So He said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive
a kingdom for himself, and then return. And he called ten of his slaves,
and gave them ten minas and said to them, ‘Do business with this until
I come back.’
But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him,
saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’
When he returned, 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. The first appeared, saying, ‘Master,
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 in
authority over ten cities.’
The second came, saying, ‘Your mina, master, has made five
minas.’ And he said to him also, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’
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; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not
sow.’ He said to him, ‘By your own words I will judge you, you worthless slave.
Did you 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?’
Then he said to the bystanders, ‘Take the mina away from him
and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’
And they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas already.’
‘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.
But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them
here and slay them in my presence.’”
Luke 19:11-27
So we know some background from historic context. The
disciples (and most everyone else) thought Jesus was going to do something
immediate and revolutionary when He got to Jerusalem. That wasn’t in the cards,
and JC was giving a hint here that the disciples were going to have to take
care of business for a while.
There’s a jab at Herod’s son Archelaeus, who had to travel
to Rome to receive the puppet-kingship of Judah from Ceasar, and who was
opposed by a delegation who didn’t want him appointed – and who he later killed.
Mostly, though, we have these three slaves who are entrusted
with the master’s stuff and expected to show some increase. I like the NASB
version of this story’s use of talent in Matthew, instead of mina, mostly
because of the secondary non-monetary meaning of the term.
The first and last slaves, we feel you. We all know that guy
who can start with one talent and show off eleven at the end of the day – everything
he’s touching turning to gold. We can see the spineless third slave too; locked
up with apprehension of failure and loss, he doesn’t use or lose his talent. No
increase, no profit, no interest, no nothing.
I’ll digress here. This story is about service – taking what
the master’s given you and using it to further the master’s interests. The
story is also about trust – if you’re afraid of the master, you aren’t really
free to hang it all out there and serve him with no fear of falling. Maybe. But
there’s always that stick instead of the carrot here. If the master really is
an exacting man, then there’s some dreadful impetus to get off your ass and out
of your hanky and get about some business.
You hear those people who say, “Well, if God is a God who
would throw people in hell, that’s a mean God. I don’t want to serve a God like
that.” Which, really, only begs the question – Is that God really God? Because
who gives a crappe what you think he should be like, if he can and will throw
your ass in hell if you’re not his servant, you’d best be about the business of
serving him as he sees fit. If you can’t trust God because he’s your kind of
kindly, be sure you can not trust him to be your kind of unkindly … at your
peril.
Anyway, Mr. Five-times-talented Sandwich there in the middle
of the story. If I have anything new to add here, I wish, instead of being only
half the success of the first slave, this guy might have been a true foil for
both numbers 1 and 3. Maybe he could have a story like, “Your mina, master, has
made a restaurant in Bakersfield, where, for 6 months, people lined up and
waited 2 hours for a table every night, and we made bank for you. But then this
dork (thumbs toward Mr. Ten-times) opened another kitschy place, and all those
customers fell over each other to eat there. And your mina was lost with the mortgage.”
Tried and succeeded tenfold.
Tried and failed and lost the mina entrusted to him.
Refused to try, but hankerchief’ed away the master’s
original stuff.
Who would have been worse off? Would #2 have gotten a pat on
the head and a “Good job, you tried,” or condemnation for having nothing to
show for his efforts?
If you’re really about the master’s business, is there
always a five or 10-fold return on your kingdom investment? Or, the question
comes to mind, if these are characteristic talents, once bestowed, can they be
lost? And if not lost, then are they at a loss only if squandered by neglect and disuse?
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