He said therefore, A certain high-born man went to a distant country to receive for himself a kingdom and return.
The crowd near Jerusalem thought the kingdom of God was about to appear in public glory. Jesus answers with a picture of a nobleman who travels far away to receive royal power, and only then comes home to reign.
Commentators tie the parable to the moment. Jerusalem was near — and so was something the crowd had not counted on.
Some were straining for that kingdom to begin at once. They were deceiving themselves. If He was near Jerusalem, He was near the cross, not the showing of His kingdom yet.
Commentators name the figures in the story plainly. The going and the returning are both personal, not just spiritual.
Who is meant in the parable by the nobleman? Certainly the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Where has He gone? Into the far country, into heaven. Why has He gone there? "To receive a kingdom, and return." Now how did He go? Merely in some spiritual sense? No. He went away in person. So He will return in person too. He comes to take possession of the kingdom He went into the far country to receive.
The verse tells us only that the nobleman went away. It does not show what happened when he arrived.
The prophet Daniel supplies what this parable leaves out. He takes us into the "far country." There he shows us the very act of the nobleman receiving the kingdom (Dan. 7:13) … See how Scripture agrees with Scripture.
He receives the kingdom in heaven. But He will not exercise it there — which is why the words "and then return" matter.
The Lord gets His title to a kingdom sealed in heaven — but where is He to administer it? Not in heaven; He comes back to earth first. … Here are three parties: the nobleman, gone away and hidden in a distant country for a time; the servants, left to carry on until he returns; and the citizens. This is a picture of the very moment you are living in.
The town where He told it gave the parable a sharp edge.
Was it mere coincidence that He spoke such a parable in Jericho? Where could He have spoken it more fittingly? A palace of Archelaus still stood there. He had gone to Rome to have royal power confirmed to him. His citizens did send a message after him to block his plan. But he returned to reign, despite all their efforts to turn Augustus Caesar against him.
Their refusal did not end when they rejected Him. It carried on after He had gone.
Such was the spirit of the Jews. They not only rejected the Messiah. As another has well said, they sent a message after Him in the martyrs they killed. They refused Him in glory just as they had refused Him in His humiliation.
Between the going and the returning stands the trust handed to the servants.
The ten servants of the nobleman (v.13) speak of those given a place of responsible testimony today. They are disciples called to fulfil a sacred trust: to represent Him while He is away. For the words "Occupy till I come" imply that they are to occupy His place of testimony till He comes. How serious and holy a trust!
When he comes back with the kingdom, he settles accounts. The servants do not all receive the same reward.
One servant receives authority over ten cities, the other over five. That is, a share in the kingdom according to their labour. The servant does not lose what he has gained, though it was for his master. He enjoys it. Not so with the servant who made no use of his pound. … What we gain here — spiritual understanding and the knowledge of God in power — is not lost in the other world. On the contrary we receive more, and the glory of the inheritance is given us in proportion to our work. But all is grace.
- Delay — The parable corrects a wrong timetable. Near Jerusalem meant near the cross, not the kingdom on display.
- Departure — The nobleman is Christ, the far country is heaven, and He went in person, so He returns in person.
- Grant — Daniel 7 shows the scene the parable only points to — the nobleman receiving the kingdom in heaven.
- Refusal — The citizens' message did not stop with His rejection. It went on while He was away, in the martyrs they killed.
- Reckoning — Each servant carries a sacred trust while He is away. At His return He gives cities according to each one's work — and all of it is grace.
And having called his own ten bondmen, he gave to them ten minas, and said to them, Trade while I am coming.
Jesus told this parable near Jerusalem, to a crowd that expected God's kingdom to appear at once. Verse 13 is the heart of His answer: before the nobleman leaves, he hands each servant money and one order for the gap until he returns.
The people had the timing wrong. A journey to receive a kingdom, and only then a return, corrects their expectation and sets the servants their task in between.
