I was a teenager in the cold war era back in the 1970’s. Because of the threat of nuclear war with the Soviet Union, end-times prophecy was a hot topic among Christians. There were movies about end-times events such as A Thief In The Night. There were books like The Late, Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey. Many of these movies and books attempted to interpret current events as signs that the great tribulation and the return of Jesus Christ were just about to happen. Maybe they were correct in some of their interpretations, but they weren’t correct all the time. They made a lot of assumptions.

For example, Revelation 9:13-18 speaks of an army of 200 million horsemen who would kill a third of mankind as part of the sixth trumpet judgment. In 1965 China claimed to be able to field a 200 million man army. Many tied this to the biblical prophecy, so there was (and still is) an expectation that at some point in the near future China is going to invade Israel with a huge army. But that’s just an assumption—it’s going beyond what the Bible actually says.

When we try to understand biblical prophecies that haven’t been fulfilled yet, we assume things. Our understanding of prophecy tends to be correct only in hindsight, after the fulfillment. It’s true not just of prophecies about second coming of Jesus Christ, it’s also true of prophecies about the first coming of Jesus Christ, for the disciples themselves also had wrong assumptions.

As Jesus began His final journey to Jerusalem, He told His disciples:

“The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.”

Luke 9:22

He also told them:

“Let these words sink into your ears, for the Son of Man will be delivered up into the hands of men.” But they didn’t understand what He was talking about. It was hidden from them, and they were afraid to ask.

Luke 9:44-45

He was approaching Jericho, He again told His disciples that He was going to die. He said:

“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are written through the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be completed. For he will be delivered up to the Gentiles, will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit on. They will scourge and kill him. On the third day, he will rise again.”

Luke 18:31-33

To us, it’s very obvious what Jesus meant. But His disciples didn’t understand. It remained hidden from them, and they wouldn’t understand until after He rose from the dead, appeared to them, and opened their minds to understand the Old Testament scriptures (Luke 24:45-46).

In Luke chapter 19, the disciples still had these incorrect assumptions about what was about to happen. Verse 11 says:

As they heard these things, he went on and told a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the Kingdom of God would be revealed immediately.

Luke 19:11

Jesus had just eaten dinner in the house of Zacchaeus, the wee-little tax collector. The crowd wasn’t pleased with this because they hated paying taxes to Rome and they hated those who collected those taxes. But Zacchaeus had had a change of heart. He promised all in the house he would give half of what he owned to the poor, and he would pay back 400 percent of anything he may have taken by false accusation. Jesus commended him for this, saying,

“Today, salvation has come to this house, because he is also a son of Abraham, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Luke 19:9-10

The Jews hated paying taxes to Rome, so they eagerly looked forward to the Messiah taking up His throne in Jerusalem, freeing them from Roman oppression and ushering in the kingdom of God. Many Jews knew Jesus would be that Messiah. These believers made up the crowd of people who followed Him to Jerusalem and laid palm branches along the way. They were correct about Jesus being the Messiah, but they didn’t realize He wasn’t going to Jerusalem to claim the crown. That wouldn’t happen for a long time.

The disciples also thought Jesus was on His way to claim the throne. Before they arrived at Jericho, James and John were vying for seats on Jesus’ right and left hand… seats of influence and prestige in His kingdom (Mark 10:35-37). I’m sure they hoped to be sitting on those seats very shortly.

But Jesus didn’t travel to Jerusalem to set up His earthly kingdom. He came there to die, to provide payment for sin for all who would trust in Him. The earthly kingdom would come much later. That is the point of the parable that follows…

He said therefore, “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.

Luke 19:12

So begins the parable of the minas. In spite of the similarities, this is not the same as the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25. For one thing, Jesus told this parable in Jericho to those who expected Him to usher in the the kingdom of God immediately. But He told the parable of the talents after He arrived in Jerusalem to answer His disciples’ question about the signs of His coming, after they had admired the impressive stonework of the temple. I’ll point out some of the other differences as we come to them.

