kamilos]).]