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. 12He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. 13So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘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. 21I 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? 23Why 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. 27But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’”
Original Meaning
THIS IS THE final parable in Luke’s record of Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem.1 Its themes are Jesus’ authority in judgment and the faithfulness of his disciples, important topics in light of his coming departure and eventual return. What relationship will people have with Jesus? What accountability will they possess in light of his absence and return? What will happen to the nation that rejects him?
Luke is clear about why Jesus tells the parable. As he is drawing near to Jerusalem, expectation rises that the kingdom will be decisively brought in, that it will “appear at once” (v. 11). This expectation of the kingdom’s nearness means, in Luke, the complete display of kingdom authority. Jesus must inform his disciples that the full expression of kingdom authority will not come until his return, and he must explain what he expects of them in the interim.
This parable has a historical background. Both Herod in 40 B.C. and Archelaus in 4 B.C. went to Rome to receive ruling authority from the emperor. In the case of Archelaus, who was not popular, there was a public outcry not to grant him the position. Rome responded by giving him a less comprehensive mandate—an ethnarchy, not a kingship.2 Part of the captivating interest in this story for Jesus’ original audience was its parallelism to these well-known ancient events.3
A man of noble birth goes to a far country “to have himself appointed king and then to return.” The Greek expression literally refers to his “receiving a kingdom”—a remark that pictures Jesus’ reception of the kingdom after the vindication of his upcoming resurrection and ascension. While gone, the nobleman’s interests need to be administered. So he calls ten servants and gives each of them a mina (equivalent to one hundred drachmas or about one hundred days of an average working wage).4 The servants are to see what they can do with these resources until the master returns. The servants represent anyone following Jesus.
In addition to servants are subjects who hate the ruler and do not want him as king. They send a delegation to those making the selection to inform them of their complaint. This pictures the rejection of Jesus by Israel.
Despite their complaint, the nobleman receives the kingship. Returning home, he asks for an accounting by his servants. Have they used the resources in a way that benefited him? Though ten were given resources, the story is kept compact by relating the situation of only three servants.5 The first one has taken the one mina and made ten more from it, an impressive gain. So the master commends him for his trustworthiness and puts him in charge of ten cities. A second servant has also done well, earning five more minas. His trustworthiness, though not as elaborately praised as the first servant’s, earns him five cities.
The main exchange takes place between the master and the third servant. The parable’s pace slows down at this point, because this is a central concern Jesus wants to raise. The third servant simply returns the mina, having hid it in a cloth, and explains why. He is afraid of the master, knowing him to be a hard man, who takes what he does not work for and reaps what he does not sow. The third servant has no sense of loyalty to his master. Why should he honor him with his labor? This rhetorical detail about the servant’s attitude is important, because it shows that although he is associated with the master, there is nothing that indicates any trust of the master. This servant is a disciple of sorts, but there is no meaningful relationship within that connection.
The master’s reaction to the servant is strong and clear. This wicked servant will be condemned on his own testimony. If he did not want to work for the master, he could have at least put the money in a bank, where it would have gained interest! If he really knew the master as a hard man, then surely he should have been wise enough to take some action. Interestingly, the master’s response to the other servants showed him to be anything but a hard taskmaster, since he has rewarded the other servants with more responsibility. This wicked servant does not really know the character of his master. The master’s remarks in verse 22 are not his confession that he is a hard taskmaster, but a condemnation of the third servant’s failure to follow through on how he viewed the master. Verse 23 shows the third servants’s attitude should have led to a different response. Thus, there is irony in the master’s remarks. He is measuring the servant by the servant’s own standards, a measure he fails to live up to.
Thus, the master orders that the mina be taken away from the third servant, who ends up with nothing, and be given to the servant who made ten minas. The crowd protests, noting that the first servant already has enough. The note is important, because it indicates that the servants do not lose the additional money they have earned. It remains theirs to administrate, in order to continue their stewardship.
Jesus then makes the application. The one who has gets more, but the one who has nothing loses even what he has. Jesus applies a mathematical warning to the third slave. Nothing from nothing leaves nothing. The one who has no trust in God’ goodness, even though he or she has a “connection” to God, has no relationship with God and ends up with nothing from him in the end. Such a servant loses even what he thinks he had. The key to understanding the plight and identity of this third servant comes in verse 22: He is “a wicked servant,” who is not among the blessed in the end, for he does not know the master (like the picture in 12:46).6 The third servant represents all those tied to the community who neither trust nor know the goodness of the master Jesus. Perhaps a figure like Judas is in view here. Mere association with the community counts for nothing; what counts is personal relationship to Jesus.
Jesus deals with one more group in the parable—the subjects who did not want the nobleman to be king. These enemies are slain. This represents the fate of those who reject Jesus outright. They are judged and excluded from blessing, no matter how close to him they have previously been. This detail represents the irreversibility and severity of the final judgment.