Christ was going away to heaven to receive the kingdom from God there — He was not about to take it from man now and in this world. So it is clearly a picture of the Lord's return at the second advent, after having received a kingdom. It was not a question of human willingness or power, but of receiving from God. But then, further, He shows that meanwhile His servants are called to occupy themselves till He comes.
Older translations render the order "Occupy till I come." That older word means trade, not sit still.
The Master said to His trusted servants, "Occupy till I come," or, as it is otherwise translated, "Trade while I am coming." Now, this trading implies anything but idleness. You are entrusted with your Master's money, and He expects the same back with interest. What a trust! Such a trust as no angel ever knew. As surely as we belong to Him, so surely He entrusts some grace to us — some privilege, or opportunity, or means of witnessing to Him or suffering for Him.
Ten servants, ten minas — one each. Older translations call a mina a pound.
The emphasis, however, falls on the different results among servants who all receive the same amount to trade with on his behalf. Here the parable of the pounds differs from that of the talents in Matthew... "Matthew presents the sovereignty and wisdom of the giver, who varies his gifts according to the ability of his servants. In Luke it is more the responsibility of the servants, who each receive the same sum. One gains more by it, in his master's interest, than the other."
What does the mina stand for?
The pound is that great treasure which the Lord brought into the world. It is the knowledge of God in His grace... The Lord brought the true knowledge of God from heaven into the world, but He did not take it away when He returned. He left it here. He has committed it to us... This is the silver pound, and we are responsible to put it into circulation on our Lord's behalf, to trade for Him with it until He comes.
The next verse names the citizens who refused His rule. That is the marketplace we trade in.
But our service is in the world that hates Him. Let us not try to disguise or reason away this sad fact. Its citizens said, "We do not want this man to reign over us," and they have never changed that decision. We must face this to see where we stand with the world. It hates the One who loves us, and we are called to do business for Him in it.
This order does not split life into sacred hours and ordinary ones. It claims all of life.
Clearly, then, this is the chief business of our lives. We are not here, in the first place, to be mechanics, shop-keepers, or professional men, or to run the house or raise the children. Still less are we here to live lives of selfish ease. We are here to trade for our absent Lord. Our very lives are His, as well as the pound He has delivered to us. We may be able to put the pound out at the best rate of interest as we follow our business and run the home. We do that while rubbing shoulders with others in the affairs of this life. But this will only happen as, in these things, we serve the Lord Christ.
The order has an end point, and that end point works two ways on the conscience.
It should also be an incentive to faithfulness in service... The coming of Christ is a double motive to faithfulness; it holds out encouragement to the faithful, and it gives a warning to the careless servant. The first will say with joyful anticipation, "My Lord is at hand, and therefore I must seek to be diligent before He comes." The second, if he thinks at all, will surely think, "What will my Lord say if He finds me, at His coming, both careless and unfaithful?"
- Entrusted. Before the Master left, He put something of His own into every servant's hands. No one is left out.
- Equal. Each servant gets the same sum. So the test is what he does with it, not how much he holds.
- Trade. The order means do business, not sit still. Put the treasure into circulation in ordinary work, home, and witness.
- Opposed. We trade in a world that refused His rule. Faithfulness here meets hostility, not applause.
- Reckoned. He is coming back to ask what each servant gained. That steadies the diligent and unsettles the careless.
But his citizens hated him, and sent an embassy after him, saying, We will not that this [man] should reign over us.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And it came to pass on his arrival back again, having received the kingdom, that he desired these bondmen to whom he gave the money to be called to him, in order that he might know what every one had gained by trading.
The nobleman comes back as king, and he calls in the servants he trusted with his money. Two questions follow: where does Christ receive His kingdom, and what does He want to know from those who served Him?
The order matters. He receives the kingdom first, and only then returns. Where does each of these happen?
