The Gospel of Luke 19:11-27 – Is the mina mine?

Good morning. Before we go into this, I have to tell you a little story. Last night, you know, this is a beautiful time of year, and it's the change of seasons. And so anyway, last night in the wee hours, you know, Nancy is getting up to put on more blankets while I'm throwing them off, right? And it just tells you our metabolism.

And so in this dreamy hour, I'm thinking, nothing could be finer than to talk about the mina in the morning. I had no idea why that would come up. But anyway, so we'll be talking about mina coins here. Okay. So this is immediately following what we took a look at last week. And by the way, your handouts, I think, are catching up with you. They had some copying issues. Anyway, at any rate, so you'll be getting them if you don't have them.

So while they were listening to these things refers to what Jesus had just said about and to Zacchaeus that we read about in the first ten verses of Luke 19 and So Zacchaeus and the disciples are still listening to this parable so they're the ones present here there may very well be a number of other ears present in terms of where this context might be and But at least Jesus is speaking to Zacchaeus and the disciples, but possibly others. Jesus changed the direction from talking very personally about Zacchaeus' own salvation to a much larger point of misunderstanding about the coming of the kingdom of God. You see, even though Jesus had spent three plus years with these disciples and explained a lot of things, there was still a lot they didn't understand. And it turns out that the misunderstanding continues to this day.

One of the things we like to use this chart for to help make it clear is Christ's first coming about 20 centuries ago, at the end of which he was crucified, buried, and resurrected. And shortly after that, beginning the church age, the age that we're in now, And that that will be ended by the rapture the taking up of the church to be with the Lord both those who are alive at the time the rapture takes place as well as Those who have died in Christ up until that time So don't worry. Everybody will get raptured. Hey, nobody will be left behind if you're a part of the body of Christ Following that will be the seven-year tribulation At the end of which will be the second coming The problem that Jesus is trying to address here with this parable, in part, is that they were thinking that what we look upon as the second coming is right there as they get up to Jerusalem.

That's their mindset. Boy, when we get to Jerusalem, then the kingdom's going to start. And Jesus says, not so fast. So that's why He's telling this parable, to get some understanding that it will be some time here before the kingdom starts. And also, meanwhile, What ought you to be focusing on? So, anyway, that's the point of that.

Now, he tells then the parable of the talents and the minas, just to make it clear, it has nothing at all to do with America's Got Talent, right? And it has nothing to do with miners, right? Like coal miners. And it has nothing to do with underage people either, right? Alright.

So now, so you have the parable of the talents, which we covered in Matthew sometime back, Matthew 25, 14-30. It was Jesus told just a couple of days before his crucifixion. So Jesus told the parable of the talents actually several days after this where he tells the parable of the minus. So there's two separate parables. It's not just two versions of the same thing. They're at a different time. There are some differences and we'll take a look at those differences briefly.

This the parable of the minas told in Luke 19 11 to 27 Jesus told about a week before perhaps a little bit more But a week before his crucifixion This particular parable emphasizes unlike the talents that we have we all have opportunity So every one gets a minor. Okay, we all have opportunity. Okay, the Lord provides spiritual opportunity to every single one of us and and we all have that. Now, one of the things before we go through this, this parable that Jesus tells has a number of very close similarities to the life of Herod Arkelos. Now, let's talk about Herod Arkelos. Herod Arkelos was the designated heir to the throne of Herod the Not-So-Great. Herod the Not-So-Great died in March of four And when he died, everybody went, hooray!

And then when they found out his son would be king, they went, oh no! So it was that kind of a response. He traveled to Rome in order to receive his kingdom. But when people found out he's traveling to Rome in order to receive his kingdom, they sent a delegation to, please not that! And so they cut his kingdom in half, instead of calling him a king, called him an ethnarch and split the rest of it with the rest of Herod's sons.

