A Gift That Must Be Shared
- Deacon Dan DeLuca
- Nov 16, 2022
- 8 min read
Faith in Jesus Christ is a tremendous gift. The one who possesses faith in Jesus has what the entire world longs for, truth. It is a gift to be treasured for sure. However, it is also a gift that must be shared. We are commanded not to keep our faith to ourselves but to share it. For a disciple of Christ, this is not optional. One day, we will stand before the Lord and be asked to give an account of what we did with the faith we were given. As we read this Gospel, let us ask for the wisdom to see what our account would be if asked to give it today.
The Parable of the Ten Pounds
As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. He said therefore, “A nobleman went into a far country to receive kingly power and then return. Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten pounds, and said to them, ‘Trade with these till I come.’ But his citizens hated him and sent an embassy after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ When he returned, having received the kingly power, 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 trading. The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your pound has made ten pounds more.’ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’ And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your pound has made five pounds.’ And he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ Then another came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your pound, which I kept laid away in a napkin; for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man; you take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow.’ He said to him, ‘I will condemn you out of your own mouth, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not put my money into the bank, and at my coming I should have collected it with interest?’ And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the pound from him, and give it to him who has the ten pounds.’ (And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten pounds!’) ‘I tell you, that to every one who has will more be given; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them before me.’” And when he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. Luke 19 : 11-28
Scriptural Analysis
Jesus is approaching Jerusalem and there is speculation that the Kingdom of God will appear in Jerusalem immediately. On one hand, this is true as Jesus is present and, as he explained earlier, the Kingdom of God is already amongst them. His disciples will hail him as King upon his entry into the city. However, contrary to expectation, precisely because he is King, he will be crucified. Therefore, the coming of the kingdom in all its fullness is still a future event. Jesus must first ascend into heaven and. why he is gone, the disciples must spread his message before he will return again.
To explain this Jesus offers a parable. This parable interprets the events about to take place as well as corrects any misconceptions about the imminent appearance of the Kingdom of God. The parable has two main arcs. The first is about kingship. A nobleman must travel to a distant country to be crowned king before returning home to rule. This story would be eerily familiar to those who heard it as Herod the Great’s son, Archelaus, was required to travel to Rome upon his father’s passing to be confirmed as the successor to his father by Caesar Augustus. However, Archelaus was a tyrant whereas the man in the parable is presented as a noble figure. The mention of a kingdom in the first two verses suggests that the nobleman is atually a caricature of Jesus. The coming and going to a distant country represents Jesus’s ascending into heaven before his second coming.
A second arc is presented in the parable. Before the nobleman leaves, he gives ten gold coins to ten of his servants: one to each. The word translated as pound, mna, means a coin worth about 100 denarii or 100 days wages. It was not a small amout but also not a trivial amount. The nobleman also give them instructions that they were to use them to trade with (literally to enage in business), to try and generate a proft for the nobleman. The servants likley represent the disciples who will be given the gift of the Holy Spirit to carry out their mission when Jesus ascends into heaven.
The parrable returns to the first arc providing an important detail regarding the nobleman’s citizens. The citizens send a delegation after the nobleman because they despised him and did not want him to be king. This detail again parallels real life. The historian, Josephus, records that fifty ambassadors went to Rome to try and prevent Archelaus from becoming king because he was a bruttle tryant. However, such hatred of the nobleman in this story seems unwarranted. There is no evidence to indicate that he is a bruttle leader. Jesus will encounter similar resistance in Jerusalem from those who do not want to follow him.
The nobleman returns with the kingship. Upon his return, the servants are summoned to give an account of what they did with the coin entrusted to them while he was gone. Coming forward they address the king as sir or Lord. Both before and after the parable Jesus is called Lord further strengthening the indeitifcation of the nobleman with Jesus. The first and second servants report that the king’s gold has yielded a profit and thus they are given more responsibility. The king’s generosity in rewarding faithful servants is not trivial. Disciples of Jesus who are faithful with that which has been entrusted to them will be given more gifts.
Only one other of the ten servants is mentioned, This third one kept the coin safe but did not do anything with it. He explains his disobedience by blaiming the king for being demanding and unfair. He claims that the king has a reputation for taking what he did not lay down or harvesting what he did not plant. However, there is no other indication that the king is unjust. The complaint seems unwarranted. Rather, this is an excuse for his own failure to respond. He represents those disciples who fail to produce mature fruit unlike the first two who persevered and produced much.
The king now uses the servant’s own words against him. He does not challenge the servant’s description but rather uses them to draw the conclusion that, if he knew he was demanding, then at least put the money in a bank and earn interest. The king orders the coin to be taken from him and given to the one with ten. Note that there is no mention of a punishment for the servant who disobeyed. Rather he is excluded.
The parable concludes with a reference back to the king’s enemies, those who opposed them. He ordered them to be summoned and slayed. This again points back to Archelaus who continued his brutality until he was ultimately deposed in AD 6. Interesting here that Jesus is the king and is not the one who does the slaying but rather is the one who is slain. This innocent messiah is rejected just as if he were the brutal Archelaus. Judgment for rejecting the king will befall the people.
Daily Application
The parallels between the nobleman and Jesus leave no doubt with regard to the meaning of this parable. We are to see Jesus in the position of the nobleman coming back and asking us to give an account of what we have done witrh that which he entrusted us with. What did he entrust us with? The Gospel, the Good News of our salvation. If we repent of our sins and turn to him we will spend eternity in heaven with him.
Jesus also commanded us to share that Good News, “repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations.” (Luke 24:47) The faith that we have, we are commanded to share. Note that I did not say called to share but commanded to share. This is not an optional activity that we can choose to join in if we want to. This is a command from our Lord. One that he expects us to carry out and one that we will have to give an account for and the end of our lives.
This should cause us some angest but it shot not cause us to panic or cause us to be affraid. The Lord is reasonable. He does not expect all of us to travel to distant lands: to become full-time missionaries. He understands the responsibilities of making a living, taking care of and educating children, the challenges of caring for aging parents, and all of the other demands of life. The Lord understands that there are limits to what we can do and he is more than capable of working within our limits.
What he does expect of us is to share the Gospel with those that he places in our lives. That starts of course with our families and, if we have been so blessed, in a special way with our children. We must pass on the faith to our children. From there we should share the Good News with our friends and our coworkers. We must also not be affraid to share the faith with those that cross our path, even if only for a moment.
I thnik we often fall into a trap thinking that in order to share our faith we have to have some grand presentation or slick marketing campaign ready to go. That is not it at all. Sharing our faith should be a sincere and simple gift from the heart. An offer to pray with someone struggeling or even an act as simple as saying “God bless you” to a person you meet can be all it takes. Our job is not necessarily to grow and nourish the faith in everyone we meet. The Lord may simply want us to plant the seeds and he will send others to cultivate the field. Your small gesture may be the seed that takes root.
The faith is a treasure. It is a gift that must be shared. It is a gift that we are commanded to share. We must be prepared always to share the Good News with all those souls that the Lord places in our lives. That way, when we stand before him at the end of time and are asked to give an account of what we did with the treasure he gave us, we can point to all those we shared the faith with, and hear him say, “Well done, good servant!”
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