The Lord gets His title to a kingdom sealed in heaven — but where is He to administer it? Not in heaven; He comes back to earth first. That is dispensational truth. He does have a kingdom now — "the kingdom of God is righteousness, joy and peace." But here I speak of His royal glory, which He will display later on the earth.
It also settles a question about timing, and about how He will come back.
The parable was spoken to correct a mistaken expectation: the kingdom of God was not going to appear immediately. Who is meant in the parable by the nobleman? Certainly the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Where has He gone? Into the far country, into heaven. Why has He gone there? "To receive a kingdom, and return." Now how did He go? Merely in some spiritual sense? No. He went away in person. Then so shall He return.
Notice whom the king calls. He sends for the servants who received his money, and asks what they did with it.
Here we have the responsible service of Christians until Jesus returns, with His judgment then of their service in the meantime… This makes the picture still more complete, for we also see the public judgment of the guilty citizens, the Jews, when He appears.
So what is at stake in that reckoning?
Service does not affect the salvation of our souls, because that rests on the finished work of Christ. But it will greatly affect our reward at the Lord's return, and our place in His kingdom.
Every servant started level. That single detail is what makes the different results meaningful.
Each is given the same amount of money, in contrast to Matthew 25:15, where the talents given to each differ in number according to ability. The talents speak of the different spiritual gifts given to disciples. The pounds seem to picture "the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3)… This is the sacred truth of God. It can give great increase as we use it rightly. As to this, each servant has the same resources to trade with.
Commentators differ on what the pound stands for. Some see the truth God has entrusted to us; others see the chance to serve that every disciple is given.
The knowledge of God in the infinite grace of His heart is the silver pound, and our Lord has committed it to us… We are responsible to put it into circulation for our Lord. We are to trade with it for Him until He comes.
He calls them in so that He may know what each one gained. How careful is that accounting?
"Engage in business until I come" links the present with the future. It makes us think soberly about what He will say to us when He returns. But there is encouragement for us in the parable, because we can be sure the Lord will not forget any bit of true service. Heaven's book-keeping is accurate. All that we have gained for our Lord is entered there, and it will give the Lord joy to acknowledge the faithfulness of His servants.
The servants report their gain at His return. That gain buys a place in the kingdom He has just received.
The pound represents the opportunity for service given to each professed disciple… In this all are alike. The use each makes of it is seen by what each gains. The servant's use of his opportunity decides his place and service later on… Now is the time of testing in service. Whoever does not use his opportunity will lose it for ever. Whoever has used his best will have the greatest opportunity later.
- Received — He receives the title to the kingdom in heaven while He is away, then comes back in person to display it on earth.
- Entrusted — Every servant gets the same pound, so the test is not ability but use.
- Traded — His absence is not empty waiting. We trade for our Master until He comes.
- Known — He returns to know what each one gained. His accounting is exact, and He forgets no true service.
- Rewarded — What we gain now decides our place in the kingdom then. Salvation itself rests on His finished work, not on our trading.
And the first came up, saying, [My] Lord, thy mina has produced ten minas.
The nobleman has come back with the kingdom, and the first servant reports the gain on his master's money. That report raises two questions: what does this coin stand for, and why do the servants' results differ so much?
One writer lays out the order the parable follows. The kingdom is still ahead; the time before it is a test.
The time of the kingdom would come, when all His enemies would be destroyed. But first comes a period of His absence, which would test the faithfulness and diligence of His servants. The master entrusts the same sum to each servant. So the difference in the result sprang from their diligence and skill, or the lack of it.
Matthew tells a similar parable about talents. One writer names the difference between the two. (He calls the coin a pound; the ESV calls it a mina.)
In Matthew the talents stand for ability given, and that differs from person to person. In Luke the pounds stand for opportunities, and everyone has these alike, each in his own measure.
So what is the pound? One writer ties it to the way Luke's Gospel presents God, and says no servant is too small to have received it.
