A certain Nobleman and Ten Minas - Part I

A Certain Nobleman and Ten Minas

[Luke 19:11-27] ¹¹ And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. ¹² He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. ¹³ And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. ¹⁴ But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. ¹⁵ And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. ¹⁶ Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. ¹⁷ And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities. ¹⁸ And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. ¹⁹ And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities. ²⁰ And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: ²¹ For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. ²² And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: ²³ Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury? ²⁴ And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. ²⁵ (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.) ²⁶ For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him. ²⁷ But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.

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Many people have tried to interpret this parable of the minas, but they tend to fail to clarify what it really means. Their conclusion is generally this: the nobleman is Jesus who will come in future to judge us according to our deeds.

We tend to believe that we will go into the kingdom of God sometime in the future. However, the kingdom of God that the Scripture repeatedly describes refers to the kingdom that comes to us in this world. Furthermore, the kingdom is Jesus Christ Himself who comes into us as the Holy Spirit.

This parable will reveal that those who think the kingdom of God will come in the remote future are the wicked servants who will lose the mina (pound) they already have.
Let us uncover the hidden meaning of the parable.

The Kingdom of God In Us

[Luke 19:11] And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.

Verse 11 begins by “And as they heard these things.” Here, ‘these things’ are the word He gave to Zacchaeus, the publican in the previous verses. Read these verses of Luke.

9 And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. [Luke 19:9-10]
 
This story happened when Jesus went into the house of Zac-chaeus. Jesus compares His entrance into his house with salvation. When He entered his house, it signified the spiritual fact that Zacchaeus had received Him into himself. Jesus is the kingdom of God, and so to receive Him means to go into the kingdom. Accordingly, he is saved and the kingdom has come on him.

However, the Jews thought that the kingdom of God would come physically when Jesus arrived at Jerusalem and overcame evil with mighty power. This is the meaning of the word “they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.”
The kingdom of God that we have in mind is no different to that which the Jews of the past understood. We believe that Jesus will come in the clouds, put down evil in this world, and bring the kingdom of God universally. We and the Jews, imagine the same sort of kingdom of God. 

As we can see in the case of Zacchaeus, the kingdom of God is spiritual one, not a physical one that we can observe. Read the pas-sage below:

20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the king-dom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. [Luke 17:20-21]

Meaning of Symbols

[Luke 19:12-14] 12 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. 13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. 14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.

Jesus narrates a parable to correct the prevailing view of the king-dom of God that comes on earth and that the Jews and the Christians cling to. In this parable, four types of people appear; the servant who gained ten minas, the servant who gained five minas, the servant who kept the mina laid up in a napkin, and the citizens who did not want the nobleman to reign over them, and were slain.

All these people represent believers nowadays as follows:
First: The ten minas servant represents the believer who is really born again with the life of Jesus.
Second: The five minas servant represents the believer who is born again, but yet to grow in faith to become adult like the ten minas servant.
Third: The one mina servant represents the believer who thinks he himself is born again, but in reality, he is not.
Fourth: The citizens represent the believers who are not so keen to follow Jesus, and are indifferent to Jesus even though they are said to be Christians. They are quite different from the servants who are keen and eager to follow Jesus, i.e., enthusiastic believers.
The above four types of believes will be explained further one by one.

Let us examine the servant group first. The servants are believers who regularly attend church services, participate in gatherings, study the Bible, pray, make donations, and try to care for others in the name of Jesus. They are the disciples of Jesus.

Mina Means Life

The nobleman calls his servants, gives them each ten minas (pounds), and instructs them to trade until he returns. Here, I personally prefer to use the original monetary unit of mina. That is because the mina, after all, indicates spiritual things, not the corresponding value of modern currencies.

The nobleman, of course, refers to Jesus. Then, what does the mina delivered to the servant mean? To answer; what do we receive when we follow Him as Savior and become His servant? It is ‘(eternal) life,’ which is the purpose of our believing in Jesus. Please note that eternal life is not that which will last forever in time, but it is the ‘life of Jesus.’ 

When we believe in Him, eternal ‘life’ is given equally to each of us. This is what is being referred to by the nobleman giving minas to his servants in the parable. However, when we first receive ‘(eternal) life’ (mina), this life is not complete and full as yet. It needs to grow to become complete ‘life,’ which will bring forth many lives.

In fact, when we first receive ‘life,’ this is the pregnant stage and it should grow to the delivery stage. Only at this delivery stage will our ‘(eternal) life’ become complete and we will be empowered to bring forth many lives thereafter.

The difference between the ten minas servant and the one mina servant is that the former is walking with the living Jesus after pregnancy matured into full delivery of life in Christ. However the latter is concentrating on doing various works, expecting Jesus to come in the future, and so he fails to achieve life in and through Jesus Christ.
With this basic understanding, let us try to interpret the parable.

In the parable, the nobleman returns and calls the servants to whom he had given the money so that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Please do not imagine a scene with ten ser-vants standing in a row in front of the nobleman. This parable is applicable to each of the servants spiritually and individually.