So at any rate, this parable actually follows very closely in many details. We won't sit there and track them all, but it falls very closely with the story of Herod Arkelos. He had a great number of subjects who did not want to have him reign as king. As a matter of fact, when Herod the Not-So-Great died, That's when Mary and Joseph went back up to Israel, but they didn't end up in Herod-Argelas territory. That's why they went back to Nazareth. Because they didn't want to be under this lunatic. This guy's a nut job. But the scribes and Pharisees also did not want Jesus to reign. And so that's why this particular portion of the parable is there.

Alright, so here's Luke 19.11, while they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. So they're thinking, hey, here we are, it's just a steep climb, but it's short distance, all the way up to Jerusalem, from Jericho, and when we get to Jerusalem, then the kingdom is going to start.

That's what they're thinking. And so everybody's getting all excited about that. He says, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. He wants to correct that misunderstanding as well as to talk to them about, no, that's not what's going to happen. There's going to be a significant delay. And here's what you need to think about in the meantime. So that's the reason for this parable. They had a misunderstanding. So here's the first reason why he's telling the parable.

One, to correct their misunderstanding about how soon the kingdom is going to take place. So even though Jesus was telling the parable in part to correct the false notion, the kingdom would appear immediately upon arrival in Jerusalem. I mean, they're thinking today's the day, right?

The disciples kept on misunderstanding what was ahead in Jerusalem, because remember what's ahead is not the kingdom's going to start, but Jesus is going to get crucified, which they still didn't understand, and buried, which they still didn't understand, and resurrected, which they still didn't understand. So there was a lot they didn't understand. They didn't understand how long the kingdom would be delayed. And guess what? It's still being delayed 20 centuries later. And it could be more time after this.

Here's Acts 1, 6 through 8, which tells you that, boy, they're really thinking about this, okay? So when the 11 disciples had come together, They were asking him, saying, Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom of Israel? In other words, they're thinking, okay, all that stuff about crucifixion and burial and resurrection and all that, that was very confusing and very distressing and very shocking. But after all that confusion and disruption, now you're going to start the kingdom, right?

So that's their mindset. And he says, oh, no, no, no. You guys didn't understand that crucifixion and burial and resurrection stuff, and you still don't understand the kingdom's still going to be farther off. Farther than what you were thinking. So it's important to remember this very entrenched mindset, even after Christ's crucifixion and burial and resurrection, it's still there. They're thinking now. And as a matter of fact, we have people now who think kingdom now. Yeah, we have people who think kingdom now, right now.

Alright, so, and he said to them, it is not for you to know the times or epochs by which the Father is fixed by His own authority. So he doesn't tell them, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, the kingdom isn't about Israel at all anymore, right? Notice he doesn't say that. He tells them instead, yeah, that's for real, but the times and epochs and all that, and there's another clue about long period of time, epochs, right? which the Father is fixed by His own authority.

In other words, the Father decides that. He's the one who calls the shots on the timing of things. And it's going to be a long time. Another program is what God's going to do now. But you will receive power, and the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth. And so they've got to figure out that, that God's going to start the church. I'm going to start the church here shortly. And this day right here is May 14th, 33 AD. May 14th, 33 AD.

So the kingdom is not now. Jesus is going to correct their misunderstanding as well as add some perspective of what will happen between Christ's first coming and second coming. He's going to give them perspective on this thing. The kingdom, Christ is telling them, is not going to happen right away. is being put off in time because the people of Israel have rejected Jesus as their Messiah. We would have had a kingdom real soon if everybody had embraced Jesus as the Messiah, but they didn't. It was actually a fairly small number that did. And so, the kingdom is going to be put off.

We've got something else going on here, and it's called the church. The other thing for us to keep in mind as we go through this is this is a parable. Like all parables, there was a specific intended point or a couple, maybe two or three set of points to illustrate. We should not press or stretch every detail of the parable for meaning. like a parable of the sower. People want to go identify the sower and try to answer, well, why would he sow the seed in different kinds of soil? And people want to get all sorts of answers to things that really are not intended by the parable. So this is a parable as well.

