Luke 19:11-26 – The Parable of the Ten Minas

11 While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. 12 He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. 13 So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. (A mina was about 3 months wages) ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’
14 “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’
15 “He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.
16 “The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’
17 “‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’
18 “The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’
19 “His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’
20 “Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. 21 I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’
22 “His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? 23 Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’
24 “Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’
25 “‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’
26 “He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. 27 But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’”

To begin to explain these verses, I would like to discuss what has already happened in this chapter. Jesus has just ministered to a rich tax collector named Zaccheaus. He invited himself over to Zach’s house, and people complained that Jesus was spending time with a “sinner.” Zaccheaus’ heart was touched by the character of Jesus so much that this tax collector decides to give half of his goods to the poor, and restore (or pay back) 4x of whatever he has defrauded from people. In response to Zaccheaus’ show of generosity, Jesus said two things. First, Jesus declared that salvation has come into Zacchaeus’s house. Second, Jesus explained that his purpose was to seek and save the lost. These two statements together remind us that salvation didnt come to Zaccheaus’ home because of the generous gift of Zach. Jesus has a purpose and a job, and that’s to save the lost, so Jesus himself was this salvation that came to Zacchaeus’s house. It is very humbling understand that Zaccheaus just gave away over half his wealth, but Jesus was the one that did the seeking, and Jesus was the source of the salvation. Jesus then begins to tell a parable. Since the context of this parable is pertaining to his encounter with a tax collector, it makes sense that this parable mentions money. This parable is in many ways very similar to the parable about the Talents found in Matthew 25. In my opinion, there are enough differences in the two that I believe they can be studied separately.

This parable means different things to different people, and based on some commentaries that I’ve studied, and sermons that I’ve read, there are two prevailing ways to interpret this verse. I will present both, and then explain a few other ideas.

The First is what I will call the Tea Party interpretation.

The Man of Noble birth is Jesus himself. The distant country that Jesus is going to in order to be named King is Heaven. Jesus promises to return to earth from Heaven with all the authority of King. In Chapter 13, the servants all represent us as Christians. We are all servants of Christ, and Christ gives us the stewardship over his resources. It is important to note here that there is one Mina for each and every servant (this is different than the Parable of the talents found in Matthew). The understanding here is that God gives each of his servants an equal opportunity to use their lives, blessings, their time, their money, and anything else that God gives us. We are to put these things to work while we are here on this earth. It doesn’t necessarily imply that we all have the same exact resources to start with, but we all have have a life and that life is made up of time that can be “put to work” for the kingdom. The noble man who is to become king gives his servants a command. Their command is to put the money to work until their master comes back. Chapter 14 also describes “subjects” that hate the Noble man. They send a delegation to explain they don’t want to have the Noble Man as their King. We will see more about these guys later. Chapter 15 tells that the Noble Man was named King, despite opposition. Upon the master’s return, we see one servant who made excellent choices with his Mina (he’s the Warren Buffet of the servants). His ventures, investments, decisions, risks, all paid off. He turned his one Mina into ten. A second servant does a good job and grows the one mina into five. Upon hearing this, the King gives the first servant control of ten entire cities, and the second is given control over five entire cities. We see that the reward that is given is proportional to the amount of success that the servant has with his stewardship. Then we get to Chapter 20. The third servant returned the Mina, unused, to the master. He gives an excuse, saying he was afraid, and begins to complain that his boss was a “hard man” and takes out what he didn’t put in and reaps what he didnt sow. The King calls the third servant wicked and judges the servant by his own words. He then takes away the third servant’s Mina and gives it to the servant with ten. With this interpretation of the parable, we need to understand that God expects us to work hard with the blessings that He’s given to us. When given a command by God, we are to follow it and see it through. This third man is seen as lazy and irresponsible. we must remember that the third man was given a command to put the Mina to work, but he didn’t. So not only did he disobey a command from his King, but He also had the nerve to disrespect the King’s character. Telling the King that he was a man who takes out what he didn’t put in, and reaps what he didn’t sow implies that the King doesn’t deserve the gains made on the Mina. But it was never about the gains on the Mina. The king doesn’t need the 10 minas (about 2 and a half years of wages). What’s worth more, the 10 minas, or the 10 cities? The King is using the minas as a way to test the ability of the Servants. In seeing how they manage or steward the King’s mina, he can see if they are capable of managing a city. The lesson to learn is that our lives here on earth are kind of like this “testing” period where we use Minas, with a small temporary value, to see whether or not we can be entrusted with cities, or with a significant eternal value. We see the third man as a servant of Christ who remains idle and doesn’t attempt to use his gifts. This third man loses his Mina and any reward. This third servant reminds the reader of when the Bible says the person who tries to save his life will lose it, but the person who loses his life, for the sake of Jesus will save it. Chapter 25 and 26 admit that it seems unfair to give the mina to someone who is already successful, but in the Kingdom of God, we are expected to be fruitful, and if we don’t bear fruit, God is ready to bless somebody else who is. This seems a bit harsh, but it agrees with Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree, and the discussion in John 15:5 about how Christ is the vine, and we are the branches, If we remain in him, we produce fruit. If we don’t remain in him, we are fruitless, and are pruned and thrown into the fire. Chapter 27 returns to the subjects that sent a delegation to prevent the noble man from being made king. These people are a different group than the servants entirely. They never wanted a King. They were never entrusted with Minas, because the idea of giving them control of a city never was part of the King’s plan. The end of the parable ends with their death. It is sad to see the way these people’s story ends, but we must remember that they fought the King from the beginning. They knew he was a noble man. They knew he had the qualifications to be made King. They knew they lived within the King’s jurisdiction or Kingdom, and they knew that when he was made King, they would be his subjects. So what did they do when faced with all those truths? They sent a delegation to argue against the coronation. What power does a delegation have if you are living in the lands that are owned by a sovereign who has royal blood and authority? None! The lesson here is to not try and usurp God’s power, or to put ourselves in the place of our true King, Jesus.

