Life in the Interim

Introduction

Several years ago three movies were made describing what might happen if a child were left “Home Alone.” While the first two captured the attention of a fun-loving public, it was the first which seem to make the most impact. Ten year old Kevin must defend his house from criminals. Through a series of pranks and pitfalls, Kevin successfully defends his house against those who would try to steal from his family. Do you remember being left home alone to take care of things? Your parents left you to deal with the laundry, cooking, cleaning, and generally taking care of things for a time. Or even now your family leaves home for a time and you are by yourself? What’s the worst part of that experience? For some it is the separation. For others it is doing for yourself. But for most it is trying to get everything back in order before the family walks through the front door after returning.

What would happen if you came to realize that we have been left here to take care of things while waiting for Jesus to return? Would you live life any differently if you thought that Jesus would return today or later this week? When the family leaves and announces the date of return, we generally try to clean up the house and get things back in order. Jesus has announced that he is going to return, we just don’t know when. Is your house in order? Is your life in order? What have you been doing to illustrate to Jesus when he returns that you were ready for him? Luke 19:11-27 is a section in which Jesus calls on his followers to be ready for his return. We don’t know when it will happen, but Jesus says to be ready for when he returns we must all give an account of what we have been doing. Would you live life any differently if you thought Jesus would return today?

Expectations

Luke 19:11-27 is the final story in the section that began in 9:51. This is the travel section. Jesus is going to Jerusalem in order to die for all of humanity. Those who are going to Jerusalem with him are anticipating something else. Notice in 19:11 that Luke begins this last story tying it directly to the people’s idea that Jesus is going to start his kingdom very soon. For the followers this journey from Galilee to Jerusalem has been to prepare everyone for an overthrow of the Roman government. With Jesus as leader, Israel will once again be independent and completely God’s nation. There will be a restoring of the boundaries of king David and even more.

Jesus tells a parable which made a lot of sense to those listening. Verse 12 sets the stage. A nobleman leaves to go away and to be established as king. The people would have been aware of such possibilities. King Herod in 40 B.C. and his son Archelaus in 4 B.C. had both gone to Rome to be designated “King” over Jerusalem and surrounding territories. In fact, just as in verse 14, Archelaus was so despised by the people that a delegation was sent behind him to persuade the Roman authorities to not designate Archelaus as king. Why would Jesus want to make this point? Two reasons.

First, Jesus is going away. He has been telling his followers that he was going to be killed. Now in a backdoor way he is telling them here on the final leg of his journey to Jerusalem that he is not going to be around much longer. What will take place while he is gone is that he will be made king.

Second, he is stating the obvious—there is strong opposition to him and his ministry. So strong in fact is this opposition that he will be killed. Jesus takes a familiar occurrence and uses it to illustrate his own life.

While this nobleman is away he calls his servants together and gives each of them one mina. A mina would be equivalent to 3-4 months wages. They are given this sum of money with one requirement—they are to put this money to use, that is, that are to conduct business with the money, and when he returns, he will see what they have done with the money. The nobleman, now king, returns. The first servant reveals that his work has been extremely profitable. He has turned a 1000% profit. The second servant shows a 500% profit. Both of these are commended and rewarded for their work.

The third servant appears with the single mina in hand. Carefully unwrapping the cloth he returns the mina to the king. Why has the servant not conducted business with it? Because he was afraid of the king. The servant believed the king to be a hard and unreasonable man so instead of risking losing the money he saved it for the king’s return. The king condemns the servant for his lack of understanding. It would not have been risky to put it with the money changers and gotten some interest from it. So the king takes the mina from the third servant and gives it to the first servant who has demonstrated real competence in business.

So What?

This story parallels Matthew’s account of the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 and many want to make the same points from both stories. Certainly there is the parallel of being ready when the king returns and having to give an account or judgment, but Luke emphasizes two points.

The second point Luke emphasizes comes at the end of the parable. The third servant makes an assessment of the king which is entirely false. The third servant says the king is a hard man; he takes what he doesn’t earn. So he saved the money for fear of losing it. But the king has already demonstrated that he isn’t a hard man at all. To the first two servants he has been generous and gracious. He has not taken from them but has instead added to them what he has already given. There are some who live in fear of Jesus. Some because of prior teaching see Jesus as a hard master. They may reject Jesus outright because Jesus isn’t loving enough. Or they may go through the motions of trying to have a relationship with Jesus but that relationship is built upon fear and duty rather than trust.

God generously rewards faithfulness. What he expects is that we take what he has given us and use it to his glory. The first two servants were well rewarded for their work. Jesus didn’t compare the two. He rewarded based on how well they had done, but both received more than they had.

God doesn’t call us to be better than another. God isn’t in the comparison business. What God calls us to is to be faithful. He calls us to use his gifts for his benefit. Jesus’ followers will use the gifts given to them to faithfully serve the absent king.

We speak many times of stewardship and using what God has given us. Certainly we shouldn’t diminish such discussions. But we may not understand the implications of such. What we have comes from the king. We cannot lay claim to anything. The servants had nothing until the king gave them a mina. We have nothing unless God gives it to us. What God gives us is to be used for the king’s benefit. It isn’t for us. It is for the king. And when we use these gifts for the king we are rewarded.

Second, in verse 14, the subjects do not want Jesus to be king. In verse 27 those who did not want him to be king are judged severely. The point: not wanting Jesus to be king doesn’t change the truth that he is king. Does the name Michael Fay ring a bell? In 1994, Michael Fay, an American, was 18 years old and living in Singapore. Michael broke the law. He spray painted 18 cars and did other acts of vandalism. His sentence was to pay a $3500 fine, be confined for six months, and to be struck six times with a rattan cane. Eventually the sentence was reduced to only four strokes of the cane. For several months lawyers tried to appeal his sentence. Political forces including the president and a number of senators did all within their power to have the sentence repealed. But in May of 1994, Michael Fay received four lashes with a rattan cane.

All the pleas that the laws in Singapore were unfair. All the attempts to say that America is more civilized. The desire to change the law could not stop the outcome. Trying to act as if Jesus were not king will not change the truth that he is. The day is coming when the king will return and when he returns what will you have to show him that you have been working on his behalf? If Jesus were to come back today would it make any difference in the way you live your life? Would you change anything? What will you have to show to Jesus when he calls for us to give an account of our work while he has been gone?

Before you get the impression that Jesus is a hard taskmaster remember one thing—Jesus is interested in your attempts not in how well you measure up to someone else. Take what he has given you and use it—that is what he is looking for. Are you ready for Jesus to return? He will one day.

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