Family Service this Week!
Text: This week we’re
covering Luke 19:11-27, where Jesus,
who has been journeying slowly through the land towards the cross, now makes
his final ascent from Jericho to Jerusalem. The people thought that surely at
Passover, Jesus would cause the Kingdom of God’s Messiah to appear. Jesus was
aware of this and so proceeded to tell the parable we will examine this
morning. It has been called The Parable of the Ten Minas, the Parable of the
Pounds (British), and the Parable of Investment.
Other passages to read: We
encourage you to read "horizontally" in these passages that are
parallel or provide background information to our text from Luke 18:
- Headed to the end in Jerusalem: Luke 9:31, 51, 53; 13:22, 33-34; 17:11; 18:31-34.
- Parable of Investment: Matthew 25:14-30; Mark 13:34-37
- King Rejected: v. 14; John 1:11-14; Matthew 22:7; Luke 20:9-16
- Faithful servants & “Well done” (e.g., pleasing to God): Luke 12:41-48; 16:10-12; 1 Cor. 4:2; Matthew 24:45-51; 13:12; John 21:22-23; Hebrews 11:6
Points to ponder: In your
study this week, you might want to think about one of these questions:
- How should we interpret and apply the parables, the metaphorical theology, of Jesus?
- What about this parable specifically? Is it an allegory, a historical allusion, a prophecy, a pastoral teaching on stewardship, or something else altogether?
- What points in this parable are realistic to the original hearer? How do we relate to these points of contact today in our culture without getting “fuzzy”?
- Regarding the economic systems in this parable, what quality is valued most highly?
- What does this parable teach us about the “kingdom of God”? What does it say about its timing?
- How does this parable tie in to the teaching of Hebrews 11:6?
- How do we reconcile the apparent harshness in v. 27 with the idea of a “loving God”?
We try to answer these questions on the
Jesus4Everyone blog in the next week’s post.
Questions to ask ourselves: The
following questions are intended to help us move towards greater personal application
of what we learn about Jesus…
- How open am I to Jesus Christ’s authority over my life? Do we have any v. 14 moments that we must repent of before the king returns? To use the point of another parable from Luke 14:31-33, make peace with him today!
- What must I do to be judged a faithful servant of Jesus Christ? What are the character qualities of the good servant in this parable that I can ask God to help develop in me this week?
- What has God invested in my life that I can use for others?
- List ten qualities or attributes of the triune God (Father, Son, and Spirit) as revealed in the Bible. This may take some time. Then ask, “How do my perceptions of God practically affect the way I live?” and “In what ways has my perception of the Lord been deficient?”
Pastor
Randy’s Sermon Notes: "A
Life Worth Investing"
Read Luke 19:1-27
1. Your Life
Counts
·
Don’t
waste your life, invest your life.
·
Start
where you’re at – hours, dollars, talents, and abilities.
·
Leadership
begins with stewardship.
2. You will give an Account for Your Life
·
For those
who are faithful, they get bigger opportunities.
·
For those
who are unfaithful, their opportunities get taken away.
Quotes and Commentary:
The EBC says, “This parable fulfills
four important functions:
(1) It clarifies the time of the
appearance of the kingdom of God;
(2) It realistically portrays the coming
rejection and future return of the Lord;
(3) It delineates the role of a disciple
in the time between the Lord's departure and his return; and
(4) While it is similar to the parable in Matthew
25:14-30, it makes a unique contribution at this point in Luke's narrative.” (EBC, Vol.8, 1008-9)
“As with many of the Lukan parables,
this one draws its significance in part from its realism and in part from its
transparent points of contact with the larger narrative. Particularly as Luke
has staged this parable, with the introductory rationale in v 11, the parable
both helps to interpret and is interpreted by its surrounding context. This
does not mean that the parable depends straightforwardly on an allegorical
interpretation for its meaning. In fact, such a reading would be highly
problematic. Since, if one were to identify Jesus simply with the nobleman, it
would portray Jesus in terms of harshness and exploitative practices. That a
nobleman might be characterized thus is realistic on historical grounds.” (Joel B. Green, Gospel
of Luke, 675-6)
The New Testament presents three
paradoxes regarding the coming of the kingdom of God.
- The kingdom
has come in Jesus Christ, and it is still in the future.
- The kingdom is
near and yet far off.