Bridging Contexts
THIS PARABLE HAS two major themes: Jesus’ authority and the accountability of all to him. This makes the parable a call to faithfulness. Its treats both Israel’s rejection of Jesus and the accountability of any who associate with him. That is, because the period covered in the parable extends to the time of his return, it addresses us as well.
Everyone is accountable to Jesus in one way or another. Those who associate with him are responsible for a ministry of service. Those who reject him are accountable for not recognizing who he was and is. Much of the parable is spent with the third servant, who depicts a hybrid, someone who has become associated with the community Jesus founded but who never really trusts Jesus as a source of grace. Such people, though they appear as members of the community, have never walked through the door of faith that responds to grace, providing a genuine entrance into the community. They end up on the outside, with nothing.
This parable also emphasizes the graciousness of Jesus in rewarding faithfulness. The first and second servants receive the warm commendation of the master for their faithful service. Not only do they keep what they have earned, but they receive the opportunity for additional service as well. The concept that God graciously and generously honors faithfulness crosses the time frame between the parable and our reading of it today.
Contemporary Significance
WE ARE ALL accountable to God for how we conduct our journey through his world. One day he will render judgment. This concept is not popular in some circles today, but it is a biblical concept. God will require each person to render an account of their walk in his creation and will vindicate his saints.
As our culture grows more independent from God, many claim they are not his subjects, or they try to create God in their image and form him in the frame of their expectations. They argue that each person’s destiny is his or her own business. One of the key expressions that used to float around in popular culture was “to your own self be true.” There is a good use of this expression when it refers to integrity, but it often means that one can and should be led by one’s own self-interests. In this understanding is a great danger, for accountability is not a matter of self-determination. We are not the standard by which life is measured. In all the talk about becoming accountable today, one key note is missing: We are already accountable to God. Our lives last a short span in this world, and that visit is subject to examination by One who is the source of life and breath.
This parable also emphasizes that God has given kingship to Jesus. He undertook that rule when he rose to the side of the Father after his death (see Acts 10:42–43; 17:31). His kingship includes judgment. Scripture consistently presents the judgment of God through his Son Jesus as an inevitable stop in the journey of each life. An illustration may help drive the point home. If I am arrested, I do not have the right to pick my judge or even the country in which I am tried. This principle was illustrated vividly in the famous “caning” case from Singapore during the early 1990s. An American was charged with defacing personal property and had to face the state’s legal punishment for the crime. No matter how much protest was made of whether such a punishment was cruel, no one doubted the right of a nation to follow its own rules of governing. It is a good reminder that standards of judgment are set by the judge! So also, this parable declares God’s right to hold us accountable in his creation and to evaluate our stewardship as he wills.
The third servant also represents a strong warning. Connection to a Christian community is not what makes a Christian, even if that person has stewardship responsibilities in that community. A Christian is a person who has a relationship of trust with Jesus. The Christian knows, because he or she has responded to the gospel, that God is gracious to those who turn to him for forgiveness. Service to him and other people is the response of a changed and grateful heart that has embraced what it means to be forgiven. The first and second servants have understood the call to respond to the nobleman, while the third servant doubted the master’s character in slanderous ways. This parable calls on us to examine whether our perceived relationship to God is purely formal or real.
The parable suggests on the surface that the third servant lacks fruit in his life, but there is really a more basic complaint. He is condemned on the basis of his own words, that is, on the basis of his own heart attitude to God, for he sees the master as a hard, unjust taskmaster. Behind his lack of fruit is a lack of recognition of God’s grace. That absence of faith is what Jesus condemns here, for it is that heart attitude that prevents this servant from pursuing the master’s call. Membership in a church is not a union card to heaven; knowing and embracing God’s grace is.
A positive note in the story is the recognition that Jesus will reward the faithfulness of those who walk with him. The provision of additional responsibility to the first and second servants shows that God sees and commends faithfulness. The judgment is a time of blessing to those who have walked with God, and we have nothing to fear if we have been faithful stewards. Our lives are an open book to God anyway, so we should live as those who know that God rewards those who seek him (Heb. 11:6). For those who are faithful, the judgment is a time for affirmation. God has given us abilities and resources (minas) through which to serve the church, increasing the benefits that come to the body through our applying these gifts. Jesus exhorts us here to apply ourselves fully to the task, so that in the day of his assessment, our stewardship may be an occasion for rejoicing (1 Cor. 4:5).
What do these rewards look like and what do they involve? It is hard to be sure what is meant. Those who see a millennial period argue that there are stewardship responsibilities in that kingdom era and that the degree of our faithfulness now determines what our responsibilities will be then. Those who see us moving directly into the eternal state see this parable as representing our role in the judgment alone. There are not many texts that explain this issue in detail. One of the most suggestive is 1 Corinthians 6:2–3, where Paul writes that believers will share in judging the world and angels at the end. We will all equally receive salvation and share in God’s rule, but apparently our responsibilities will vary. As to what that means precisely, the rule of exposition should be the less speculation, the better.