Luke 19:11-27
Notes
Transcript
Nearing Jerusalem
Nearing Jerusalem
Luke 19:11–26 “While the people were listening to these things, Jesus proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. Therefore he said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. And he summoned ten of his slaves, gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business with these until I come back.’ But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to be king over us!’ When he returned after receiving the kingdom, he summoned these slaves to whom he had given the money. He wanted to know how much they had earned by trading. So the first one came before him and said, ‘Sir, your mina has made ten minas more.’ And the king said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been faithful in a very small matter, you will have authority over ten cities.’ Then the second one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has made five minas.…”
Exordium.
Start a sentance, I want you to finish it for me:
Ask not what your country can do for you…
Who said that?
Did you know his speechwriter Ted Sorrenson, who he worked with on that was a Nebraska native? born in Lincoln, graduated from UNL
When they were working on the inauguration speech Kennedy asked sorrenson to research Abraham Lincon’s Gettysburg address. And it shows in the two speeches. The themes of both speeches are very similar.
In Lincoln’s speech he was talking about how america had inherited the most free nation that had ever existed on the face of the earth. And he was encouraging the people to uphold that, to uphold the unity of the nation.
In Kennedy’s inaugural address, he was speaking to a generation who had inherited the most economically prosperous, technologically advanced liberty minded nation the world had ever seen. Kennedy understood very well that along with that gift, came a great responsibility.
Communism was on the rise around the globe. Nuclear weapons were being stockpiled to a level that was extremely alarming.
When you’re given something big like that, when you’re given great power, whether it’s a piece of technology, as was the case of america during the kennedy era, or a leadership position, or anything that is valuable.
There’s a level of responsibility that comes along with that.
In our text today we’re going to be looking at Luke 19. This is a parable of Jesus that describes that phenomenon.
Narratio
You’ll notice that this is the parable Jesus tells right before his triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
While the people were listening to these things, Jesus proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.
Therefore he said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return.
And he summoned ten of his slaves, gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business with these until I come back.’
A mina, by the way is about 4 months wages for a worker.
We can put that into perspective, that’s just south of $10,000 in todays dollars.
The task is simple. This noblemen was going to a far away land to “receive a kingdom”
In the roman empire, all of the kings received their kingdom from rome. Herod and his whole family, when they “received” the kingdom they had to go to rome, and make it official.
And while he’s away, he wants them to take that 10,00 and do something with it. He specifically tells them do business with this money
King James: 10 Pounds, and he says “occupy” it.
Be careful, because that can give the impression that it was a tiny amount of money, and that they were supposed to just look after it.
They got a substantial sum of money, and they were expected to do something with it.
But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to be king over us!’
Jesus’ audience would have been familar enough with this concept.
Not too long before the son of herod the great was given the kingdom of Judea, and Jerusalem.
And Jerusalem sent a delegation to Rome to complain against him. And rome kicked him out, and siezed control over the area.
If you’ve ever wondered why Galilee was under a king, king herod antipas, But Jerusalem was under a governor (pontius pilate) this is why.
So this was, if not a common practice, it was common enough that it wasn’t unheard of.
Luke 19:15-27
Luke 19:15-27
When he returned after receiving the kingdom, he summoned these slaves to whom he had given the money. He wanted to know how much they had earned by trading.
So the first one came before him and said, ‘Sir, your mina has made ten minas more.’
And the king said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been faithful in a very small matter, you will have authority over ten cities.’
Then the second one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has made five minas.’
So the king said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’
Then another slave came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina that I put away for safekeeping in a piece of cloth.
For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You withdraw what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.’
The king said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! So you knew, did you, that I was a severe man, withdrawing what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow?
Why then didn’t you put my money in the bank, so that when I returned I could have collected it with interest?’
And he said to his attendants, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has ten.’
But they said to him, ‘Sir, he has ten minas already!’
‘I tell you that everyone who has will be given more, but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.
But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and slaughter them in front of me!’ ”
There’s a lot going on here in this parable.
Here’s what I want to say right off the bat this parable is NOT about
This parable is NOT about money, and it is NOT about how you invest your money.
It is NOT about the rich get rich and the poor get poor.
If we read it that way, I think we’re missing the point entirely.
Remember in John chapter 4 after Jesus speaks with the woman at the well, and the disciples get back, and they’re like hey Jesus, have you eaten any food yet.
And jesus says something like “I have food from the father. My food is to do the will of God” something like that, you can look it up
And the disciples completely miss the metaphor, and they’re like “that’s weird, who brought Jesus food?”
I think we do the same thing if we read this about money.
This is the point in Jesus Ministry where he has been preaching and teaching and healing people in the north, up in Galilee.
And at this point, Jesus and his followers are on their way down to Jerusalem.
Just prior to Jesus telling this parable, here’s what has happened.
In Luke 18:15, people were bringing their babies to Jesus. And Jesus’ Disciples scolded the parents. Stop bothering Jesus with all this. He doesn’t have time to be blessing babies.
In Luke 18:35, as they were going through Jericho, a blind beggar was calling out to Jesus and saying “Son of David, have mercy on me” And again, the followers of Jesus in this big crowd scolded the man. Be quiet. Stop bothering Jesus. Don’t you know he’s the messiah, on his way to Jerusalem?
And then in Luke 19:1, a man named Zacheus—a tax collector climbed up in a tree to get a closer look at Jesus. And Jesus says, Zacceus, I want to come to your house today. And the people who were there following Jesus complained. “He’s really going to go be a house guest with this sinner?”
In Luke 19:10
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
While the people were listening to these things, Jesus proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.
They were Nearing Jerusalem
We discussed that earlier, Jesus was coming into town as the messiah.
