On Making Friends With "Unrighteous Mammon."

"And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home." Luke 16:9

St. Irenaeus (c. 120-202) "For, because He knew that we would make a good use of our substance which we should possess by receiving it from another, He says, 'He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.' And, 'For I was an hungered, and ye gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was naked, and ye clothed Me.'  And, 'When thou doest thine alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.' And we are proved to be righteous by whatsoever else we do well, redeeming, as it were, our property from strange hands. But thus do I say, 'from strange hands,' not as if the world were not God's possession, but that we have gifts of this sort, and receive them from others, in the same as as these men had them from the Egyptians who knew not God; and by means of these same do we erect in ourselves the tabernacle of God: for God dwells in those who act uprightly, as the Lord says: 'Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that they, when ye shall be put to flight, may receive you into eternal tabernacles.'"

St. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215) "'Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.' 'Acquire treasues in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, nor thieves break through.' How could one give food to the hungry, and drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, and shelter the houseless, for not doing which He threatens with fire and outer darkness, if each man first divested himself of all these things? Nay, He bids Zaccheus and Mathew, the rich tax-gatherers, entertain Him hospitably. And He does not bid them part with their property, but, applying the just and removing the unjust judgement, He subjoins, 'To-day salvation has come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham.' He so praises the use of property as to enjoin, along with this addition, the giving a share of it, to give drink to the thirsty, bread to the hungry, to take the houseless in, and clothe the naked. But if it is not possible to supply those needs without substance, and He bids people abandon their substance, what else would the Lord be doing than exhorting to give and not to give the same things, to feed and not to feed, to take in and to shut out, to share and not to share? which were the most irrational of all things. Riches, then, which benefit also our neighbours, are not to be thrown away."

St. Augustine (c. 354-430) "Our duty is to give to others the admonitions we have received ourselves. The recent lesson of the Gospel has admonished us to make friends of the mammon of iniquity, that they too may 'receive' those who do so 'into everlasting habitations.' But who are they that shall have everlasting habitations, but the Saints of God? And who are they who are to be received by them into everlasting habitations, but they who serve their need, and minister cheerfully to their necesities? Accordingly let us remember, that in the last judgement the Lord will say to those who shall stand on His right hand, 'I was an hungered, and ye gave Me meat;' and the rest which ye know. And upon their enquiring when they had afforded these good offices to Him, He answered, 'When ye did it to one of the least of Mine, ye did it unto Me.'"

St. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407) "Let us make then to ourselves 'friends of the mammon of unrighteousness', that is: let us give alms; let us exhaust our possessions upon them, that so we may exhaust that fire: that we may quench it, that we may have boldness there. For there also it is not they who receive us, but our own work: for that it is not simply their being our friends which can save us, learn from what is added. For why did He not say, 'Make to yourselves friends, that they may receive you into their everlasting habitations,' but added also the manner? For saying, 'of the mammon of unrighteousness,' He points out that we must make friends of them by means of our possessions, showing that mere friendship will not protect us, unless we have good works, unless we spend righteously the wealth unrighteously gathered."

St. Jerome (c. 347-420) "Make to yourself friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that they may receive you into everlasting habitations. Give your riches not to those who feed on pheasants but to those who have none but common bread to eat, such as stays hunger while it does not stimulate lust. Consider the poor and needy. Give to everyone that asks of you, but especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Clothe the naked, feed the hungry, visit the sick. Every time that you hold out your hand, think of Christ."

St. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376-444) "The love of money, my brethren, is a most wicked passion, and not easy to abandon. For when Satan has planted this malady in a man's soul, he next proceeds to blind him, nor does he permit him to listen to the words of exhortation, lest there be found for us a way of healing, able to save from misery those who are ensnared thereby...As being therefore good and loving unto men, He (Jesus) has provided for them a special kind of help, lest eternal and never-ending poverty should follow upon wealth here, and everlasting torment succeed to the pleasures of the present time. 'Make for yourselves friends, He says, of the unrighteous mammon: that when it has failed, they may receive you into eternal tabernacles.' And this then is the advice of One providing them with something which they can do...For if, He says, you cannot be persuaded to give up this pleasure-loving wealth, and to sell your posessions, and make distribution to those who are in need, at least be diligent in the practice of inferior virtues. 'Make for yourselves friends with the unrighteous mammon:' that is, do not consider your riches as belonging to yourselves alone; open wide your hand to those who are in need: assist those in poverty and pain: comfort those who have fallen into extreme distress: console with those who are in sorrow, or oppressed with bodily maladies, and the want of necessaries: and comfort also the saints who embrace a voluntary poverty that they may serve God without distraction...Nor shall your so doing be unrewarded. For when your earthly wealth abandons you, as you reach the end of your life, then shall they make you partakers of their hope, and of the consolation given them by God."