Luke 19:11-27 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. He said: "A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. `Put this money to work,’ he said, `until I come back.’ "But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, `We don’t want this man to be our king.’ "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. "The first one came and said, `Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’ `Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. `Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ "The second came and said, `Sir, your mina has earned five more.’"His master answered, `You take charge of five cities.’ "Then another servant came and said, `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.’ "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? Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’ "Then he said to those standing by, `Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’ `Sir,’ they said, `he already has ten!’ "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. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them--bring them here and kill them in front of me.’ "
Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ.
You have just heard Jesus tell his parable of the Ten Minas. Now just so you know what a mina is I will tell you. "A mina was about three month’s wages." It was a single coin. Imagine that! You get paid quarterly at work and on pay day they hand you a little coin. (I suppose all we get now is a smallish piece of paper that’s not even real money). So when I combine minas and mission work as I did in the theme, what do you think this sermon is going to be about? If you are thinking, ‘Well, it takes a lot of mina’s or money to send missionaries out with the Gospel to far away places where we cannot go’ --- I applaud your quick thinking, which while true, is nevertheless not what this sermon is going to be about. Remember, these minas are mentioned in a parable that means that are to be understood as standing for something. Understanding what they represent is not only the key to understanding the point of the parable, but also what minas really have to do with mission work, and what any of it has to do with you and me.
The Parable
Jesus tells the story of a nobleman going away to a distant country in order to have himself appointed king there and then return home. This was not uncommon in those days to have the rulers of the land living somewhere else. Before he leaves he calls ten of his servants in and gives each of them a mina, not a tremendously large sum - but certainly big enough. He tells them, "Put this money to work, until I come back." Literally, "Do business [with it] until I come." He leaves, is crowned king, and then returns. "Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it." The first servant came and said, "Sir, your mina has earned ten more." The next one reported another good gain of five more . The master was pleased and entrusted each of these servants with several whole cities in the kingdom! To have wisely invested a single coin, hardly deserves such reward, but the master apparently was a generous guy!
Then another servant came in, pulls a handkerchief out of his pocket, carefully opens it and gives the master back the very coin he had been entrusted with. The master is enraged, calling the man a wicked (not lazy, not stupid, not undependable, - but wicked) servant. And then in a most damning accusation asks, "Why… didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?" The master took the coin away from the wicked servant and gave it to the guy who had invested and made ten minas, declaring "everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing even what he has will be taken away."
The Meaning
In order to understand what this all means we must first remember that parables are earthly stories with heavenly meanings. So, the noble man is of course Jesus. His going away to be made king and coming back refer to his ascension into heaven and then his return to earth on Judgment Day. I think it pretty easy to determine who the servants are - they are representative of the gathered believers at Zaccheaeus’ home for dinner that night, and by extension they represent all Christians. So what does the mina stand for? Well, it can’t stand for the skills, abilities or resources given by God to Christians, because each servant got the same amount, and the Bible is clear that God gives those blessings in different amounts to his people. Did you notice that the mina also produced different returns and in a particular case no return at all? Therefore, the mina cannot represent faith, can it? For faith no matter how much of it or how little of it, always yields the same thing: eternal life. The mina, therefore, with which the Christians is entrusted is the "means of grace," that is the Word and the Sacraments.
So what we’ve got here is a lesson on what a Christian is supposed to be doing with the Word and Sacraments God has given to him/her, while Christ is away. The faithful servants put their minas to work and correctly credited them with the fantastic returns, both saying to their master, "your mina has earned…" The power was in the gift not in the servants. Just like God’s power is in his Word and Sacraments, not in his people. (That’s true, as much as we’d wish otherwise). Those servants represented Christians who faithfully put the Word and the Sacraments to work in their lives and in the world around them. The other servant who was given the same gift did not do with it what he was told, and impeded workings of Word and Sacrament in his life and the lives of others. He had the Word taken away from him, and had to watch it given to the servant who already had a lot.
Application
So what do minas have to do with mission work for you and me? You and I are those same servants to whom God has given one mina - that is the Bible, Baptism and Holy Communion - each. He went away - ascending into heaven to reign as King of kings and Lord of Lords. He’s told each of us what to do with our mina: ‘put it to work, do my business with it until I come back.’ So what have you done with the means of grace? What would you tell God his mina has done? Since the power is in the Word and the Sacraments, and not in you - there is no reason to show up empty handed. Unless of course you’ve wrapped God’s gift in a hankey for safe keeping.
Let me ask you some hard questions now, perhaps so that when he returns he doesn’t ask you why you didn’t at least put the mina on deposit. Do you think coming to hear the Word and receive the Sacrament once a month is the same as making full use of your mina? Do you think coming every other week is making full use? Do you think never going to a Bible class is making full use too? How do you think God is suppose to grow saving faith in you if you keep his power to do so out of your life. If you keep what God’s given you wrapped up, you probably will always remember where it is, always remember the name of the guy who died on the cross, always remember that Christmas is supposed to be about when he was born and Easter about when he died and something else. But what you won’t be able to remember is the last time you said grace at a meal, turned to God’s Word for inspiration, comfort or guidance. You won’t remember the last time being a Christian made any difference in your life at all. You won’t remember that God loves you on the basis of what Christ has done in living and dying, not on the basis of what you do. You won’t remember any of that, for the power to remember is in the very Word you refused to use, not in you.
How much better to do what our master asks with the gift he’s given. When we put his Word and Sacrament to use in our lives miracles happen. We change. We are moved from damned to saved, from sinner to saint in the eyes of the One who matters most. We find God’s presence and power compounding in our hearts and lives, and just like with our investments the more we have, the more it grows. And as his gifts work in us, they begin to work around us, they begin to come out of us in our speech and actions, and soon God is getting 500, 1000 percent returns on the water, bread, wine and word he’s invested in us.
So what do minas have to do with mission work? Nothing if you keep Word and Sacrament in your life like some coin wrapped in a piece of cloth. Everything if you’ve put that gift of God to work, it is the motivation, inspiration and power to do it! Amen.
