The
crowd was listening to everything Jesus said. And because he was nearing Jerusalem, he told
them a story to correct the impression that the Kingdom of God would begin
right away. He said, “A
nobleman was called away to a distant empire to be crowned king and then
return. Before he left, he
called together ten of his servants and divided among them ten pounds of
silver, saying,
‘Invest this for me while I am gone.’ But his people hated
him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want him to be our
king.’ “After he was crowned king, he
returned and called in the servants to whom he had given the money. He wanted to find out what their profits were. The first servant
reported, ‘Master, I invested your money and made ten times the original
amount!’ “‘Well done!’ the king
exclaimed. ‘You are a good servant. You have been faithful with the little I
entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten cities as your reward.’ “The next servant reported, ‘Master, I
invested your money and made five times the original amount.’ “‘Well done!’ the king said. ‘You will be
governor over five cities.’ “But the
third servant brought back only the original amount of money and said, ‘Master,
I hid your money and kept it safe. I was afraid because
you are a hard man to deal with, taking what isn’t yours and harvesting crops
you didn’t plant.’ “‘You wicked
servant!’ the king roared. ‘Your own
words condemn you. If you knew that I’m
a hard man who takes what isn’t mine and harvests crops I didn’t plant, why didn’t you
deposit my money in the bank? At least I
could have gotten some interest on it.’ “Then,
turning to the others standing nearby, the king ordered, ‘Take the money from
this servant, and give it to the one who has ten pounds.’ “‘But,
master,’ they said, ‘he already has ten pounds!’ “‘Yes,’ the king replied, ‘and to those who
use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who do nothing, even what
little they have will be taken away. And as for these
enemies of mine who didn’t want me to be their king—bring them in and execute
them right here in front of me.’” Luke 19:11-27 (NLT)
One of the keys to undestanding
Scripture is to be silent. As we listen,
Luke tells us right away that the reason for this parable is to help us put
aside our ideas about timetables for the Kingdom of God…and just know that God has
a timetable that will be met.
There are several important key
issues covered in this parable:
1. There
is
judgment – the nobleman intended to come back and settle all accounts…and this
applies to Jesus’ return to judge everyone.
2.
We
have been given a great gift (the Gospel “deposit”), the Good News of
salvation!
3.
We
are commissioned to be stewards – we have a responsibility to share that Good
News of God’s loving offer of salvation.
4.
Enemies
of the Gospel will receive a severe punishment.
This parable is different from the
Parable of Talents, where each servant is given differing gifts, according to
ability. Here the “gifts” are divided
evenly, displaying how each believer is to be steward of the same gift, the
salvation of God.
The accounting (in the time of
judgment) will not be a matter of how much “profit” we brought in with
that gift, but rather on our faithfulness to the charge to engage our world and
its Godless culture with the truth of the Gospel.
In thinking about this we should
reject the attitude and thinking of the third servant in the parable called to
account for his stewardship; he offered an excuse:
I was afraid because you are a hard man to
deal with
The phrase hard man to deal with, literally is translated bitter taste. It speaks volumes about why people reject
serving Christ. In our self-centered,
independence, we consider it an unacceptable bitter pill to swallow
that anyone should be Lord over us.
And this is why there is an
accounting, a judgment day; some people will joyfully serve Christ for the love
of someone who would die in our place.
Some will not.
For You Today
Jesus is truly an acquired taste; only after accepting
His Lordship over your life do you discover that it isn’t bitter at all having
Him as king…it’s joy unspeakable and full of glory!
Share the Gospel today? Sweet!
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