One thing I want to explain in advance is that I will use the terms ‘nobleman’ and ‘Jesus,’ minas and ‘life,’ and ‘servants’ and ‘believers’ interchangeably. This will not affect the intended meanings in the parable. 
I will now describe how this parable is applicable to us.

Ten Minas Servant

[Luke 19:15-17] 15 And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. 16 Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. 17 And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.

The servant who gained ten minas from one mina (‘ten minas servant’), is the believer who has completed the process and received (eternal) life. He can be described as follows:

“He met Jesus in his life (pregnancy: receive one mina), and after having lain down his ‘old man’ by following Jesus, he received the Holy Spirit (delivery: return of nobleman). By the Holy Spirit in him he became someone who could give life to others (gained ten minas). And thus the kingdom of God came to him.”
The ten minas servant who belongs to Jesus is able to give life to others as Jesus did.

The Return of Nobleman

In the case of the ten minas servant, the return of nobleman to him in itself makes him the servant who can gain ten minas. So the nobleman commends him for the ten minas, allowing him or granting him ten cities.

It should read in this way: “The nobleman returns to him” means “The servant becomes the ten minas servant;” “The servant shows ten minas to the nobleman;” and “The servant receives ten cities.” All these things are happening at the same time through the return of nobleman.
We can find a same situation in Luke 12.

42 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? 43 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. [Luke 12:42-43]

When the Lord comes in him, due to the presence of the Lord in him, he becomes the faithful steward. He cannot be the faithful steward without the Lord in him basically.
In the main parable, the ten minas servant has the return of no-bleman inside of him, which is salvation, whereas the one mina servant has the return outside of him, which is judgment.

Ten Cities

We traditionally think that if we believe in Jesus, we will get a su-perb mansion in our afterlife in heaven. However, this is a misunderstanding. Why?
To believe and to follow Jesus is to get the eternal life of Jesus, and this life will be given to us within our lifetime on earth. To expect something in the afterlife means that we did not receive the life of Jesus now. And if we do not get this life during our stay on earth, we will never be able to get it in the afterlife.

Therefore, if you hold on to doctrines that tell you that eternal life will only be given to you after you die, you are being deceived. Make sure you have eternal life from here to eternity. Why do you wish to defer it?

In the parable, the servant received ten cities. The ten cities are not given as some sort of prize. The ten cities are the ten minas itself that he gained. Therefore, ten cities are given to ten minas, not five nor eleven, but just ten. When our life becomes fruitful and multi-plies, that is all there is. There can be no additional prize for being fruitful. For instance, no one will bear a child simply to win a prize! The child, the new life (mina in the parable) itself, is the prize if you want to call it that.

The Case of Peter Fitted into the Parable

The model of the ten minas servant in the Scripture also relates to Jesus’ disciples. I will describe the process by which they gained ten minas by using Peter as an example.
Refer to the illustration of the life of Peter below:

                     Meet and follow Jesus                   Receive Jesus in him as Holy Spirit          

First, Peter left all and walked together with Jesus when he first met Him (Luk 5:11). He received one mina according to the terminology in the parable (point 1above). At this time, he received life, but it was at the ‘pregnancy stage’. It needed to mature to the delivery stage (point 2 above) to become a full life that could also give life to others. Peter was finally delivered into a complete life when He breathed on him so that Peter could receive the Holy Spirit as described at the end of the Gospel of John.
Read the passage below.

21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Fa-ther hath sent me, even so send I you. 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. [John 20:21-23]

Jesus came on Peter as the king. He had returned with the king-dom. When His return had been achieved in Peter, he became a servant who could give life to others due to the in-dwelling of Jesus in him. At this time, Jesus had said that he would be able to forgive the sins of others, which meant that Peter could give new life to others.
This is the return of the nobleman and second coming of Jesus to Peter.

Occupy Till I Come

“Occupy till I come!”
This is what the nobleman told his servants, when he was going into a far country. In Peter’s case, this ‘occupy till I come period’ cor-responds to the period from when he first met Jesus and became pregnant with new life (point 1) to when he received the new life in full by the delivery (point 2) at the cross. This period was three and half years.
What had he been doing during this period? He had been fol-lowing Jesus, taking up his own cross (Mat 10:38) so that his ‘old man’ may be destroyed together with Jesus on the cross. This is what Peter did, and is the spiritual meaning thereof.

Following Jesus and taking his own cross to the crucifixion and resurrection, is the key. We should also do this during this period without postponing our relationship with Jesus until His second coming in the future. In this way, we shall be a ten minas servant as Peter was.

If Jesus stayed with Peter from his pregnancy, then why did the nobleman in the parable go into a far country and then return? In those days, Peter looked forward to Jesus ascending the throne as king of the physical world. So, from the viewpoint of Peter, even though Jesus was with him, He, as a king, was not there. He, as a king, would return in the future. So according to the metaphor of the parable, Jesus went into a far country to receive for Himself a kingdom, and then returned to Peter.


Cont'd....../2

Chung DuckYoung
Pastor
FaSS Evangelists

www.fass.kr
 

Taken from "Fresh Eyes to Read the Bible - Book 2"