The parable begins with a nobleman leaving for a far country with the purpose of receiving a kingdom. A similar thing happened some years earlier when Jesus was still a young boy. After Herod the Great’s death (the same Herod that commanded the slaughter of all boys 2 years old and younger in Bethlehem), Archelaus his son went to Rome to receive his father’s kingdom. This was his father’s intent as written in his testament. Archelaus needed Caesar to confirm this because Herod’s kingdom was a part of the Roman empire. Herod himself also had to go to Rome to receive his kingdom. The Jews were familiar with these things, so they understand this part of the parable.

Like Herod and his son, the nobleman in this parable went to a far country receive a kingdom. Note that the kingdom already existed and he was already entitled to it. He only went to formalize the arrangement… to make it official.

In the parable of the talents, this detail is left out because, in that parable, the rich man is not receiving a kingdom. He was just a rich man.

He called ten servants of his, and gave them ten mina coins, and told them, ‘Conduct business until I come.’

Luke 19:13

Archelaus did something similar before he went to Rome to receive the kingdom. He gave large amounts of money to his friends and told them what to do with it. This was so his friends would see to his interests while he was gone, spending that money to make more friends for Archelaus. They were basically buying his favor so more people would acknowledge his right to the throne when he returned.

In the parable of the talents, the rich man distributed all of his wealth among his servants, each according to his ability. One talent was roughly equal to 16 years pay for a common worker. So in that parable the rich man’s intent was to have his servants increase his wealth while he was gone.

In this parable, the nobleman’s purpose was different. It was to test their skill and faithfulness to his command, so he only gave them a relatively small amount of money. He didn’t know if he could trust them with more yet. He gave each servant the same amount: a single mina, which is 1/60th the value of a talent—about a hundred day’s pay. This was a very stingy amount for a nobleman, but it served his purpose. He wasn’t interested in increasing his wealth. He wanted to know how faithful his servants were with what he entrusted them.

The nobleman did not expect his servants to be equally skillful with their minas, but he did expect each of them to do their best to multiply it. He expected them to treat it as a real, serious responsibility. Even though it was not much, they were not to be lazy about it.

But his citizens hated him, and sent an envoy after him, saying, ‘We don’t want this man to reign over us.’

Luke 19:14

Again, this important little detail is not found in the parable of the talents, for that parable was not about a nobleman receiving a kingdom.

For some unknown reason the citizens of this kingdom did not want the nobleman to rule over them. In our country, we can vote for our favorite candidates, but that’s not the way it works in a monarchy. The citizens have no vote. They have no choice. But that didn’t stop these haters from sending a representative to the emperor to voice their displeasure anyway.

This had a parallel in Jewish history. For when Archelaus went to Rome to receive his kingdom, the Jews sent an embassy to the emperor to dispute his claims. It didn’t make a difference though: the emperor made him king anyway.

We know Jesus told this parable about Himself. He’s the nobleman who has gone to “a far country,” gone to heaven, to receive the kingdom. God had already chosen Him to rule over Israel, as the various Old Testament prophecies had foretold. For example, Micah 5:2 said the One who would rule in Israel would be born in Bethlehem, Judah, and Jesus was born in Bethlehem. And God has made Jesus Christ King of kings and Lord of lords, even though the Jewish rulers did not want that to happen. The high priests told Pilate, “We have no king but Caesar!” They preferred the murderer Barabbas to Jesus. When Pilate placed a sign on the cross calling Jesus the King of the Jews, they objected, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews’,” because they wanted nothing to do with their rightful King. Jesus said this would happen back in Luke 9:22.

“It happened when he had come back again, having received the kingdom, that he commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by conducting business.

Luke 19:15

Of course, the protests of the citizens went ignored. The nobleman was crowned king and he came back with full kingly authority. He was no longer just a nobleman. We was lord and king. And the first order of business was to see how well his servants executed their responsibilities. Were they faithful in what they were given?

The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten more minas.’

