Back in Luke 9:51, we’re told that Jesus had set His eyes toward Jerusalem, and He was on His way. A crowd of people traveled with Him through all the stories that Jesus has been telling on this journey. They’re following Him to Jerusalem, and now they’re almost there.
They are at Jericho, which is maybe thirty-six hundred feet below but only fifteen of twenty miles away from Jerusalem. So even though it’s all uphill, they are very close to Jerusalem. They have just gone into Jericho and have seen Him stop the procession. He pointed to a little guy up in a tree, and He said, "Zaccheus come down. I’m going to have lunch with you today."
Those who didn’t know about Zaccheus soon learned that he was very wealthy and hated man because he was a Jewish tax collector for the Roman government. After he had spent some time with Jesus, he went outside, probably in his courtyard, to all the crowd waiting for Jesus and said, "I’m going to give half of all I own to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I’m going to give them back four times as much as I took from them."
Then Jesus came, stood beside him (probably put His arm around him), and said, "Do you realize what has happened? This man’s been saved. Salvation has come to this house today." Then He said something in Luke 19:10 that we absolutely need to hear: "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
The people traveling with Jesus really needed to hear that because they thought He had another agenda. They were following Him because of that presumed agenda, and they were excited because He was getting close to Jerusalem. They thought, "In Jerusalem, He’s going to set up the kingdom. It’s all going to come to a head. We’re going to be winners. We’re never going to have a problem again in our lives. Everything is going to be wonderful and it’s going to be heaven on earth."
So look at Luke 19:11: "And while they were listening to these things, He went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately."
Two million people were converging on Jerusalem. It was time for the Passover when everybody came together. What a perfect time for Jesus to come and reclaim the throne of David. What a perfect time to come and take that spiked Roman boot off of their Jewish necks, making them free again. They thought that was what He was going to do, and they were looking forward to this wonderful time of freedom with no more worries, problems or difficulties.
Jesus knew what was going to happen, and He knew it would tear them up. Here, these people were saying, "We have been following the Messiah. We know He’s the Messiah. No one has ever spoken like this. The teachings obviously come from the heart and mind of God. We have seen Him heal the incurable. We have seen the look of gratitude in the eyes of people when He has changed their lives. We have seen Him walk into the realm of death and bring people back alive. Now He’s on the way to take over the throne and make us free again."
Jesus knew they were going to an apparent defeat. He knew there would be days of treachery, deceit, brutality, injustice, painful agony, death, resurrection, and heaven. One of the crucial truths of the Word of God is that heaven is always on the other side of the cross. You’ve got to go through the cross to get there.
So He had to somehow prepare them. What would He do? How would He let them know they were not going to the wonder of a new kingdom but to a tough time where they would be called to work until the kingdom really comes?
A Kingdom Story
He tells them a story. This is, of course, a very important story that He’s about to tell, and we’re all to hear it. He said, "There’s this nobleman who went away to claim his right to be king."
They understood that. Jericho had that kind of history. Just a few years before, Archelaus had gone from Jericho to Rome to ask that he be put in charge of the kingdom around Jericho. Everybody had to travel to Rome to get their right to be king in that day. At the same time, a delegation of people from Jericho went to Rome alongside of him, and they were protesting his right to be king. They gathered eight thousand Jews in Rome and kept him from getting that kingship.
Archelaus never came back to Jericho or to his palace there.
So Jesus said, "Let me tell you about a man who went off to claim his kingdom. He brought ten slaves together and said, ’I’m giving you a mina,’" (which is a piece of silver worth about a hundred days’ wages in the fields and marketplace). He gave each one of them the same thing.
He said, "I want you to do business with this until I come back as king. But you realize there are some people who don’t want me to be king. So they are going to protest this, and it will be hard for you to do business for me in that climate. But do business until I come again."
They began to do their work with his business. We’re told about one slave who was very faithful to his master. He worked and traded hard, and in a short time, that one mina had become ten.
