Jesus was going through Jericho on his last journey to Jerusalem. When he finally arrives, he will receive the welcome of a king as he rides triumphantly into the city of David. Everyone’s expectations are high and they are anticipating the days in Jerusalem. They expect that Jesus will soon proclaim himself as the Messiah and that the Kingdom of God would come within a short period of time. So, while the people are gathered around listening to him, he tells them a story.
He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return.... But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don't want this man to be our king.’” Now, the people to whom Jesus was speaking were familiar with the procedure of a man going off to a distant country to be inaugurated as king. And sometimes the enemies of the man sent delegations asking that they not be appointed. William Barclay informs us of an actual case in point from history: “When Herod the Great died in 4 B.C. he left his kingdom divided between Herod Antipas, Herod Philip and Archelaus. That division had to be ratified by the Romans, who were the overlords of Palestine, before it became effective. Archelaus, to whom Judea had been left, went to Rome to persuade Augustus to allow him to enter into his inheritance, whereupon the Jews sent an embassy of fifty men to Rome to inform Augustus that they did not wish to have him as king. In point of fact, Augustus confirmed him in his inheritance, though without the actual title of king.” In the time of Jesus, Rome ruled the world, and no one became a king without first going to Rome. Herod and Archelaus had both followed this procedure. When they returned, they would be invested with the power and authority due them as king, and a military regiment would accompany them.
But while Jesus is using a contemporary example in his story, he is not speaking about Archelaus or Herod, he is speaking of himself. He was giving the people a message that he was not going to Jerusalem to set up his kingdom. He was soon going to a distant country to be appointed King. In fact, he would be leaving the earth and it would be a long time until he returned. But he would return one day, fully invested with the authority as King over all the earth. He would receive this authority after going to his heavenly Father. And when he returns all the armies of heaven will accompany him. His enemies, who do not want him to rule over them have declared their resistance to his kingdom, but he is appointed King in spite of their protests and will take care of them at his return.
We live in the blessed hope of the return of Jesus Christ to the earth as King at his second coming, but what about the in-between time? That is where the rest of the parable comes in. Jesus said that this man, “called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’” Each servant was given one mina. A mina was about the equivalent of three months wages in that day. It was not a great amount of money, but it was enough to do business with until the man returned. What we notice is that each of the servants receives exactly the same amount of money and have the same opportunity to do something productive with it. They are instructed to “put this money to work.” They realize that the owner wants them to be busy in his absence. He wants them interested in and investing in his kingdom while he is gone.
The day finally arrives when the man returns, and in spite of his enemies’ objections he was made king. Upon his arrival he sends for his servants to whom he had given the money. He wanted to find out what they had gained with what he had given them. The first servant appears before him and says, “Sir, your mina has earned ten more.” The King is exuberant: “Well done, my good servant! Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.” Quite a reward for the good use of one mina!
The second servant arrives and says, “Sir, your mina has earned five more.” This servant is also given a reward for what he has done. The gain of five minas on his investment of one mina has earned him five cities. These two men keep the money initially given, the money they earned, and on top of that are given a share of the kingdom. They will rule with this king as he shares with them his kingdom.
But now a third servant enters the presence of the king. When asked for his report he says, “Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. 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.” This man is in serious trouble, and he makes it worse with his mouth. Not only has he failed to make even the simplest trade with the master’s money, he insults the king and blames the king for his lack of success. He accuses his master of being a hard man, in spite of the evidence we have just seen of his generosity. He attacks his character. He claims that the master had so intimidated him that he was afraid to lose the mina, so he just hid it. He did not want to do anything wrong, and did not want to lose the money, so he did nothing. But in so doing he disobeyed the directive of his master. He was specifically told to put the money to work. The king found fault with him not because he did something evil, but because he did nothing. For doing nothing he was pronounced a “wicked” servant.
Even the other servants were shocked when the king said, “Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.” “Sir,” they said, “he already has ten!” Then the king said, “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.” The message of Jesus is clear: Those who are faithful will be rewarded with the earnings of the work they have done plus much more, and those who do nothing will lose what little they have. They will have no share in the kingdom. But Jesus has promised: “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:29).
What does this parable have to do with us? Everything, for we are the people who are living between the time Jesus went away to receive his authority as King and the time of his return. Since we are the ones who live in that slice of time that Jesus was talking about, what is his message to us? He is saying we are to be concerned about the advancement of Christ’s Kingdom while he is gone. You are to be busy investing your time, money, energy and talents in the kingdom of God. If you do, his kingdom will become your kingdom. Those who invest in the kingdom will certainly be rewarded according to what they have done with what they have been given. They will rule with Christ. Those who do nothing will receive nothing and lose everything.
There are many today who believe that if they do nothing wrong they will gain entrance into the kingdom of God. This parable is pointing a bony finger into the face of such people warning them that doing nothing gains nothing. If you think that you are going to impress God at the judgment by telling him that you did not do anything wrong you are in for a surprise. God will not be asking about what you did not do, he will be asking about what you did. The Christian life is not to be lived in the negative column of the ledger; it is to be lived on the plus side. There are a lot of people who feel very superior to other people because they do not do what some other people do, while at the same time they have never thought about getting busy doing something good. They sit at home with pious, folded hands criticizing others, but their lives never register a positive influence on the world in any way. Being critical is not a spiritual gift. If you are doing nothing, don’t stand back and criticize someone who is doing something even if it isn’t perfect in your eyes. Critical people never look for some way to serve God by helping someone else. It never occurs to them to go out of their way to visit someone who is lonely or help someone out financially who is in need. They are critical of someone who looks, acts or talks differently, but it never occurs to them to love them, help them, pray for them or witness to them.