Now we get to the second interpretation:

I call the second the Occupy Wall Street interpretation

As a bit of a warning, I never interpreted this passage in this way until a few days ago when I read a sermon. I disagree with many of the arguments that the pastor made, but there are definitely many smart people who don’t see the verse the first way I explained.

The man of noble birth does not represent Jesus, because he is hated by his subjects and tries to appoint himself as King. The “king” represents one of the Herods. At the time of this parable there was a man named Archelaus, who was the son of Herod the Great. Archelaus went to Rome to try and get his Kingdom restored to him, because it had been divided between him and his brother Herod Antipas. The subjects that hated Archelaus actually sent an embassy to Rome to appeal to Augustus Caesar, promising they would incite a rebellion if Archelaus got a Kingdom restored. This person in the parable is very wealthy and has people working for him. Knowing that this king reaps what he hasn’t sown, and takes out what he hasn’t put in, we can interpret that to mean that he is exploitative towards his subjects. The King gives his servants a command and some money. The servants are all given a choice when their master is gone. The first one uses the mina to gain 10 more, and the second one uses the mina to gain 5 more. When we hear the third servant’s explanation, we understand the game that they were playing. They were using usuary or excessive interest to exploit people who were in need. The way that usuary works is that you can lend somebody money at a very high rate, somewhat like a credit card, and if they pay you back, they will have paid you back 2-3 times the amount just in interest payments. Which provides a great return. But even better is if they fail to pay you back, you can take their possessions. What we see here is that the King gave the command to do something unlawful, and that’s to charge people interest. Pastors have written that this parable is similar to the parable of the Good Samaritan. There are two examples of what’s wrong with society, and the third example provides the lesson. In the Good Samaritan story, the Priest walked right by, then the Levite, and the third one was the Samaritan who explained why the first two were wrong. In the parable of the Minas, these first two were exploitative opportunists, just like their master. The third servant had a conscience, and didn’t play the game. What we would learn from this interpretation is that it is not always popular to go against the grain. It’s not popular to be a whistle-blower or to show people how they are wrong. In fact the third guy had his stuff taken away from him. The lesson here is that it’s better to be a church or a follower of Jesus with no material possessions than it is to be another corrupt politician or exploiter of people. The verse ends with the murderous king slaying his opponents, which is another reason that some people don’t believe that the King in this story can be God. We should always be thoughtful about what kind of orders we take as Christians. We must take every instruction that we receive and make sure it is in harmony with the commandments of God and Jesus Christ, trusting the Holy Spirit to convict our hearts when we are told to do something wrong. Sometimes we will be rewarded here, and sometimes we will be punished.

After reading some commentaries about the second or “Occupy Wall Street” style interpretation, I prayed to God for some additional insights. I re-read the scriptures and thought and meditated about God’s Word. I still think that the first interpretation is largely correct and generally the message that Jesus was trying to explain, however there are a few additional thoughts I wanted to mention.

