Luke 15:9-11

Luke 15:9. And I say unto you. The last verse contains the commendation of one of ‘the sons of this world;' here we have a recommendation to ‘the sons of the light.'

Hake to yourselves friends out of the mammon. By using money with a prudence like that of the unjust steward, but under a higher motive and with better means than his, gain for yourselves ‘friends,' rather than estates, mansions, etc. ‘Mammon' itself is not to be made a friend, but to be used in making the friends.

Of unrighteousness. Mammon, the personification of money, commonly become the occasion and the means of an unrighteous course of conduct; for this and other reasons its inherent character is said to be unrighteousness.

That when it shall fail, i.e., the mammon to which the correct reading undoubtedly refers. The special reference is to death, when a man's wealth utterly fails ; but it may fail before that

They may receive you, i.e., the friends you have made. These ‘friends' can only ‘receive' us into the eternal tabernacles, i.e., in the future state of blessedness. They do not open heaven for any one, they only welcome there. Of course only those friends, thus made, who belong to our Lord's kingdom, are included here. They may help us heavenward by their prayers before they go there to ‘receive' us. There are numerous other explanations; for example: the ‘friends' are the angels, who welcome those who have left the service of mammon, using the interval (and also the means gained in that service) so as to make such friends. This leads to inferences bordering on what is immoral.