So often we define the Christian life in negative terms. We describe Christianity by saying what it is not. We say a person is a Christian because of the things they do not do. We sometimes hear people remark, “He is a Christian man. He does not smoke, he does not drink or swear.” But Christianity is not a matter of what we do not do, it is a matter of what we do. When Jesus Christ returns as King and you stand before him, he will not say, “Well avoided, good and faithful servant.” He will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21). If the only way people can tell that you are a Christian is by the things you do not do, then you need to take a second look at your life. Better the person who has what some consider to be vices, and is actively serving the Lord, than the person who totally abstains from everything, but never uses any of their abilities to serve God.
You are not going to be rewarded by God for avoiding sin and doing nothing. His rewards will come to those who were faithfully at work using the abilities God gave them to make a difference in this world. One of the important things we notice about this story of Jesus is that the master displayed great trust in his servants. He gave them his own resources — he placed his money in their hands to use as they thought best. He did not keep checking on them. He did not stand over them and watch their every move. He did not even leave any instructions on how they were to invest his money. Here is the rub with God: he trusts us and he does not interfere with us. It is the best and worst thing about God. The best thing about God is that he gives us freedom; it is also the worst thing about God. It is frightening. God leaves us to our own devises. We can live life any way we choose, but we also know that there is a day coming when we will have to give an account of what we have done with our lives. How have we used what God has given us? God’s trust is God’s test. He gives us complete freedom and then watches what we do with it. He guides us but never forces us. That means we are responsible for the choices we make.
An ancient fable tells about three merchants who were crossing a desert. One moonless night they came to a dried-up creek bed. As they approached, they were startled to hear a voice speaking to them out of the darkness. The voice commanded them to pick up stones and then journey on as far as possible before stopping again. The travelers were also told that when daylight came and they saw what they had gathered, they would be both happy and sad. Even though they were confused by what was happening they did what the voice told them to do. Each man picked up some of the rocks and placed them into his bag. When the first gray streaks of dawn appeared in the eastern sky, the men looked into the bags where the rocks had been placed. But instead of stones, they discovered precious jewels. It was then they understood the meaning of the strange yet significant words, “You will be both happy and sad.” They were glad because of the precious stones they now possessed, but they were sad to think they had not picked up more!
I believe that is what it will be like at the end of our lives. We will be glad that we at least did something for God with the time and abilities we had, but sad that we did not do more. At the judgment we will be blessed by the rewards we are given for the good we have done, but sad that our reward is only five minas when it could have been ten. We will wish that we had lived our lives for God and others, rather than living them so much for ourselves. William Barclay says, “There is no such thing as standing still in the Christian life. We either get more, or lose what we have. We either advance to greater heights, or slip back.”
The thing that makes all of this so lamentable is the tremendous potential of the human spirit when it is filled and empowered by the Spirit of God. How much our lives could mean for God if we were investing them in his kingdom! God has given us each all that we need to serve him — it is we who hold back. We are worried about our abilities not being enough when he has placed tremendous potential in our hands. We are worried we won’t have enough money. But when we are faithful with what we have, we will receive more. A.W. Tozer, in his book The Pursuit of God says, “The widest thing in the universe is not space, it is the potential capacity of the human heart. Being made in the image of God, it is capable of almost unlimited extension in all directions. Christians should seek for inner enlargement....” I don’t believe we have any idea what our potential is. If you would begin to use what God has given you and begin to act according to what you already know, you would see and feel yourself begin to grow in ways that you did not think possible. Jesus said, “For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him” (Matthew 25:29).
The sin of the unfaithful servant was not that he did what was wrong, but that he did nothing at all when he knew he should have been working for his master. He is like so many Christians today — they know better, but they did not do better. They are what is called “nominal” Christians — Christians in name only. They like to think they belong to the King, but they have never done the first thing for him. They never lift a hand to promote his kingdom. They go about their lives as though there is nothing they can do for God. But it is not because they have nothing to invest, it is because they have no interest in working for the King. They live out their meager lives with nothing left over to give to God.
Wayne Rice tells about the time Mrs. Baughman, his junior high Sunday school teacher, brought a pan of brownies to class with her: “While the brownies sat tantalizingly over by her chair, she gave each student a slip of paper labeled with an expense: house payment, light bill, groceries, entertainment, and so on. My slip had ‘car payment’ written on it. Then Mrs. Baughman picked up her tray of brownies and began naming the expenses she had written on the slips of paper. One by one we redeemed our slips of paper for a brownie. ‘Car payment!’ she announced, and I jumped up to get my share of the goodies as she lifted a fresh brownie from the pan. The last brownie disappeared, although my friend Donald still held his unredeemed slip. ‘God!’ called out Mrs. Baughman. And Donald, whose paper had ‘God’ written on it, came forward, hoping that his teacher had one more brownie hidden somewhere. With the knife, Mrs. Baughman scraped the crumbs from the bottom of the pan into Donald’s napkin. My friend got a pretty raw deal, I thought — just crumbs. ‘The brownies in the pan represent your money,’ explained Mrs. Baughman. ‘If you don’t give God His share right away,’ she said, ‘He probably won’t get anything at all, except maybe the crumbs.’” “I’ve never forgotten that object lesson,” says Wayne. “The day my friend got only brownie crumbs, I learned that God has first rights to everything I have.”
Does God have first rights to your life, or does he get the crumbs? Do you want the kingdom of God to advance in this world? Are you faithfully using what God in his goodness has given you, or does he get the leftovers? Don’t come to the end of your life only to realize that you never invested in the things of real value and you never did anything for God. Don’t spend your life living only for yourself and forgetting God. Don’t use up all your moments and days on yourself and give God the crumbs. Jesus said, “Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him” (Luke 8:18).
Rodney J. Buchanan
November 13, 2001
Amity United Methodist Church
rodbuchanan2000@yahoo.com