We should look only for those points or messages the parable is intended to convey. So we are told outright this parable is meant to tell the disciples the kingdom isn't coming right away. We're also going to see in the content of the parable some teachings about opportunities and rewards. And we're going to observe that. But we're not going to press it beyond that point, because it's not intended to convey other things.

Here's Luke 9.12.

So he said, a nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself and then return. And this, by the way, is exactly what happened with the Herod Arkelos. He had to go to Rome from Israel and then come back. So the nobleman represents Jesus in this parable.

The distant country represents heaven, where God the Father will give Christ the rights to the Millennial Kingdom here on earth. But the timing is not yet. The return that Jesus speaks of will be his own second coming to earth to reign as King of Israel and King of Kings and Lord of Lords over the Gentile nations. That title, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, is over the Gentile nations when he comes again. So this distant country term is there to tell us, since travel is much slower in those days, that Christ's return to rule over the Millennial Kingdom would be delayed for some time. It took a long time to get places.

The Apostle Paul, for instance, went from Caesarea to Rome from August of 59 to February of 60 AD for about six months. It took for him to get from Caesarea on the coast of Israel there to Rome. So travel on land was usually about 20 miles a day if you're doing good. If you have to care for a bunch of little kids or something, it might be slower. But 20 miles a day was thought of as making good time. So if you're traveling by land, for instance, from Israel all the way to Rome, you are going to have a long trip, months and months.

Here's Luke 19.13, And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas, and said to them, Do business with this until I come back.

So Jesus used the number 10 as a representative figure. It didn't match the number of disciples, so it wasn't meaning just them, right? So what that points to is this is a generally applicable parable. The number 10 is not particularly significant or directly applicable to that particular group. Slaves were given varying degrees of responsibility, but could be given great responsibility. These 10 slaves here represent church-age believers, you and me. and including the apostles themselves.

So he's telling them a truth that applies to themselves during the church age. He is telling them a truth that applies also to us. So people will say, well, didn't Jesus just address things for Israel? Sometimes, but towards the end of the Gospels, each one of them, you'll have things that apply to the church saints, including us.

So, we ask the question, is the mine a mine? Right? Is the mine a mine? In the parable of Jesus, had each of the ten slaves or servants be given a mina. This mina was worth a hundred drachmas, and each drachma was worth about a day's wages. And so, put it all together, each of these slaves was entrusted with a few months' wages to invest while the nobleman was gone to receive in this distant country, his kingdom. So, all right, I'm going to be gone, and now I'm going to give you three months' wages, approximately, and you're to invest it.

And so the question is, is the mine a mine? No, it is still the owner's, the nobleman's, and he's expecting them to invest it and produce a profit with it. So they are stewards. The slaves were not simply gifted with a mina to call their own and do as they wished. There was an accountability, which we'll see a little farther on. There was an accountability for how did it do and how did you do. Each slave was entrusted with a mina for a specific purpose. It wasn't just, here's a mina, do what you like.

And that purpose was the expectation each slave was going to carry on some business, have it as a business transaction to multiply it. The word for do business here is only shows up here in Luke out of the whole New Testament. It's in this place. The idea is to make a profit and add to the value of this mina. You're going to return the mina and the ones that come up as a prophet to the nobleman. So Jesus used the words in there, until I come back. When Christ comes back, which would be a second coming, we'll actually have been gone.

And this is where the parable is not intended to convey all the fine detail about prophecy and what's going to happen, the timing of the rapture and all that. It doesn't have that purpose. The idea is that, number one, it's conveying that there's going to be a delay until the coming of the kingdom. And there still is. And it's to convey that there is to be some spiritual productivity during that time. And so other details here don't correspond. This is a parable that with this particular point in mind, we shouldn't try to press the details to fit with the rapture before the tribulation begins, etc. It's not for that purpose. Here's Luke 19, 14.