Another man had worked, and his mina became five. Perhaps, others just said, "This is a good time for us to do our own thing even though we are the master’s servants. After all, he’s not here to make us do what we ought to do."
They either used the mina as though it belonged to them and did business for themselves and not for the king or else neglected it and let it go, doing their own thing and going about their own way.
There’s one interesting man there. He’s interesting because on the positive side, he understood the mina was not his. The king had given it to him, but he didn’t want to work for the king. He wanted to work for himself. Whatever he made with his mina would belong to the king. So he just took the mina, wrapped it in a napkin, hid it somewhere safe, and went about doing his own business.
Then one day, the word spread all over the city. The master was coming back.
All of those people who had said, "We don’t want this man to be our king," fled in fright at the sound of that word. The others who said, "He is our king, and we have been faithful and loyal to him," ran to meet him. They were glad to see him.
When he returned, the gates of the city were flung open, he was such a majestic man. He had been a nobleman when he went away, but now he was king. With him was the most impressive army anyone had ever seen. It was strong, mighty, powerful, and great. No one could stand against that army, and they marched into the city.
That evening, the king called for an accounting. Those ten slaves were brought in before him. The first slave came, and looking at all the riches and opulence around him, he thought to himself, "I thought this ten minas really looked like something, but it looks like nothing compared to all of this."
But still, he looked at the king, and even though he was now the king of all kings, he still had that loving look in his eye. He had that kind of look about his face. He was still the same master that the slave had served. So he came to him and said, "Here, sir. Your one mina has made ten more."
The king gave that back to him and said, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in this little thing. Now you will be ruler over ten cities."
To another man who had made five minas with his mina, the king said, "You’ll be ruler over five cities."
Then came this other fellow. He said, "I know you were a hard man, and I knew that you reaped where you didn’t sow and gather where you hadn’t planted. I was afraid of you, so I just hid this mina to keep from losing it. Here, it’s yours. I know it belongs to you." The king said something like, "You judge me like that? If that’s what you think of me, then that’s the way I will treat you."
The king said to another, "Take this mina from him and give it to the man who has ten."
Here, we don’t know whether it was the people who were listening to the story as Jesus told it or whether it’s part of the story as He was telling it, but they said, "He already has ten. Why are you giving it to him?" The answer the Lord gave was, "In My kingdom, those who do My business will always get more. Those who do no business will lose what they have."
Then the king’s eyes became hard, like narrow slits, and the kindness disappeared from his face. In Luke 19:27, he said, "But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence."
That’s no nice, little religious anecdote is it? When you think about the setting and the teachings and the implications, it’s jolting, especially when you realize the One who is telling the story is the One who has gone away to receive His kingdom and will come again one day as King of all kings and Lord of all lords.
So three major questions hammer in our heads for an answer:
What is this business we’re supposed to be about?
What do the minas represent.
What is the resource we have with which to do the business?
Into which of these categories will we fall when the king comes again?
What Is This Business?
In verse 13, He said, "Do business with this until I come back." We’re supposed to be doing some kind of business for the Master. What is it? Do you want a clue? Look at verse 10: "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
In John 10:10, when they asked Jesus, "What’s your purpose?", He said, "I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly."
In John 20:21, Christ is resurrected. All the apostles left, except Thomas, are in this upper room because they are afraid the people who killed Christ would come and get them. Jesus suddenly appears in that room, and they are thrilled and overjoyed. They say, "This is wonderful! The Lord is here!" Yet, they were a little bit frightened, ... the door was locked, but He suddenly appeared. So He said, "’Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’"
In the last verses of Matthew’s gospel, the people who believed Him were around Him. He said to them, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
In the book of Acts, just before He’s lifted up, in a bodily form, He gave His last words, saying, "I want you to do nothing until you’re full of My Holy Spirit. Pray until the Holy Spirit comes upon you." While He was saying this, someone interrupted Him and said, "Are You going to bring the kingdom back to Jerusalem at this time? Are You going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"
There’s that kingdom thing again. They’re not too anxious to understand about the work, but they want the wonder of the kingdom. Here’s what He replied and hear Him well from Acts 1:7, "You leave those things in God’s hands. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."
