trust you all know the old adage that if you’re buying a car make sure it’s not a Monday car. In fact, they say the best cars to buy are Wednesday cars. Monday cars are the worst because of that endemic malady, ’Mondayitis’. It seems that most people have a problem moving from the relaxation of the weekend back to work on a Monday. Researchers have found that stress levels are always higher on a Monday. You’re more likely to have a heart attack on a Monday than on any other day of the week, your blood pressure will be higher on a Monday, your stomach acidity is higher, so you’re more likely to develop an ulcer and the probability of suicide is higher. Sounds like a good reason to have tomorrow off doesn’t it? Except that that just puts the problem back to Tuesday. But if you’re a Christian the problem is even worse, it seems to me. You’ve been to Church on Sunday, you’ve been thinking about the Christian life, being encouraged to follow Christ, to think about how you might be a faithful disciple of Christ, and then Monday comes and you’re back in the old grind again. And it seems so far removed from what you were thinking about on Sunday. I mean you look at the workaday world and it seems to bears little relationship to a world in which Jesus is King. Few people have jobs where there’s never an ethical dilemma or a compromise required. And we struggle to think about what it means to live as a Christian in a world like this.
I guess Jesus knew that we’d struggle with this sort of thing, because he told a parable to prepare us for just this situation. Here in Luke 19 we find Jesus nearing Jerusalem. His disciples are no doubt getting a bit excited. They’ve been listening to him talking about the Kingdom of God for the past 3 years or so, and they know that his entry to Jerusalem will be the final act in what he’s come to do. And they think the kingdom of God will be brought in immediately. But their expectation and the reality of the situation are poles apart. Jesus can see where their thoughts are going and he wants to clarify the situation and prepare them for what life is going to be like before long. Just as in John’s gospel he tells them that it won’t be long and he’ll no longer be with them, so here he tells them a parable that talks about the time to come when he will have gone to the Father and they’ll be waiting for him to return.
The setting of the story is a large empire, where a nobleman is about to receive royal power from the Emperor. Now it may be that Jesus is drawing on recent history here in telling this story. Apparently after the death of Herod the Great, his son Archelaus went to Rome to ask Caesar to make him king over Judea. But Herod hadn’t been too popular among the Jews, so they sent a delegation of 50 men to oppose his appointment. So there’s a ring of truth about the story.
Well, here is this nobleman going on a long journey. He’s going to be away for some time, and when he gets back he expects to be king. So, what does he do? He calls his servants in and gives each of them a sum of money and tells them to put it to work until he comes back.
Now notice that they each receive the same amount of money. About 3 to 4 months wages. This is different to the parable of the talents in Matt 25, where different people received different amounts. Here they’re all entrusted with the same amount and given the task of trading with it until the king returns.
And then the nobleman leaves. And the servants are left behind. This is clearly a picture of the situation the disciples are about to find themselves in and that we, too, are in. Left on their own, wondering what life is all about if there’s no king to give them instructions.
In fact, this parable hinges around 2 questions that arise in Jesus’ absence. The first is "What’s the point of life if Jesus isn’t here to share it with us?"
Jesus knew that when he left them they’d be like sheep without a shepherd again. They wouldn’t be sure what they should be doing. Do you remember in John 21, when the disciples were waiting for Jesus to appear again? Peter got sick of hanging around, not knowing what to do, so he said "I’m going fishing." It was the best he could come up with at the time. But Jesus wants them to be more prepared than that. He wants them to understand why they should go fishing if that’s what they’re going to do.
The second question is perhaps more difficult. "Why does God allow people to oppose him? What’s he going to do about them?" Jesus warns them elsewhere of the dangers that face them from his enemies. They’ll face the same sort of opposition that he faced and they need to be prepared for it. But it isn’t enough simply to be resigned to facing opposition and persecution. We need to be reassured that in the end, it’ll be worth persevering.
So this parable is an answer to both those questions: "What’s the point of life if Jesus isn’t here to share it with us?" And "What’s God going to do about those who oppose his reign?"
What we find as we read through the parable is that those left behind divide themselves into 3 categories. There are the rebels who refuse to accept the nobleman’s lordship. There are the productive servants, the trustworthy ones, who use the money wisely. And there are the wicked servants who do nothing with what they’re given. So let’s think about each of these in turn
1. The Rebels
The ranks of those who oppose Jesus rule haven’t thinned over the years. They range from those who are violently opposed to anything that even smells of godliness through to those who profess religion but don’t want to go too far in claiming any authority for Jesus in case they offend someone. They’re described in the parable as hating him. They don’t want to submit to his rule. As Christians we still face that range of forces opposed to God. There are the media and popular culture voices that are militantly opposed to anything to do with Christian morality. There are the voices of consumerism and hedonism that encourage us to please ourselves, to feed our need for pleasure or possessions, or self-indulgence. There are the forces of economic rationalism, the sorts of forces that you see in the governments of most of the western world that put economic growth above compassion and justice and equity. Then there are the forces of new age spirituality that are desperately seeking for some sort of spiritual connection, but that’ll have nothing to do with Biblical Christianity. Similarly there are those who espouse liberal theology who want the trappings of religion but don’t want to know about the full picture of the God of the Bible. And we Christians look at the world we live in and wonder how things could have got like this if God is really in control. We look at our church and wonder how it could be so flawed if Jesus is its head.
2 The Wicked Servants
On the other hand there are those wicked servants, as they’re described, who take the money they’re entrusted with, wrap it in a hanky and do nothing further with it. What is it that stops them from being productive with what they’re given?