But his citizens hated him. and sent a delegation after him saying we do not want this man to reign over us. It turns out with Herod Arkelos that's exactly the case. The citizens hated this man and so as Herod Arkelos went to Rome to try to receive his kingdom, the Jews sent 50 representatives to say please no, not this guy, right? We do not want this man to reign over us. So in this parable, the citizens hated the noblemen so much that they sent a delegation to the authority that was about to grant the noblemen the right to rule this kingdom. This should have told the disciples who were there with Zacchaeus that Jesus was ultimately not going to be well-received in Jerusalem.

It wasn't a, hey, he's coming in and now he's the Messiah. Instead it was a, hey, he's going to die. While there were some who believed in Christ and embraced His place as the Messiah of the coming kingdom, most did not. Those in charge wanted Him dead. So Jesus knew well what the plan was. And was He going to fight it? No. He was going to cooperate with it. He was, in fact, when it was time to be crucified, said, let's do this. Let's do this. In a week or so, the rulers of Israel, along with the crowd, gathered before Pilate and will loudly demand the death of Christ by crucifixion. The death reserved for only the worst of the worst of the worst. With only a small exception, the leaders of Israel could hardly agree on anything. I mean, they fought a lot. They argued a lot. Even among the Pharisees, they argued a lot, debated about lots of things. But they did agree on one thing.

This Jesus guy has got to die. This Jesus guy has got to die. Just as Caiaphas had said, and we quote there out of John 11 and 18. The crowd just went along with it about a week later. What did they scream? Crucify Him! Crucify Him! in not much time after this event. Not even the so-called triumphal entry would turn the crowd away from calling for Christ's death. Triumphal entry? Not so much. Jesus sobbed right before it. We'll take a look at that soon here.

Luke 19.15, and when he returned, the nobleman, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves to whom he had given the money be called to him so that he might know what business they had done." What have you done with the mina that I gave you? So as we examined a couple of months ago in early March, there will be in fact be various judgments of various people and different people groups at different times. We in the body of Christ however will be judged earlier than the others.

Judgment as to eternal salvation or loss will be determined on the basis of faith and that alone. It is only by faith that people are saved. That's been true from Adam until the last person to be born here on the planet. Salvation is always by faith. The law never saved anybody.

The law was to determine whether you live or die, you get punished or not, and you get blessed or cursed. That's what the law is for. Judgment as to reward will be based on God's working in and through us. Judgment as to reward will be based on God's working in and through us. Not our best efforts, but His sufficiency for all things.

Here's Luke 19, 16, and 17. The first appeared, the first of these slaves, who had the mina, saying, Master, your mina has made ten minas more. Notice, it's your mina, right? He recognizes that it's the master's mina. Your mina has made ten minas more.

And he said to him, well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be an authority over ten cities. Ten cities. So think of it, this slave had turned one mina into a tenfold or one thousand percent profit. That's pretty good. One thousand percent profit. So that's very profitable. That's good. The nobleman then commends the slave. Well done. And tells him that he would be in charge of ten cities. Wow.

So Jesus' intent here is to convey that spiritual investment and productivity and profitability now, here at this time, translates into authority and responsibility in the coming millennial kingdom. And I would say likely beyond. So that's what he's conveying here. So we have Luke 19, 18 and 19.

The second came saying, your mina master has made five minas. And he said to him also, you are to be over five cities. So the second slave had turned one mina into five minas. So this slave had done very well. And so we assume there that he was commended. then puts the slave in charge of the five cities in this coming kingdom. So the stewardship of the slave turned one mina into five, and so was then put in charge of five cities. What this is telling us here is what the Lord entrusts us with here means future kingdom authority. We will rule and reign with him, but future kingdom authority is what's being addressed here.

Then Luke 19, 20, and 21. Now, what's interesting here, he sent out ten, or he had ten slaves, each given a mina. There's actually only three that we see here. This is the third one. Another came, saying, Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a handkerchief.

For I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man, and you take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow. The rabbis had a tradition in which they said that keeping one's money in a handkerchief was not a good idea. It could be too easily lost or stolen. In fact, I say that that unwise thing to do, they would use words like foolish, irresponsible, right? To keep your coins in the napkin or handkerchief.