They thought that the Kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.
Planning a wedding. There is a point in the planning process where you aren’t sending out invitations anymore.
You sent out Invites 6 months ago, you have a good idea of how many people are going to be there. You’ve booked the caterer, you’ve booked the venue.
And the last thing you’re going to do 2 weeks before the wedding is invite 50 extra people.
Because this thing is happening. The plan is already set in motion. You are past the invitation phase and you are now in the execution phase.
That was kind of the mindset of the Disciples. The kingdom of God is going to appear immediately. In other words once we go into Jerusalem, we’re not investing in growing this party any more.
Partitio
Here’s the Big idea of this whole thing.
What the disciples didn’t understand is that they were about to inherit the kingdom of God. Jesus was going to be crucified. Buried and raised.
And then he was going to ascend into heaven. And the disciples were going to inherit Jesus’ mission:
To preach the good news of the Kingdom of God Starting in Judea, then to Samaria, then to the ends of the earth.
That’s the kingdom they were inheriting. That’s the kingdom we have inherited.
As Christians, because we have inherited the kingdom of God, we have a responsibility to be invested in the kingdom of God.
We do that by
Growing God’s kingdom
Thinking about others above ourselves
And acting courageously.
Confirmatio
Acting out as kingdom citizens without fear.
The third servant, in our parable. The first thing he said when the king got back:
For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You withdraw what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.’
He was so caught up in what might happen when the king got back that rather than work to grow the money, he hid it away
He was afraid of what might happen to him if he tried to do something with the masters money and failed.
And he completely misunderstood the motives of the king
He said “I didn’t do anything with your money, because “You’re a severe man. You reep what you don’t sow
Completely missing the point of what the king was all about
How often have we been given an opportunity to be invested in God’s kingdom by spreading the gospel, speaking truth into someone’s life, inviting people to participate in God’s kingdom with us, and have failed to do so out of fear?
Fear that we aren’t smart enough, or aren’t articulate enough, or fear that we don’t know enough to be able to help someone.
Fear that we might say the wrong thing.
In Matthew 10 when Jesus sends out his disciples he tells them, not everyone is going to receive your message.
Whenever they hand you over for trial, do not worry about how to speak or what to say, for what you should say will be given to you at that time. For it is not you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
You might say, yeah, but they were apostles. I’m not a preacher, I don’t have the gift of Gab, I can’t evangelize
The disciples were fishermen, and political extremists and accountants. Not who you want writing your speeches.
Maybe your fear is simply fear that you’ll be looked down on. Persecuted.
Jesus knew that his disciples were going to struggle with this.
“Simon, Simon, pay attention! Satan has demanded to have you all, to sift you like wheat,
but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
But Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death!”
Jesus replied, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know me.”
Jesus was right. Peter denied three times “I don’t know the man” out of fear. Out of his own self interests.
Acting in the interests of others.
The other servants, notice how when the king got back, they said “your mina” has earned 10 minas. Your mina has earned 5 minas. They were operating under the assumption that they were given something precious that they didn’t deserve. And because of this they felt compelled to grow it. It wasn’t theirs. It was the kings
When Jesus told the rich man, “you’re going to need to give up everything to be my disciple” peter instantly says “hey jesus, what about me?” I left everything. What do I get?
When all we think of is “self” and all we think of is “what do I need to do to get the kingdom, what do I need to do to get my salvation, what do I get, what do I receive? then we stop focusing on growing the kingdom.
The disciples were like the third slave. They wanted to take their spot in the kingdom and just sit on it. Just wait it out.
when the children came to see Jesus, they were past that, they were like “stop bothering the king”
When the blind man wanted to talk to jesus they yelleed at him. They were like “stop bothering the king
When Zacheus wanted to talk to jesus they were like “stop bothering the king”
They weren’t working to grow the kingdom.
We can be invested in God’s kingdom by working to grow it.
The Parable comes right on the heels of the followers of Jesus acting in their self interests, and acting out of fear, and their actions showed that they were unwilling to Grow the kingdom.
They refused to let the blind man come to Jesus, the people scoffed at the idea that Jesus should eat dinner with a tax collector. They scolded the parents of Children
Here’s a 10 second version of the entirety of universe from begining to end.
God gave rise to the world
Mankind rebelled.
God redeemed the world
God will restore the world
We’re in between phase 3 and phase 4. Redeemed and restored. When God restores the world, we are promiseedd that all the negative effects of phase to, we rebelled, will be gone forever. No more pain, no more suffering, no more death, no more sin, no more anxiety no more stress, no more sadness, and we get to be in the direct pressence of God forever.
Show of hands, who wants to live in that world?
The only thing that is keeping us from moving from phase 3 to phase 4 is the fact that there are still people out there who don’t know Jesus.
The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
Matthew 24 Jesus tells the disciples about when the end is going to come, when will the new heaven and new earth be established. He says you’re going to hear of wars and rumors of wars, that’s not it yet. Nation will rise up against nation, that’s not it yet. Earthquakes and famines, no those are only the beginning of birth pains.
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole inhabited earth as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
If we’re truly invested in God’s kingdom, we would do well to understand that our one single purpose as christians on this earth, if we still have breath in our lungs, is to invite people into the kingodm.
In our parable the servants were given an investment, they were given something that they didn’t earn. That’s our citizenship in the kingdom. our 10 minas, is our kingdom citizenship.
And our king has ascended into heaven, and he expects us to “do business” with that inheritance while he’s away.
Peroratio
In Kennedy’s speech I mentioned at the beginning, JFK quoted the bible or mentioned God 8 separate times in a 15 minute speech.
And in the very final line of his address he said:
let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.