Well, first of all they’re afraid. The servant says: "I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man; you take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow." They’re afraid to take risks in case they get into trouble or in case they make a bad choice. That’s a common problem today. We retreat into conservatism, into the known and the safe, because otherwise we might get it wrong. But in so doing we can miss the opportunities that come to us to develop the kingdom. I’m reminded of the time Jesus said "Those who lose their life for my sake will save it."
On the other hand, as the King says, they’re not afraid enough. That is, they’re not afraid enough of the anger of the king to make sure they do some small thing at least with what he’s given them. At worst they could have put the money to work in the bank where it would at least have earned some interest.
3 The Good Servants
Well what about us who are trying to be faithful, trustworthy servants. I hope that includes all of us here today. What’s our job? Well, here’s the interesting thing. They’re not told what they’re to do with the money. All they’re told is to do business with it.
So what are we to do with what we’ve been given? Well, let’s think about some of the things we’re told in the New Testament about working for the kingdom.
Last week we saw that we’re to use our wealth to make friends for eternity. That’s just one of many passages that talk about using our wealth for the sake of others. Our first reading today talked about the value of honest work in avoiding idleness and being a busybody. The point of that passage is probably in the last verse: "do not be weary in doing what is right." There’s a value in simply doing what is right that God recognises. In Col 3 Paul tells slaves "obey your earthly masters in everything, not only while being watched and in order to please them, but wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord. 23Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters, 24since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ." (Col 3:22-24 NRSV) The Protestant work ethic has received some bad press over the years, largely because it’s been misunderstood. It isn’t so much the amount of work that we do that matters. What matters is the way we work. That is, are we working as though God were our master? Are we seeking to please him by our attitude to what we do?
1 Peter 3 talks about how the way husbands and wives behave towards each other can affect the growth of the Kingdom, or even their spiritual lives. Similarly, Ephesians talks about the way we behave towards one another at church affecting the growth of the kingdom. Even something as simple as the way we speak to each other after church. For example, the way we thank those who make the morning tea for us, or who look after our kids in Sunday school or crèche, or who do the flower arrangements each week. These little things are making profits for the kingdom. There are countless passages we could think about that connect the way we live, the things we say and think, with our spiritual growth and with the glory of God and the welfare of his kingdom. These are the sorts of things that I think Jesus is referring to when he talks about the good servants using their resources well. Don’t be put off by the money metaphor. The money simply refers to all the resources that Jesus has left us with. And the point of the parable is that those resources are given to us to use for God’s profit, for God’s glory.
But finally, let’s think about the rewards given to each of these 3 categories of people.
The Rebels
Are you uncomfortable with the ending to this parable? Does it sound too harsh for our modern sensibilities? Well, let me suggest you enter into the story. Put yourself in the place of the King. He’s just returned to set up a kingdom that, under his rule, will be just and good, in which the people will be united in their service of the kingdom. But here are these rebels who don’t want him to be king. What’ll happen if he ignores them? They’ll be like a festering sore, disturbing the life of the kingdom. In terms of God’s kingdom, if he lets those who oppose him remain, his new kingdom will be no different to this one, with all its fighting and hatred. It’ll end up as much a mess as this world has. No the only solution if you want this kingdom to work properly is to get rid of all those who would oppose your rule. It’s like a surgeon operating on a cancer. If she doesn’t cut out all the cancerous tissue the body will end up as badly off as it was before the operation.
The Wicked Servant.
The wicked servant has his pound taken away, but we’re not told anything else. Perhaps he enters the kingdom but only by the skin of his teeth. Paul says this sort of thing in 1 Cor 3 using a metaphor of a builder, who builds with gold or silver or perhaps just straw: "If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire. (1 Cor 3:14-15)
The Good Servants
There’s a truth here about the gospel. You see, there are 2 sides to the gospel. The first is that good works will never get us to heaven. Only God’s grace can do that. But the other side is that we won’t get to heaven without good works, or if we do it’ll be with our hair singed. But those who do well in this life will be rewarded. The one who has made 10 times what he started with is given 10 cities to manage, the one who made five is given 5 cities. God apportions to each according to how well they’ve handled the resources they were given here on earth. Notice, by the way, that there’s no criticism of the one who made five more. Being given 5 cities rather than 10 isn’t a punishment. Rather it’s a recognition of his ability to manage something greater in the kingdom. And the difference between him and the one who is given charge over 10 cities is simply a recognition that these are real people with real differences in their abilities. Whatever our ability may be, God has a reward planned for those who serve him faithfully
The point of all this is that God wants our devotion. He wants us to serve his kingdom in everything we do, whether it’s in a secular job, leading a bible study, speaking to someone after church. He wants us to devote all we have to him.
There were two young boys talking about their unending devotion to one another. The first boy said "Hey, John, if you had a million dollars would you give me half?" "Bill, you know I would. You’re my best mate in the world." "What about if you had a thousand dollars?" Of course I would." "Well, what of you had a thousand marbles?" "Yep, I’d give you half my marbles." "What about if you had 2 marbles?" (Pause) "That’s not fair! You know I’ve got 2 marbles."
God wants our devotion even in the little things of life. Tomorrow is Monday morning again. We could wake up depressed at the thought of another working week, or we could wake up thinking about how we might bring glory to God through the way we live, the way we speak, the way we work, even the way we enjoy life.
For more sermons from this source go to www.sttheos.org.au
