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Luke 19:11-27
11 As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. 12 He said therefore, “A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. 13 Calling ten of his servants,1 he gave them ten minas,2 and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come.’ 14 But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ 15 When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. 16 The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.’ 17 And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant!3 Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’ 18 And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made five minas.’ 19 And he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ 20 Then another came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief; 21 for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ 22 He said to him, ‘I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? 23 Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’ 24 And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ 25 And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’ 26 ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 27 But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’”
[1] 19:13
[2] 19:13
[3] 19:17
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Welcome to Redeemer Community Church. If we haven't met already, my name is Connor Coscri. I'm the youth ministry director here at Redeemer, and it is a joy to be with you all this morning. So if you have your Bible, go ahead and turn with me to Luke chapter 19 as we continue our series in the parables. This morning, we're going to take a look at the parable of the 10 minas.
Connor Coskery:So as you're turning there, for context, the build up to this passage begins all the way back in Luke chapter 9, where Luke wrote that when the days drew near for Him to be taken up, He, Jesus, set His face to go to Jerusalem. And since that moment, Jesus and his disciples have been on a journey to Jerusalem. Along the way, Jesus tells them stories in order to prepare them for what to expect. When we get to Luke chapter 19, they're almost there. They've just passed through Jericho.
Connor Coskery:They're about 15 miles from Jerusalem. Jesus notices that, perhaps his disciples, misunderstood some of the things he said, and so he tells them a story. So let's read together Luke chapter 19 verses 11 through 27. And do listen carefully for this is God's word. Verse 11.
Connor Coskery:As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. He said, therefore, a nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling 10 of his servants, he gave them 10 minas and said to them, engage in business until I come. But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, we do not want this man to reign over us. And when he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, so he might know what they had gained by doing business.
Connor Coskery:The first came before him, saying, Lord, your mina has made 10 minas more. And he said to him, well done, good servant. Because you have been faithful in very little, you shall have the authority over cities, or 10 cities. And the second came, saying, 'Lord, your mina has made 5 minas.' And he said to him, and you are to be over 5 cities.' And another came and said, 'Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief. For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man.
Connor Coskery:You take what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.' He said to him, I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant. You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. Why then did you not put my money in the bank? At my coming, I might have collected it with interest. And he said to those who stood by, Take the mina from him and give it to the one who has the 10 minas.
Connor Coskery:And they said to him, Lord, he has 10 minas. I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine, do not want me to reign over them? Bring them here and slaughter them before me.' This is the word of the Lord. Mommy, please.
Connor Coskery:If you would, pray with me. Lord, we thank you this morning for gathering all of us to worship Your name, to live high Your name. Lord, this is a gift, and it doesn't matter where it is, You are in our midst, and we pray, Lord, that You would impress Your words upon our hearts. Lord, we're so thankful that You've brought the daubs to us. We pray that You would continue to bless their ministry and that many in Cyprus would come to know You and follow You.
Connor Coskery:Lord, I pray that You would be with me now, that You would allow me to proclaim Your Word with clarity, and that Lord, the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart would be pleasing in your sight. Lord, we pray all of this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Over the past several months, my wife and I, we've planted a garden. In a time with so much uncertainty, we wanted something that we could work hard on and hopefully enjoy the fruits of our labor.
Connor Coskery:So we went to Home Depot, we purchased the lumber, and we spent an afternoon building a box garden for our backyard. Then we filled it with soil and we planted a variety of herbs and vegetables. And then we waited. See, gardening has that unique ability to adjust your expectations. If you're going to expect fruit immediately, you're going to be pretty disappointed, right?
Connor Coskery:It takes your participation over the course of months until you are to enjoy the harvest. It's that eye to the future that motivates you to invest your time, your money, your sweat into caring and nourishing for the plants. Gardening is an example of how our expectations affect how we live day to day. In the parable of the 10 Men, it explores this relationship between expectations and day to day living. Luke tells us that Jesus told this parable because the disciples thought that since they were nearing Jerusalem, that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.
Connor Coskery:The disciples' expectations were off. They misunderstood the future, and that put them at risk for living unwise in the present. So as we look at this parable, I want you to notice how Jesus prepares them, prepares the disciples for their lives ahead as he leaves them. Yes, Jesus is preparing them for the days ahead, but he's ultimately preparing them for when his earthly ministry is going to end and he is going to leave them. And indeed, Jesus will return again, but in the meantime, life is not going to get easier.
Connor Coskery:Going to have to dig in and get to work. And that's what this passage is saying to us as well. So let's look at the parable. If you would, look with me at verses 11 through 14. I want you to notice how Jesus is preparing His disciples for a posture of endurance, as he prepares them to leave in the coming days.