You may be very small in your own eyes, hardly able to claim the place of a servant at all. But the pound has been given to you, as well as to those who appear great and gifted. You are responsible to be active with it just as they are. I suggest that the pound represents the way in which God is presented to us in the Gospel of Luke, as glorious in His grace. The knowledge of this is given to us; it has shone into our hearts from the face of Jesus Christ.
reason: heading should be a label
The first servant's ten could discourage a reader who has nothing like it to show. One writer reads that same number as encouragement.
Yet there is encouragement for us here, for one servant had gained ten pounds by his trading — and why should we not be like him? In the Scriptures ten seems to stand for the measure of the Lord's demands from men (see the Ten Commandments). So we may conclude that our Lord has grace to enable us to render Him a full return in what He has committed to us. If there is any failure, it is on our side. But He will value everything rightly, whether much or little, and nothing done for Him shall lose its reward.
Each servant started with the same amount, so the report can only measure faithfulness. One writer shows how the reward answers to it.
When He returns, having received the kingdom, He assigns them places according to their faithfulness. In Luke the question is man's responsibility. In the matching parable of Matthew God's sovereignty is the point. Matthew shows a difference of gifts, Luke a difference of rewards… The righteousness of God is the same for us as for Paul. But service varies greatly, and so do measures of faithfulness, so the reward will differ from one servant to another. No doubt it is grace that works, yet here there is reward of faithful service.
The servant credits the gain to his master's coin, not to himself. One writer follows what happened to that gain afterwards.
The man had gained the ten minas for his master. When he brought them in they rightly belonged to his master, yet the servant still had them! His master let him keep them! What we honestly gain for the Lord we really gain for ourselves. He is far from being a harsh master! Indeed, the Lord rewarded this man with all he had gained, plus His own commendation, plus authority over ten cities, plus the mina that the other man had no proper respect for.
- The pound — every servant received the same coin. So it stands for opportunity, not ability, and no one is too small to hold one.
- The trading — the Lord's absence is the trading time. Only the servant's diligence changes the result.
- The ten — a full return is within reach, because grace supplies what is needed. Any failure is ours.
- The report — the servant calls the money his master's, and the day of reckoning weighs how he used it.
- The reward — Matthew grades gifts, Luke grades rewards. What is gained for Him is kept, and grace stands behind it all.
And he said to him, Well [done], thou good bondman; because thou hast been faithful in that which is least, be thou in authority over ten cities.
The master returns as king, and answers the first servant's report with rule over ten cities rather than a bonus. Two questions follow: what was the "very little," and why does so small a trust bring so large a reward?
Jesus told this parable to correct people who expected the kingdom to appear at once.
Christ was going away to heaven to receive the kingdom from God there. He was not about to take it from man now and in this world. So it is clearly a picture of the Lord's return at the second coming, after having received a kingdom. But He goes further. Meanwhile His servants are to keep busy until He comes... This is not like the Gospel of Matthew, where the Lord gives different gifts to different servants. That is equally true. But here the servants are tested morally, and each is given the same sum.
Every servant started with the same sum. So the difference in the results measures the man, not the gift.
The pound represents the opportunity for service given to each professed disciple. In this all are alike. The use each makes of it is seen by what each gains. And according to the servant's use of his opportunity, so will be his place and service by and by... Now is the time of testing in service. He who does not use his opportunity will lose it forever. The one who has used his opportunity best will have the greatest opportunity later.
Commentators set this verse beside a similar parable in Matthew 25 to show what each one measures.
In Matthew 25 the question is being faithful, during the Master's absence, with the talents He may have entrusted to us. Nothing is said there about the degree of faithfulness. So each of the faithful servants receives the same reward — being ruler over many things and entering into the joy of his Lord. In Luke 19 each of the ten servants receives the same amount, but not the same reward. The difference there is in the degree of each servant's faithfulness. So their rewards differ. The one who has gained ten pounds receives authority over ten cities. The one who has gained five pounds receives authority over five. The reward corresponds exactly to their faithfulness.
