Luke 19.11 – 27
The story goes like this:
Jesus was going to Jerusalem and
he was near to it.
The disciples and other
gatherings thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.
As answer to their expectation,
Jesus told them that the King had to go to the emperor and his kingdom.
So he will be absent for a period
time.
To explain this truth Jesus said
a parable.
A certain nobleman went into a
far place to meet the emperor.
His intention was to receive for
himself a kingdom, and to return.
He wanted the emperor to appoint
him as the king of the province where he lived.
He was a king and loving master
to his servants.
So before he left, he called his
ten servants, and entrusted them ten pounds, that is one pound for each.
He said unto them, Occupy till I
come (trade till I come).
Meanwhile, in his absence, some
of his citizens who hated him, and sent a message after him to the emperor,
saying that they did not want that man to reign over them.
But the emperor did not give ear
to them.
After a long time, the nobleman returned,
having received the kingdom.
So now he is a king over certain
area under the mighty emperor.
Then he called those servants to
whom he had given the money and asked a detailed account of the money he
entrusted with them.
The first servant came and said;
“Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.”
The king was happy and said to him,
“Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little,
have thou authority over ten cities.”
The second servant came, saying,
Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.
The king was again happy and said
to him, “Be thou also over five cities.”
Another
one, may be the third or the last servant among the ten servants to whom he
gave money came with a drooping head.
He
sadly confessed his failure to increase the money.
He
said to the king, “Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up
in a napkin. I was afraid of you, because you are severe man. You take up that you
laid not down and reap that you didst not sow.
The king was very angry with him.
He said, “Out of your own mouth will I
judge you. You are a wicked servant. You knew that I was a severe man, taking
up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow.
So why did not you give the money
to a bank that at my coming I might have taken back my money with interest.
The king said to them that stood
by, “Take from him the pound, and give it to him that has ten pounds.”
He continued declaring his new
financial policy, “For I say to you, that to every one which has shall be given
more by taking from those who have failed to make a profit in the trade. Even
the little that a failed trader has will be taken away from him.”
Then he ordered the massacre of
his enemies did not want him to reign over them.
The Study
The story is about the long absence of Jesus from
this world.
Jesus was nearing Jerusalem when he was telling the
story.
His followers thought that Jesus would establish
the Kingdom of God very soon.
Some of his disciples had started to discuss about their
seat in the court of the king.
But the Kingdom of God which Jesus announced as
near and already came was not of this world.
This mystery was hard for the disciples to
understand then.
So he was explaining the mystery through this
parable.
A noble man of the land went to the far place, may
be the capital city of the empire to receive the kingdom.
The audience of Jesus understood this political
situation very well.
All Jewish occupied areas of the time were a part
of Roman Empire.
Since Roman Empire was such a vast area, local rulers
were appointed as kings by the Roman rulers.
King Herod thus went to Rome and received his
kingdom.
After his death, Archelaus,
a son of Herod, went to Rome and received his kingdom.
After his death, Agrippa also went to Rome
to receive the kingdom.
Herod the Great,
an Idumean (Edomite) and convert to Judaism who ruled from 37–4 bc.
Following the death of his father, Antipater, Herod was
made king of Judaea by Rome.
They were appointed as kings over certain geographical
area under the Roman Empire.
They had to maintain the relationship
between the local area and people with the Roman Empire.
Jesus was also telling the story of such a
nobleman who went to a far place, to the capital city of the empire to receive
his kingdom.
He might have been a rich and good master.
From the comment made by the last servant while returning
the pound he received, it may be assumed that the master was an expert in
trading and creating profit as if from nothing.
Luke 19: 20, 21
20 “Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here
is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth.
21 I
was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not
put in and reap what you did not sow.’
Before he left to meet the empire, he entrusted his
wealth to his faithful servants.
He considered them faithful.
None of them stole or ran away with his money
Every one returned the money with profits or without
profit.
They, even during his absence considered the money to belong
to the master.
Luke 19: 16 - 20
16 “The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina
has earned ten more.’