First, I would like you all to understand that charging or collecting interest is not against the law. In the Old Testament, God does not allow Hebrews to charge interest to other Hebrews, but the law does allow for Hebrews to collect interest from foreigners. There are restrictions on collateral for loans.  For instance, you can’t take a miller’s millstone as collateral, because that would be taking someone’s livelihood away from them and it would also make it hard for them to work to repay their debt. I believe that scripture doesn’t condemn the King’s request that the Mina should be put to work to grow. (if I did believe that was wrong, I would seriously have to question my occupation, because it’s all about lending, borrowing, investing, saving, earning interest, paying interest). Proponents of the second interpretation, though, would counter that if you are earning 10 minas for every one that you put to work, that should qualify as excessive interest, or USUARY. However, with Interest, there is always a time component. Earning 8% interest, somebody can double their money in under a decade. So after a lifetime of wise investments, one can almost expect to have ten times their original investment. So let me move on to my second point.

11 While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once.

In verse 11, the Scripture gives us some interesting, and perhaps crucial, information, which is almost ALWAYS overlooked in sermons, regardless of which interpretation they seem to follow.

Verse 11 explains that the reason that Jesus told this parable was because Jesus was close to Jerusalem, and the listeners thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. What these two facts tell us is that this parable that we just studied is relevant to the Kingdom of God. This parable was be told because they were getting close to Jerusalem. The historical facts about Archelaus would be known to local people hearing the parable, so the Bible may be stating that Jesus told this particular parable because it would be familiar and current based on the latest current political news. Another reason that the fact they were close to Jerusalem was important is because Jerusalem is where Jesus makes his triumphal entry. In fact, the very next chapter after the end of these verses is the Palm Sunday entrance where Jesus rides in on a donkey and its colt. So, whatever Jesus needs to teach these people from this parable needed to be done before everything that was supposed to happen in Jerusalem unfolded. What happens in Jerusalem? Jesus is hailed as King, and then days later is crucified for the sins of those who believe in his Kingship. Three days after that, he returns from the dead, demonstrating his power over death and showing his authority now that he has assumed his kingdom. All these things seem to indicate that the first interpretation was in fact the correct one. But the other half of verse 11 says , “the people thought that the Kingdom of God was going to appear at once”. this wording indicates that this parable about the Minas was given to inform people not only a concept but maybe more importantly, a TIME frame. Even though Jesus came back from the dead, there is an expectation of a second coming of Christ. We Christians believe that Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead. In this parable, the King says that he will return. There is a danger to thinking that this time frame is very short, or imminent. Like the third servant, we may be tempted to fear God’s return. This thinking may cause us to make bad decisions with our time, possessions, and efforts. If we think Jesus is coming tomorrow, we don’t plan for the future. We may not bother to read a book, learn a new subject, study God’s word, put money into our retirement savings. We may not invest in our children, their education, their development. And when our King comes back and asks what we did with all the time he gave to us, we don’t want to merely give him back his coin. We don’t want to give Him some excuse why we didn’t use our mina for anything. Also, we don’t want to live our lives in such a way that would indicate that we believe that the King has no right to take what he didn’t put in, or reap what he didn’t sow. When we get a paycheck and keep all of it for ourselves, we are saying with our actions that the fruits of our labor are ours, and Jesus has no right to reap what we believe that we sowed. When we spend our time and money on our little kingdoms, we are denying that all that we see around us and everything that we have is owned by our awesome Creator. Everything that we have, and everything that we do, and everything that we create, and everything that we think of should be precious to us. All these things, and our very lives should be treated with the greatest value because because they are not really ours. They belong to God. And at any moment, our King can return and call us to account. Let me say something that this parable is NOT teaching. It is NOT saying that it’s a sin to be poor, and a virtue to be rich. It is NOT saying that it’s a sin to be rich, and a virtue to be poor either. I would have been very interested to see what happened to the other Seven servants. Ones that maybe didn’t earn 10 Minas, or 5 Minas. I would love to see how the master treats a servant who tried his hardest. A servant who worked hard and made great decisions, but didn’t get the return he was expecting. Or lost the mina to a circumstance or bad luck, but gave it his best effort to do the King’s command. I would be interested to see a servant go to the master and say, “I’m sorry I don’t have the Mina. I actually spent it on this village over here. I fed those children, and they have pledged their allegiance to your rule. You will never have a problem with rebellion among those subjects, because my Mina went to help them in their time of need.” If the King does represent Jesus, I don’t think that failure to earn more Minas is a sin. The sin was not trying. Squandering our gifts and our time and our blessings is a sad thing. It dishonors God. It is a tragic sin. Our sinful nature constantly prevents us from wanting to work at the things that God has for us. But as God’s servants, we have forgiveness in the blood of Christ. Christ’s blood covers all sins and presents us blameless before God. As believers in Christ, we needn’t worry about the King’s return. We won’t see death. Because of Christ, we will see our Master, Our King, our Father, telling us, “Well done, Good and Faithful servant.”