- Followers of Jesus will never know the timing of the coming of the kingdom of God-and here are its signs. (Kenneth E. Bailey. Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels, 398).
v. 12 Servants/bondslaves:
“Slaves were often employed with doing business on
behalf of the urban elite, supervising the sale and purchase of merchandise,
handling loans, and the like; the adept might function with such autonomy and
manage their own business affairs so astutely that, upon manumission, they were
able to replicate for themselves financial structures analogous to those of
their former master. “To do business” may be too weak a translation for the practices
assumed by the text; “turning a profit” refers to exploitation in the service of
managing profitably the capital at one’s disposal. In this unfolding scenario,
the amount of that capital, one “pound,” is relatively small, roughly four
months’ wages for a day laborer. (Green, 678)
"mina" = 3-4 months (100
days) wages for a laborer. A pretty modest sum of money.
v. 15 On arriving home, he summons the
ten servants a second time. He wants to know what diepragmateusanto (from
diapragmateuomai)? This is the only appearance of this word in the Greek New
Testament. Its primary meaning is "How much business has been
transacted."' Bauer lists "How much has been gained by trading"
as a second meaning. From the second century onward, the Syriac and Coptic
versions of this text have consistently chosen the first. (Bailey. 402).
v. 20 The
third servant claims to be afraid of his master! But he was more likely afraid
lest the master not return, in which case he would have backed "the wrong
horse!" As it turns out, the horse he failed to back won the race! When
caught flatfooted, how does he attempt to defend himself? It is impossible to
imagine that when the servant fails his master's test of faithfulness, he
deliberately insults that same master. The intention of the servant's speech
must be to compliment his master. But how can this be true when he tells the
master to his face (in effect), "I see you as a thief." Can this be a
compliment? (Bailey, 404).
v. 21 The
servant's unfaithfulness produces a twisted vision of the master. Both texts
affirm that the way we live influences how we see God, which is the unfaithful
servant's problem. The nobleman also points out to the unfaithful servant that
he is inconsistent. If the nobleman were indeed a robber baron, he would care
nothing about the law and would be happy to have his money invested in a bank
and receive the interest. Interest was forbidden in Jewish law. But if the
nobleman were a robber, he would not care. (Bailey. 406)
v. 24 In the original setting, as
similarly in the kingdom parables (Matt 13:12), whether a person has little or
much depends on his use of opportunities to increase what he already has. The
nobleman's anger (vv. 26-27) is not intended to attribute such behavior to
Jesus himself. Rather, it does picture the kind of response one might have
expected in Jesus' day, especially from the Herodians. (Expositors’ Bible Commentary,
Vol. 8, Zondervan, 1010)
v. 27 This is what his enemies
deserve…and certainly would have been the cultural norm during regime change in
the Middle East at that time. But we are not told what happens in the end. In
fact, it sounds like Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…but the free
gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Luke 6:35-36 also
teaches to love your enemies…because your Father is merciful.
Previously
on Ponderables:
- Why does the blind man call Jesus the “Son of David”? Because he “saw” in Jesus the coming of the Davidic Messiah. Where else is this term used for Jesus? Only here in Luke, in the parallel passages in Matthew and Mark, and in the Triumphal Entry narratives in Matthew and Mark, which immediately follow this pericope.
- What are the ramifications for the blind man’s life if he is healed? He has to stop begging, get a job to support himself. It is entirely possible he could have been so acclimated to his situation that he would not want to be healed…for it brings greater responsibility.
- In light of the parallel passage in Matthew, how many blind men are healed in Jericho? Two, of which Bartimaeus seems to have been the spokesman. This is an interesting witness to Jesus being the “Son of David” from the mouths of two witnesses. Is this a contradiction with Mark and Luke? No, neither Mark’s nor Luke’s account precludes another blind beggar from being there. If there were two, then there certainly was at least one.
- If you were to make a list, comparing and contrasting the blind man and bad man narratives, what would it look like? Answered in the “Commentary” section last week. See the chart there.
- In this passage there is an emphasis on “seeking” (v.3, 10) but as Joel Green asks, “Who is seeking whom? Jesus was seeking Zacchaeus and Zacchaeus was seeking to see who Jesus was. There is also an emphasis on “seeing.” How do we “see” this played out? A blind man ironically sees Jesus as the Messiah, while the crowd sees the beggar as unimportant, yet Jesus then sends those very same people to bring the blind beggar to Him. The man wanted to see, and Jesus healed his eyes. Then the crowds lifted praise to God. The formerly blind man followed along with Jesus as a disciple. A tax collector wanted to see Jesus and ran ahead and climbed a tree where no one would be able to see him while he was seeing Jesus. Jesus stopped under the tree and saw him, called him by name, and proceeded to the man’s house to have dinner with him, where everyone could see that he had been accepted by Christ.
- How did Jesus know Zacchaeus’ name? How does this knowledge serve to advance the narrative? Of course, others may have spotted him up in the tree as they moved in advance of Jesus’s procession and were mocking him as Jesus arrived. It is also quite possible that Jesus, on assignment from the Father, already knew to whom he would speak and call down from the tree. Jesus' language regarding “I must stay at your house today” (v. 5) seems to lean towards this being a demonstration of supernatural knowledge. However, it is not necessary for the story. What is necessary is the idea that Jesus’ mission addresses people as individuals and welcomes into the kingdom those on the margins of society, whether poor or rich, loud or hiding, men or women, young or old. Jesus is for everyone!
- What relevant Old & New Testament allusions can be seen in the Zacchaeus narrative? (Hint: There are at least four. Several will be mentioned in a second SOAP journal posting midweek!)The answers are to be found there… http://b4lukejournal.blogspot.com/2012/11/luke-19-receiving-responding.html
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