Luke 19:16

The first servant did very well. He multiplied what was given him ten times. This showed he took his lord’s command seriously, and his lord commended him for it…

“He said to him, ‘Well done, you good servant! Because you were found faithful with very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’

Luke 19:17

One mina was very little. Even ten minas was not much compared to one talent. But because he was found faithful with that little, his lord put him in charge of ten cities… worth more than many talents each. His lord had found a trustworthy and skilled city administrator.

“The second came, saying, ‘Your mina, Lord, has made five minas.’ “So he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’

Luke 19:18-19

This servant was not a skillful as the first, but his lord set him over five cities, so he was also found trustworthy enough to be an administrator. The number of cities given was in direct proportion to their skill with the trivial minas.

When Archelaus returned from Rome after having the kingdom confirmed to him, he did the same thing. He gathered his servants together and inquired what they did with the money he gave them. He then reward them for how well they promoted his interests.

On a side note, this is the same Archelaus mentioned in Matthew 2:22. Mary and Joseph, having come back from hiding in Egypt, heard Archelaus reigned in place of his father Herod, and in fear of returning to Bethlehem where the massacre of the young boys occurred, they moved back to Joseph’s previous hometown of Nazareth.

Another came, saying, ‘Lord, behold, your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief, …

Luke 19:20

Uh-oh… that doesn’t sound good. This servant didn’t do anything with what was given him but wrap it in a sweatcloth—a hanky. He was given explicit instructions to “Do business” with the mina, i.e. increase it, multiply it, and he directly disobeyed. He called his master “Lord,” but didn’t do what he was told. Jesus said elsewhere, “Why do you call me “Lord, Lord’, and don’t do the things I say?” (Luke 6:46) Not a good servant, not at all. And his excuse was pretty lame as well:

…for I feared you, because you are an exacting man. You take up that which you didn’t lay down, and reap that which you didn’t sow.’

Luke 19:21

…the same excuse the lazy servant used in the parable of the talents, only that one buried his talent.

Neither this servant or that did what they were told because of their opinion of their masters. They said they were harsh, severe, and they profited off the work of others. All they did was take, take, take. Seeing how this lord just treated two of his other servants, we know this was a false accusation. He really was very generous, very good.

This servant did not know his master. Perhaps his perception was skewed because he only saw how his fellow lazy servants were treated. His lord was good to those who did their job, but he was harsh to those who didn’t.

“He said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth will I judge you, you wicked servant! …

Luke 19:22a

In other words, “You have condemned yourself!”

You knew that I am an exacting man, taking up that which I didn’t lay down, and reaping that which I didn’t sow. …

Luke 19:22b

The master said, “You think to excuse your laziness by calling me lazy and greedy!” Of course noblemen didn’t do manual labor. That’s what they had servants for, and the servants were compensated for it. This was the order of things.

Then why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank, and at my coming, I might have earned interest on it?’

Luke 19:23

Banks as we know them today didn’t exist. The word banks here means the tables of the money changers, those who converted money between different forms of currency. Roman money was not acceptable in the temple, so money changers would convert Roman coins into Hebrew coins, and they would charge interest for it. It’s like when you go to another country and convert your dollars into a foreign currency: whoever does the converting takes a percentage. This servant could have loaned his mina to the money changers for them to use to convert other people’s money, and they would have paid him back with interest. The money changers could have done the work for him, …and he could still be lazy!

He said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina away from him, and give it to him who has the ten minas.’

Luke 19:24

Unlike the other servants, this one wouldn’t get even one city to rule, for he was completely untrustworthy with the little given him. He had lost his reward.

Unlike in the parable of the talents, this servant is not punished. He’s severely reprimanded, but there’s no mention of him sharing the fate of the bad servant in the other parable: He was not cast into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 25:30). His mina was taken from him and given to the one who made the most. This surprised Jesus’ listeners…

“They said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’

Luke 19:25

Perhaps they thought it should have been given to the servant who made less. But the lord gave it to one who was most able to multiply it.

