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I 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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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?" |
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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. |
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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. |
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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?" |
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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 |
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1. The Rebels |
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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. |
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2 The Wicked Servants |
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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? |
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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." |
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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. |
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3 The Good Servants |
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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. |
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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. |
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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? |
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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. |
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But finally, let's think about the rewards given
to each of these 3 categories of people. |
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The Rebels |
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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. |
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The Wicked Servant. |
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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) |
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The Good Servants |
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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 |
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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. |
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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." |
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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. |