This is exactly what this slave admits to doing. with the minor that was entrusted to him. So it was like the worst thing you could do. So why did he do that? He explained to his master, fear. Fear. Fear or any other motive that holds us back from being faithful to the stewardships that God is entrusted with is a temporary feeling creating an eternal shortfall. See that? It's a temporary feeling creating an eternal shortfall.

See, right now what we're doing does impact our eternity. If you believe that Christ died for your sins, was buried and rose again, if you believe that, then you're eternally saved. That's never at issue. That's never at issue. But with the stewardship God has given us here, What we do with them impacts eternity. Impacts eternity.

Here's Luke 19, 22 and 23. He said to them, By your own words, I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you not know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? Then why did you not put my money in the bank? And having come, I would have collected it with interest. One of the things to keep in mind, this is in a Jewish context in that time.

Jesus is not talking to a bank in the same sense that we think of. The Jews were not supposed to charge interest if they lent money to fellow Jews. But it was okay to charge Gentiles. You can't charge interest to fellow Jews. So the idea here is that you're going to give it to a money lender who will lend it then to Gentiles. That would be the idea. Also the rabbi said that if a moneylender lost your money, you were not personally liable for the loss. So the nobleman would not have held the slave liable if money was lost. So better that you had risked it, he's saying, and given it to a moneylender who could then loan it out to the Gentiles at interest, and then you could return that back to me when I came.

That's what he's saying here. Luke 19, 24-26. Then He said to the bystanders, take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas. They said to Him, Master, he has ten minas already. So Jesus says, I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.

What's the message here? Let's take a look at the Apostle Paul and he gives some particularly good points in 1st Corinthians 4 1 and 2 It says let a man regard us in this manner and by the way I think that translation could be made stronger as Servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God in this case moreover. It is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy and This is an imperative, and he says, you guys have to think it through, okay? You guys have to think it through that we are servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. That's what he's saying. But in verse 2, it says, required of stewards, what?

That they be found trustworthy. Here is another one, 1 Timothy 1, 12 and 13, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has strengthened me because he considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor.

So here is Paul, did his past, and I have to say it's beyond failure, did his past failure exclude him from future spiritual productivity? No. And this is very important for us to note. You might think back, oh man, I've blown it terribly. I just have not done what I should have done. And just like Paul, it's looking forward that we need to look. He didn't say, Lord, I can't do that because I've disqualified myself. No. He says, God had mercy even though I did things that were wrong. He said, I was formerly a blasphemer.

A blasphemy, that's just the worst thing you can do in the Jewish mindset. As a persecutor of the church, he said, I voted for death every time. And the violent aggressor, that's hubris. So in the Greek mind, that's the worst thing you could do, that is laughing at the suffering of your fellow man while shaking your fist at the gods. So in both the Jewish and the church and in the Greek mindset, he had been the worst, but God put him in the service. And what was he? Faithful. Faithful. So if you've got a past, that's okay. It's the forward-looking thing that you ought to be putting the focus on. It's what's ahead. If you have a past, you can have a faithful future.

God rewards faithfulness. He will not give more to the person who has not shown faithfulness. That being said, just like Paul, even a bad or lackluster past does not stop us from here forward. So motivated by grace, enabled, energized, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and lived out by the life of Christ in and through us, we can step into the stewardship that God has entrusted us. It's not my effort. God does not reward that.

But His life in and through us is what He does reward. Full reward in 2 John 8, and I believe that's what you have in your handout as well at the top of the page, in the bulletin rather. So watch yourselves that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Does God want you to have a full reward?

Yep. That's what the Lord's motivated for. Because this is not God looking, can I catch you doing something wrong? Can I scream and holler and yell at you about what you did wrong? About what you didn't do? No. The motivation from God is to reward you to the full.