‘For I tell you that to everyone who has, will more be given; but from him who doesn’t have, even that which he has will be taken away from him.

Luke 19:26

Taken by itself, what Jesus said here seems very unfair: the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer. But the parable gives the context. Those who were faithful in what was not theirs would be rewarded. Those who were not faithful would have what was not theirs to begin with taken from them. It was completely fair.

After settling accounts with his servants, the new king dealt with those citizens who hated him.

But bring those enemies of mine who didn’t want me to reign over them here, and kill them before me.'”

Luke 19:27

Again, Jesus took a page from what was at that time recent history. When Archelaus, the son of Herod, returned with the authority from Rome to reign as king, he put many of those who sent an embassy to Rome protesting his reign to death. It sounds harsh, especially in our country. We live in a democracy, and we don’t put those who voted for the losers to death. But this was the way kings ruled their kingdoms. They had the right of life and death over their subjects. This was normal.

When Jesus finished speaking, He continued with His disciples to Jerusalem.

Jesus gave this parable to show His disciples that the kingdom they were looking forward to was not going to appear right away. They would have to wait. Jesus was going to leave for a time. There would be a delay, and the delay would be much longer than expected. After His resurrection and ascension to heaven, many disciples still thought Jesus would come back in their lifetime. Some even thought it would happen right away (Acts 1:6). But they had forgotten He had given them a mission: to make disciples of all nations, to spread the gospel to all peoples around the world. This would take a lot of time—Jesus’ return was not imminent for them. But today that mission is just about complete.

This work of building up the kingdom of Christ—of sharing the gospel, of making disciples—this work is the minas that Jesus has given to each one of us. Some Christians are very skilled with what they’ve been given; others not so much. But all of us are expected to do something to further Christ’s kingdom.

Jesus’ commands are not options. He has provided each of us with the Holy Spirit for this purpose. We all have spiritual gifts. God has placed each of us in the Body of Christ with some kind of ability to help the Body—the Church—grow and flourish. Some are pastors and teachers, some are evangelists, some are helpers, some support financially and prayerfully those who are on the front lines. So Jesus expects a return on investment from each one of us.

We’re not to be concerned about our own things. We’re not here to build up our own personal kingdoms. All of that is wasted effort, and we won’t see any benefit to it in heaven. We’re here solely to see that our Lord’s kingdom is increased. As C.T. Studd wrote:

  Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
     Only what’s done for Christ will last.

When we appear before the judgment seat of Christ, He is going to settle accounts. We will be rewarded according to how well we fulfilled His commission. If we did well, we’ll hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful in little. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” Our rewards will be far exceed anything we may have received on earth.

If we didn’t do well, if we lived more for ourselves than Jesus, we will suffer lack of reward, but we’ll still make it into heaven. Paul wrote:

According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But let each man be careful how he builds on it. For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or stubble; each man’s work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man’s work is. If any man’s work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire.

1 Corinthians 3:10-15

Many Christians don’t take Jesus’ commands seriously. Perhaps it’s because of their perception—that Jesus requires hard things of us—that He expects us to do all the work and He reaps the benefits. But Jesus said His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He already did the hardest part. And He has provided His Holy Spirit to help us do what He wants us to do. We have no excuse.

If you can’t do the work yourself to build up Christ’s kingdom, support others to do the work for you. Paul had people in various churches support him in his work to spread the gospel to the Gentiles, and they would share in Paul’s reward just as if they had done the work themselves.

Finally, those who reject Jesus Christ’s rule over them will be judged much more harshly. In Revelation 20:15, they are thrown into the lake of fire that burns forever. As in the parable, this seems excessively harsh, but Jesus is now the King, and He has right to cast people into hell, just as He has the right to give people eternal life. Jesus is harsh with the wicked, but generous with the obedient.

Don’t reject His rule. Trust in Him to save you. Then trust and obey Him in your new life so He will reward you richly in the life to come.