Connor Coskery:So in verse 11, Luke tells us again that the disciples thought that the kingdom was about to appear immediately because they were coming into Jerusalem. The disciples assumed that in the next couple days, Jesus was going to walk into Jerusalem, kick out the Roman government, and establish the long awaited kingdom. They were hopeful that the prophecies of old were finally coming true, and that Jesus was going to inaugurate the kingdom of God that was prophesied all the way back to King David. But how is the scene depicted in verse 14? It says that his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, we do not want this man to reign over us.' The king in the parable meets considerable opposition.
Connor Coskery:Jesus is saying these words to foreshadow the days ahead days that are going to look much less like victory parade and much more like an enemy assault, where Jesus is going to be delivered over to his enemies, he's going to be mocked, he's gonna be flogged, and he's ultimately gonna be killed. Jesus is saying, guys, my my enemies are coming after me. By the end of it, it's it's gonna look like they've won. But wait, I will have the final word, endure. Jesus is preparing his disciples for life without him, and he's telling them that being his disciple, being his follower, doesn't mean that life's gonna get easier.
Connor Coskery:They hoped the kingdom had arrived, but Jesus is preparing them for a long road ahead. For followers of Christ today, when we repent of our sins and follow Jesus, we too, like the disciples, we might be tempted, or at least hope, that when we start following Christ, that our lives are gonna get easier, that all of our problems are gonna be fixed. And that might happen to a degree. But if you ask anyone who's been walking with the Lord for some time, they'll tell you that following Jesus does not mean that life gets easier. One of my favorite authors, James K.
Connor Coskery:A. Smith, he recently released a book on St. Augustine of Hippo, who was a 4th century pastor theologian in North Africa. And, he described Augustine as a spiritual realist. And what he means by that is that Augustine looked out at the people of his day and he saw that most of them viewed following Jesus as primarily a solution to a problem.
Connor Coskery:And Augustine said, I don't think that's right. I actually disagree. He said, I think that, that that following Jesus is more like acquiring a compass, where you finally understand, you finally realize that you've been wandering, but you also now you finally know where home is. And day by day, you know that there's miles and miles to go, but you know who is with you, and you know who is waiting for you. There are no shortcuts to arrival, except there's going to be enemies.
Connor Coskery:You're going to meet opposition along the way. But as you walk, God is faithful to be with you as you endure day after day, praying, Thy kingdom come, thy kingdom come, thy kingdom come. I really think Augustine is right on this. The Christian life, at least for me, often feels long and winding, where instead of winning a race, it feels like I'm taking 2 steps forward and one step back. But the hope is that we aren't lost.
Connor Coskery:We know where home is, and we know who's waiting for us, and we know who's going to join us along the way to ensure that we endure. These first few verses, they're meant to recalibrate the imagination. Jesus is adjusting our expectations away from a victory parade towards the marathon ahead that are going to feature days months years of hardship, of suffering, of opposition. And he, like the nobleman, is about to go on a long journey. It'll take a long time to come back, but when He returns, until He returns, we are to endure with faithfulness day after day.
Connor Coskery:So with this in mind, what does it look like to live day by day, waiting for the King to return? We devote our lives to the king, and we multiply his gifts. So let's take a look at the the bulk of the parable which focuses on the nobleman's response. After he's left, he's returned and he asks what the servants have been doing in the meantime. So we see in verse 13 that before the nobleman leaves on a journey, he calls the servants together and he gives each of them 10 minas.
Connor Coskery:And you might see a footnote in your Bible, but a mina equated out to about a 3 month's wages, so approximately $12,000 in today's currency. And once he returns, he calls the servants to himself and he asks what they have done. And the first servant comes up and he says, Lord, your mina has made 10 more minas. He's made a 1000% profit.
Jeffrey Heine:And the
Connor Coskery:nobleman's extremely excited and says, Well done, good servant. Because you've been faithful over a little, you'll have authority over 10 cities. The second servant comes up and says, Lord, your mina has made 5 more minas. He's made a 500% profit. And he says, you'll be over 5 cities.
Connor Coskery:And then we meet the 3rd servant. It literally says, and the other one. He comes and says that instead of investing his mina, he's decided to hide it in a handkerchief, and he defends his behavior by saying that the master was a severe man. And the word severe there in the Greek, it's it's, the sense is dry or stale or stingy. But that type of character doesn't square with the extravagant person who is just awarded cities, right?
Connor Coskery:It's a completely disproportionate award. They've invested the money wisely, sure, but authority over 10 cities? See, the 3rd servant's accusation, it just falls in on itself. No one responds, well, okay. If if I'm like that, then the least you could have done was put it in the bank so that it could have collected interest so that when I come back, it didn't stay the same.
Connor Coskery:And this leads the parable to end on a frightening note. The nobleman takes his mina, he gives it to the faithful servant and he condemns the wicked servant. He then destroys all of his enemies who had opposed him. What does it look like to live day to day while we wait for the King to return? We devote our lives to the king and we multiply his gifts.
Connor Coskery:I want you to notice that the servants already belonged to the king. They weren't doing his work to earn his favor. They were already his. And out of his generosity, he gives them gifts and he expects them. It honors him to put them to good use.