When we were Royal Ambassadors (you know the Baptist Boy Scouts), we had a song and the last line of that song said, "We’re here on business for our King." That business is sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is not the calling of the Christian to wring our hands and say, "Oh, look what the world is coming to." It is our calling to reach out to the world with hope and say, "Look Who has come to the world. Jesus Christ has come, and He is your hope, life, and eternity."
What Do The Minas Represent?
What about the minas? What do they mean? The interesting thing about those minas was everybody got the same amount. Everybody had one. When the man at the accounting lost his, he was not in the same classification as those who refused to believe in the king and were eliminated. So what is that mina?
We know it’s not talent or ability because we all have different talents and abilities. We know it must not be money because not all of us have the same amount in our bank accounts. We know it must not be charismatic personality because some of us are exciting while others are dull.
But there’s something that all of us have in the same amount. What is it? I believe it’s the truth about Jesus Christ, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the resulting joy that come by sharing that gospel. For as you look around, you understand that those who talk about Jesus, tell others about Him, and let people know Jesus is their best friend are the happy people in this world.
They are the ones who have found joy.
One of the secrets of the Holy Spirit of God is that as you make it the first business of your life to honor Jesus Christ, you’re going to have the fullness of God’s Spirit because that’s what He’s about. When the Spirit is in you, the Bible says you’ll find things like love, joy, peace, and kindness.
I think the thing we’ve all been given is that gospel and joy that comes from sharing it. That’s what everyone of us has in equal amounts at the beginning.
That’s the business we’re to be doing until the Lord comes again.
Which Category Will We Fall In?
So we ask ourselves then, "When He comes, into which one of these groups will we fall?" Will we be like the slave who said, "My master is coming. I’m thrilled and glad to see him. Here’s what I had and what I did. It doesn’t seem like much as I look around here" But He says, "Well done, good slave. You’ve been faithful in this little thing. Let me show you how rich you really are."
The majority of the world will be in that group who said, "He will not be our king. We will not follow Him. If we have a god, we will invent him ourselves."
When those people face the Lord Jesus Christ, they have no hope or life. They’ve lost it totally, completely, and finally. They’re gone.
And I fear that most of the world will be in that situation because most of the people who say that Jesus is their master are like that other servant who understood that what Christ gave him was a valuable thing. So he wrapped it up securely and put it in a safe place. He may have even guarded it to make sure no one got it, but he never did anything with it.
When the Master comes again, he just plans to get it out, brush it off, take it up to Him, and say either with stupidity or courage, "Here it is. You gave it to me, and now I’m cashing it in."
I think at that time or long before, he will have realized he’s lost a great deal. He’s lost a lot of the joy of serving Christ by sharing his witness.
David understood that the sharing and the joy came together. In Psalm 51, he prayed, "Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation, And sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Thy ways, And sinners will be converted to Thee."
This servant who was willing to take what God gave Him but was not willing to work for that (but rather worked for himself all of his days), will realize in that day he’s lost it. He’s lost the joy and the fantastic reward that could have been his forever.
In 1 Corinthians 3:11-13, this same truth is taught. The apostle is speaking to carnal Christians, people who are willing to say, "Yes, I believe, and I want to be saved. But don’t count on me for anything else or expect me to tell people God loves them."
He said, "You’ve built a foundation. All of us have. That foundation is Jesus Christ. What we build on that foundation is what we will be rewarded for when He comes again. You can build with materials on it that will not burn up in the judgment, or you can built on it with things that will burn up and be completely gone. You will be saved because of the foundation but by the skin of your teeth, and there’s no reward."
That’s the truth of God’s Word, and I pray that you and I will have the sanctified common sense to understand what our greatest possession is, how much business we’re to do with that, and to know that the King is coming and we need to be ready.