17 “ ‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master
replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge
of ten cities.’
18 “The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has
earned five more.’
19 “His master answered, ‘You take charge of five
cities.’
20 “Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here
is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth.
What was the intention of the master by entrusting his
wealth to the servants?
1.
Multiply his wealth
He was not particular about trading
He was concerned with multiplying his wealth.
Luke 19: 22, 23
22 “His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your
own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking
out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow?
23 Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit,
so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’
2.
To choose right persons as governors to towns.
The second intention is revealed as he appoints the
faithful and profitable servants as governors to towns under Kingdom.
During the period
of the empire, Roman provinces were administrated in two primary ways:
1.
Older, morestable provinces were controlled by the Roman
Senate.
These senatorial provinces were ruled by member of the
senate who would be known as “proconsul”.
Most of these senatorial provinces were peaceful and did
not have Roman legions stationed on their soil.
2.
Newer and less stable provinces were under the control of
the emperor, who was technically considered the governor of each.
These “imperial” provinces had proxy governors appointed
by the emperor.
The larger imperial provinces would have a person of
senatorial rank as the chief authority, often called an imperial legate.
The term “legate” was tied to the legion(s) in the
province that would be under this person’s direct control.
The motivation for the Romans to appoint provincial Kings
were:
1.
To maintain peace in the region
2.
To maintain a peaceful relationship with Rome
3.
To raise tax revenues for the empire
This nobleman was using the same method to rule the
kingdom assigned to him.
He had the same purpose.
So he offered an opportunity to ten of his faithful
servants to earn their towns.
He tested their faithfulness
He tested their expertise as tradesmen.
Why tradesmen?
Because tradesmen knows that:
1.
Only peace can bring prosperity
2.
Tradesmen conquer countries not by war but by trade.
So the nobleman entrusted his wealth with ten of his
faithful servants before he left for the capital city for receiving a kingdom.
Jesus spoke this parable to explain the establishment of
the Kingdom of God.
He was not going to establish the Kingdom right away.
He had to go to His Father, the Great King to receive His
Kingdom.
He would come back afterwards and appoint his faithful
servants in charge of cities.
Meanwhile, Jesus wants to multiply his treasure.
So He has entrusted His great share with us.
The great treasure
What is the great treasure Jesus has entrusted us?
The Great Commission includes four things
They are not four separate things, but one and the same.
We cannot take away any one and execute the other.
Mark 16. 15 - 18
15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and
preach the gospel to all creation.
16 The one who believes and is baptized will be
saved, but the one who refuses to believe will be condemned.
17 And these signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will expel demons, they will speak in new tongues,
18 they will pick up snakes. And if they drink any
deadly poison it will never hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick and ⌊they will get⌋ well.”
(KJV)
Matthew 28: 18 -
20
18 And Jesus
approached and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth
has been given to me.
19 Therefore, go
and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe everything I have
commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the
age.” (KJV)
1.
Preach the gospel
2.
Baptise those believe
3.
Teach them His commandments
4.
Thus make disciples of Christ
All gospel may be contained in the phrase, “The Gospel of
the Kingdom of God”
John the Baptist announced it.
Matthew 3. 1, 2
1
Now in those days John the
Baptist came preaching in the Judean wilderness
2
and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of
heaven has come near!”
Jesus proclaimed it
Matthew 4. 12 -
17
12 Now when he heard that
John ⌊had been arrested⌋, he withdrew into Galilee.
13 And leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in
Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali,
14 in order that what was spoken by the prophet
Isaiah would be fulfilled, who said,
15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, ⌊toward the sea⌋, on the
other side of the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people who sit in darkness have seen a great
light, and the ones who sit in the land and shadow of death, a light has dawned
on them.”
17 From that time on, Jesus began to preach and to
say, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven is near.”
The Kingdom of God includes
Repentance
Salvation by grace through faith in Jesus
Baptism
Holy and separated life afterwards
Resurrection of the dead and transform of the living at
the second coming of Christ
Inheriting the Everlasting Kingdom of God
And all …
The gospel of the Kingdom will be preached to the end of
the world.
Matthew 24. 3 –
14(Signs of the End of the Age)
3 And as he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the
disciples came up to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things
happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 And Jesus answered and* said to them, “Watch out
that no one deceives you!
5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the
Christ,’ and they will deceive many.
6 And you are going to hear about wars and rumors of
wars. See to it that you are not alarmed, for this must happen, but the end is
not yet.
7 For nation will rise up against nation and kingdom
against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
8 But all these things are the beginning of birth
pains.
9 “Then they will hand you over to persecution and
will kill you, and you will be hated by all the nations because of my name.
10 And then many will be led into sin and will
betray one another and will hate one another,
11 and many false prophets will appear and will
deceive many,
12 and because lawlessness will increase, the love
of many will grow cold.
13 But the one who endures to the end—this person
will be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed in
the whole inhabited earth for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end
will come.
Gospel of the Kingdom of God is the great treasure Jesus
has entrusted us
He has gone to His Father to receive the Kingdom and come
back to establish it for ever.
During his absence we have trade with this great treasure
The Kingdom of God has to grow and multiply.
The growing Kingdom
Mark 4. 26 – 29 (The Parable of the Seed that Grows by Itself)
26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is like this:
like a man scatters seed on the ground.
27 And he sleeps and gets up, night and day, and the
seed sprouts and grows—⌊he does not know how⌋.
28 By itself the soil produces a crop: first the
grass, then the head of grain, then the full grain in the head.
29 But when the crop permits, he sends in the sickle
right away, because the harvest has come.”
Mark 4. 30– 34 (The
Parable of the Mustard Seed)
30 And he said, “With what can we compare the
kingdom of God, or by what parable can we present it? 31 It is like a
mustard seed that when sown on the ground, although it* is the smallest of all
the seeds that are on the ground, 32 but when it is sown it grows up and
becomes the largest of all the garden herbs, and sends out large branches so
that the birds of the sky are able to nest in its shade.” 33 And with many
parables such as these he was speaking the word to them, as they were able to
hear it.* 34 And he did not speak to them without a parable, but in
private he explained everything to his own disciples.
Matthew 13. 33 (The
Parable of the Yeast)He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is
like yeast that a woman took and put into three measures of wheat flour until
the whole batch was leavened.”
How to trade
By Kingdom Living
1.
Proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom
2.
Extending the presence of the kingdom
Proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom
Matthew 10. 5 -
8
5 Jesus sent out these twelve, instructing them
saying, “Do not go on the road to the Gentiles, and do not enter into a city of
the Samaritans,
6 but go instead to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel.
7 And as you are going, preach, saying, ‘The
kingdom of heaven has come near!’
8 Heal those who are sick, raise the dead, cleanse
lepers, expel demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
Extend the presence of the kingdom
Matthew 12. 22 - 28
22 Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute
was brought to him. And he healed him so that the man who was mute could speak
and see.
23 And all the crowds were amazed and began saying,
“Perhaps this one is the Son of David!”
24 But the Pharisees, when they heard it, said,
“This man does not expel demons except by Beelzebul the ruler of demons!”
25 But knowing their thoughts, he said to them,
“Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and every city or
household divided against itself will not stand.
26 And if Satan expels Satan, he is divided against
himself. How then will his kingdom stand?
27 And if I expel demons by Beelzebul, by whom do
your sons expel them?For this reason they will be your judges!
28 But if I expel demons by the Spirit of God,
then the kingdom of God has come upon you!
Matthew 11. 1 –5 (A Question
from John the Baptist)
1 And it happened that when Jesus had finished giving
orders to his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and to preach in
their towns.
2 Now when John heard in prison the deeds of Christ, he
sent word by his disciples
3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or
should we look for another?”
4 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell
John what you hear and see:
5 the blind receive sight and the lame walk, lepers
are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised, and the poor have good
news announced to them.
Professor Jacob Abraham
For positive thoughts for better living, www.professorjacobabraham.com
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