He wants to reward you to the max. That's how He's motivated. That's what he desires to do, not scream and holler and yell at you, not say, gotcha. He is motivated to reward us to the full. Here are the biblical crowns and rewards, and I think while these certainly spell out a number of things, it's probably not an exhaustive list. We may very well be surprised for the things the Lord rewards. These were the victor's crown, sometimes worn by royalty, but victor's crown is an athletic competition.

So here's Luke 19.27, but these enemies of mine who do not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence. Well, that sounds pretty severe. Let's take a look here.

In ancient times, in the Middle East, the kings or rulers, enemies, would commonly get slain to get them completely out of the way. Because if there was some kind of a rebellion, frequently these enemies were the ones who were at it. So you would have stories of, okay, that guy didn't get rid of his enemies. So anyway, that's why it was actually commonly done.

The disciples would have said, yes, that's the way it's done. So in this case, however, the intent was to convey not that the enemies of Christ would be put out of existence, but rather they would be eternally punished for refusing His reign and His grace. These ones who called for His crucifixion would be His enemies, and they would actually be ones that would pay for it by turning away His grace. And even into our own time, that's the consequence, turning away the grace, saying, no, I don't want the grace, I'll pay for it myself.

That's what it takes. So it's well for us to consider carefully the stewardships that God has entrusted to each one of us. And actually think about it, each of us has been entrusted with a number of stewardships, every single one of us here. So the parable of minas emphasizes that we all of us, that's why each one is given one mina, we all of us have stewardships. We're equal in that respect. Parable of the talents emphasize we all have different sizes and kind so that's a contrast between the two and why Jesus would tell two similar but different parables within days of one another These are all things that God has entrusted to us to you and to me now for a time all the stewardship's that we have only lasts for a time and So there are a great many stewardships of different kinds and varying degrees of significance in the Bible.

A fair number of those apply to us here and now. So all of us have these varying kinds and durations and degrees of significance. Spouses. Nancy and I have been married for 42 and a half years now. We both of us have a stewardship of our marriage. It's been entrusted to us. It's not mine to do with as I wish. It's been entrusted to us. Children. You probably know you have them for a time. You have them for a time. While you're going through it, it may seem like a long time. I just started this two decade long project. They're a stewardship. That's really what they are.

They're not our children in the sense that we own them, but they're a stewardship given by God. And so our children are a stewardship. Now that Nancy and I are in a place where we have grandchildren, they're still a stewardship with our children's families and with our grandkids. That stewardship will continue on. There's parents and family. And so that's a stewardship. How about members of this church body?

We have a stewardship with one another, right? So with each of us, we have a stewardship because we're here as a part of the body of Christ at Holly Hills. The stewardship differs from one person to the next. But if you're a part of the body here at Holly Hills, there's a stewardship that goes along with it.

And it's good for us to think through, okay, what does that mean? What are the consequences of that stewardship that we have with one another? And so I'd encourage you to just kind of ponder that and always remember it's a gracious stewardship. It's a gracious stewardship. We're to be grace motivated by it, not law motivated. And it brings me to this song.

There's a line in there in this song, only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done in the original for Christ will last. But that's not actually biblical. Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done by Christ will last. It's what He does through us that lasts forever. God does not want us to come thinking, boy, I've got to really try hard for God. That's not what He wants. He's not looking for that. It's what's done by Him in and through us. That's what'll last. As a matter of fact, it'll last forever. It'll last forever. Imagine that.

How gracious can we get? The Lord works in and through us through nothing of our own. And he says, for allowing me to use you and to work in and through you, I'm going to reward you for that forever. So rather than, whoa, I better get busy, it's resting in Him and let Him do it. And so John Fisher years ago wrote a song, he goes, Rest, rest in Him. Your work is through. lean back on his great power he'll work through you let's pray Lord we thank you as we come to this passage certainly we see it's kind of an intense parable and yet at the same time we come away with a gracious message and we see also too that just Yes, there is a delay in your coming. And yet, at the same time, we also find that there's a reward for looking forward to the day that you take us home to be with you. We hope it's today. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.