Connor Coskery:Often, this parable is applied by, encouraging you to tithe or invest your money and resources into Christian organizations and nonprofits. And don't hear me say not to do that, by all means, do that. But the mina in the parable is meant to signify much more than money. It's meant to signify our whole lives. What do we love above everything?
Connor Coskery:What are we living for? Jesus is saying that those who belong to the King are invited to participate in His work, and as they work, He is honored and He is quick to bless. The 2 faithful servants devoted their lives to the king and his work, and he generously rewarded them in an extravagant way authority over cities. The 3rd servant does nothing, and he ends up losing everything because of it. The 2 faithful servants lived to honor the king.
Connor Coskery:The 3rd servant lived for himself. For those who have placed their faith in Jesus, you've been given gifts and we are expected to put them to good use. I want to point out 2 specific gifts. The first is we belong to Jesus. You did nothing to earn salvation, but the message of the gospel is that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.
Connor Coskery:And the second is that we are invited to participate in His work as He goes about transforming the world. When we understand that we belong to Jesus, it changes how we live. When we belong to Jesus, we orient our lives around what He loves and what He values. And He has called each of His followers to participate in the very specific work to go and make disciples of all nations. So what do these 2 gifts, working together, look like practically?
Connor Coskery:And the first, as I just alluded to, is that we the Jesus is going to commission his disciples and tell them that a life devoted to the King and if you want to multiply his gift, go and proclaim the gospel. This might look like several different ways. This might look like joining one of our missions practicums or cohorts and being trained to share your faith. This might look like moving and going to visit the Doubs in Cyprus to proclaim the gospel in Cyprus. This might look like being trained up to be a missionary and being mobilized to an unreached people group.
Connor Coskery:Or this might simply look like sharing your faith with a neighbor or a family member or a coworker, a friend who you know does not know the Lord. This even looks like pointing your children to Jesus day after day so that they'll grow to love and to cherish and to follow Jesus for all, all the days of their life. All of these honor Jesus and multiply his gifts. We also honor Jesus and multiply his gifts by loving what he loves. At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shares his heart saying that blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Connor Coskery:He continues by saying that blessed are those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted. These qualities, these value, these people are who Jesus loves. So it is good for us, it's a good practice to regularly take stock of our hearts and ask, does my investment in resources, do what I say, what I spend my time on, does that reflect what Jesus loves? Or am I primarily living for myself, investing in things that won't last? Belonging to Jesus and participating in his work means that our lives should be like a city set on a hill.
Connor Coskery:You can't hide the light. But instead, you let your light shine before others so that they see your good works and glorify God. And in all of this, we enter into it with confidence, a great confidence, because unlike the master in the parable, even when Jesus leaves, He promises to always be with us. He sends a helper, the Holy Spirit, who transforms both our minds and our desires, and then he empowers and enables us to go out and do the work that he's called us to. So in the days following this parable, Jesus will enter Jerusalem.
Connor Coskery:He'll lay down his life. He'll resurrect from the dead and he'll ascend to the Father. There's a great irony in the parable, right? The king in the parable, it ends with him slaughtering his enemies who opposed him, but the message of the gospel is that Jesus lays down his life in order to save his enemies. Finally, the disciples will understand all that Jesus had been saying, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, they're going to get to work.
Connor Coskery:We, gathering here today, is a product of the disciples' work back then. Faithfulness in sharing the gospel, multiplying his gifts, the gospel has come to us today.
Jeffrey Heine:And like the
Connor Coskery:end of the parable, when Jesus leaves, he will return and he's going to ask each of his followers what they have done with what he has given us. For those who have devoted their life to the king and multiply his gift, they're going to be rewarded and blessed beyond measure. But for those who have decided to live for themselves, they'll lose everything. The sobering reality that Jesus will return must affect how we live each day. The sobering reality that Jesus will return must affect how we live each day.
Connor Coskery:Jesus is coming, and He will ask what we have been doing with our lives. And by His grace, out of His kindness, He has prepared us, He has warned us, he hasn't left us in the dark. He's given us the tools to do this work by his power. And so until that day, we are not to sit idle and afraid of our Master, for we serve a good Master. Jesus has given us work to do, and it is he who enables and empowers us to do it.
Connor Coskery:And when we've done it through his strength and because we are his, we will finally hear the words that our souls long to hear. You have been faithful over little, I will set you over much. Well done, my good and faithful servant. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus, come.
Connor Coskery:Let's pray. Lord, would you send us out now? Would you empower us to make your name known to all the worlds, to our neighborhoods, to our homes, to to the nations, Lord? Doing this not to earn your favor, for Lord Jesus has accomplished all that we couldn't do on our behalf. Oh, Lord, that we would see that you are a good master and that you have entrusted us with invaluable gifts.
Connor Coskery:Lord, maybe see that you that we see and know that you are coming, Lord. May that motivate us to live today for your glory. We pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen.