I’ll read you this blog on You Tube if that’s more your style: https://youtu.be/BEKVyvJRP8Q

Luke 19:11-27  Link to the passage here in case you need one: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2019%3A11-27&version=NLT

Yep, this is a happy little story.  If you’re feeling bewildered or find you have questions, take a number.  I stewed over this one for a whole day, reading up, and chatting it through with whichever family member unsuspectingly wanders close enough to my kitchen table.

It helps that Luke kind of spells it out for us at the beginning.  So let’s start there. He tells us Jesus told the crowd a story to correct a misconception.  People thought the kingdom of heaven was going to appear any moment.  Jesus knew that wasn’t happening.  He also knew the next few days would hold a lot of unexpected things, unexpected and unpleasant.  The crowds were expecting their Messiah to ride into Jerusalem, overthrow their oppressors and begin a campaign of world domination.  And they thought it was starting now.  Jesus wanted them to understand their timeline was off, way off. And so he told a story.

We’ve read quite a few parables together.  You know how these work.  They are stories that illustrate a point.  The further we wander from that point, the less dogmatic we should be about the interpretation of other aspects of the narrative.  We also know that the Bible, and all of Jesus’ teachings in it, are consistent.  If we bump into something that confuses us, we can look at it in the context of the rest of the story to help us interpret it.

So Jesus tells a story about a nobleman who is travelling far away from the land where his subjects lived, to be made a king.  His subjects had no respect for him and openly opposed him.  He also had servants who were given responsibilities while he was away.   When he returns, his servants are judged and rewarded (or not) based on how they managed what they were given. His subjects who made themselves his enemies are destroyed.

So the parable is about a man who is being made a king. We know Jesus is the king of a kingdom that is not yet fully realized.  It’s fair to assume that Jesus is drawing the parallel between himself and the nobleman.  The man’s subjects openly opposed his rule.  The religious leaders of Jesus’ day opposed him, and that opposition is about to hit an all time high.  It seems like we can at least loosely associate the religious leaders with the nobleman’s subjects.  The man has subjects that he leaves behind and to whom he gives responsibility for things that belong to him. Jesus has repeatedly stated that we don’t know when the kingdom is coming, it’s a long way off, and in the meantime, we should be living in a way that honours him. When the king comes back, it’s too late for his rebellious subjects to submit to him.  We have seen similar warnings in other parables and teachings.  Jesus has urged his listeners to repent of their self-righteous attempts to save themselves and humbly ask God to rescue them.  He has warned that a day will come when we are past hope.  If we don’t submit to him now, there will be a day when we can’t.  And the unchanging fact is this: when we have rejected God for the last time, we will be punished.  I think Jesus may have chosen the picture of a harsh and angry king having his enemies killed in front of him to inspire that uncomfortable, fearful sense that you and I are feeling as we read it.

There’s really nothing new here.  But this parable might give us a more robust understanding of some of the things we already knew.  It seems to suggest that Jesus has given each of his followers gifts for which we are responsible, a trust you might say.  Some of us have God-given character traits that enable us to teach or minister to people’s physical needs, or provide encouragement and advice to those who are struggling.  Others of us may have been entrusted with financial wealth to share with those in need and to support those who are gifted to pastor others.  Every servant is given a trust and, when the king returns, every servant is asked what they did with it.  While you and I may echo the perplexity of those who felt it was unfair to take from the one servant to give to the other who turned such a healthy profit, remember, the money was never theirs.  Any good manager would do the same once someone had proven themselves unwilling to do the job they were given.  It’s wild they didn’t just get fired. The servant uses the excuse that he was scared of the nobleman, but the nobleman calls him out because he knows he was just being lazy.

So how much can you and I take from that?  If you are a follower of Jesus, he has given you something of his to use for him.  He has given you some of his character traits.  They may be compassion, a knack for administration, wisdom to counsel, discernment to understand right and wrong in a tough situation, or a capacity to teach.  He has also given you physical resources, perhaps a home that should be open to someone who needs a cup of coffee and a listening ear, perhaps money that can help and support others who are also working for God’s glory.  There are so many “trusts” that God can give his followers.  Each one of us has been given something.  This parable tells us that, when we use them well to benefit God and his glory, he will trust us with more.  It also warns us that we can disappoint him and lose our gifts when we neglect our God-given responsibilities.

There is one other piece of this story that I would happily skip, but it’s here and there is a crazy contrast to which I need to draw your attention.  Yes, the king in this story has his enemies executed in front of him, and yes, there is a very final judgement for those who continue to reject Jesus and the gift he offers.  But there is one shocking difference between Jesus and the king in his story that we need to notice.  If you have never read the whole book of Luke, this is going to be a spoiler, but we have hinted at this pretty broadly already.  God does not want to destroy his enemies.  He is so eager to make us his friends that Jesus willingly came to be destroyed in our place. Justice had to be served, a price for evil had to be paid.  Evil can’t spend eternity in God’s presence.  What logically should have happened is that each one of us separated ourselves from God, and were removed from his presence forever.  But God loved us so much that he took our punishment.  Jesus was killed like the Passover lamb. He experienced the total destruction that is separation from God.  And by believing in him, we can claim the price he paid to cancel the debt for our evil.

Our king died for his subjects.  Only those who reject him will be destroyed, and that will be their choice.  It was never his desire.  We have a very unusual king, and he is about to ride into Jerusalem in an equally unusual way.