The gap between the small trust and the large reward says something about the Master Himself.
Diligence had marked his conduct with his Master's trust. His Master warmly commended him as a good servant... What a Lord is ours! Such a reward for faithfulness in so small a matter. For diligence with this tiny sum he was given rule over ten cities in the coming kingdom. No Lord is so easily pleased as the Christ of God, and none rewards so generously devoted service to His name... He whom we serve notices both the quantity and the quality of what is done for Him.
The cities are a matter of reward, and reward is never how anyone gets in.
Our walk down here does appear to decide our position in the kingdom. We read of those who have authority over ten cities, and others who have authority over five cities (Luke 19:17, 19). This is a matter of reward. But our entry into the kingdom has nothing to do with our works.
Later in the parable, this same man still holds the ten pounds he made. The master never took the earnings back.
The man had gained the ten minas for his master. It rightly belonged to his master when he brought it to him, yet the servant was still holding it. The master let him keep it! What we gain honestly for the Lord we really gain for ourselves. How far He is from being a harsh master! Indeed, this man was rewarded with all he had gained. He also received the Lord's commendation, authority over ten cities, and the mina that the other man had no proper respect for. Whoever values what God gives receives more. Whoever places no value on His grace loses even the little he could have used to gain more.
No servant can take credit for what earns this praise.
The word "Well done, good and faithful servant" sounds sweet in the ears, and sweetest of all to the one who knows that only by His grace can we be either.
- Same start. Every servant received one pound. The trust is equal, so only the trading differs. The parable tests the servant, not the size of his gift.
- Small trust. The pound is the opportunity for service given now. This is the time of testing, and unused opportunity is lost for good.
- Exact repayment. Ten pounds gained brings ten cities; five brings five. The reward answers the degree of faithfulness, not the amount entrusted.
- Large reward. A tiny sum handled well brings rule over cities in the coming kingdom. The servant keeps his earnings too.
- Grace throughout. Works never buy entry into the kingdom; only position there is reward. And the "Well done" is sweetest to the servant who knows his faithfulness came from grace too.
And the second came, saying, [My] Lord, thy mina has made five minas.
The second servant comes back with five, gained from the one coin his master left him (older translations call that coin a pound, and the writers below use that word). The first servant gained ten from the same start, which raises the question of how the Lord rewards work that is real but not the greatest.
Every servant in this parable started with the same sum. So the gap between ten pounds and five says something about the servants, not about the Master's gift. This sets Luke's parable apart from the similar story of the talents in Matthew 25:
In the parable in Matthew 25 our Lord gives to every man according to his own ability. God had formed the vessel for the purpose. In Luke much more rests on man's responsibility; in the talents it is more God's grace. So in Luke you find ten cities and five cities in reward. In Matthew both are alike, and each servant hears, "Well done, good and faithful servant... Enter into the joy of your master." Luke is about responsibility, and reward according to work.
So what is this pound that every servant holds? One writer describes it as the treasure the Lord left in the world:
The pound is that great treasure which the Lord brought into the world. It is the knowledge of God in His grace... The Lord brought the true knowledge of God from heaven into the world, but He did not take it away when He returned. He left it here. He has committed it to us.
The second servant, then, had nothing less to work with than the first. He held the same treasure.
The rewards match the gains, but the highest praise goes to one servant only:
One had traded well and gained ten pounds; another had traded and gained five. Each was to have authority over cities in the kingdom, matching what he had gained. But the master gives his greatest approval to the one who had gained the most. To him, and him only, does the master say, "Well done, good servant."
Still, the Master does not overlook the five. He names it, credits it, and rewards it:
The second man's account showed five pounds. His master granted him rule over five cities. The One we serve notices both the quantity and the quality of what is done for Him. So Romans 16:12 tells us of Tryphena and Tryphosa, who laboured in the Lord, and of the beloved Persis, who laboured "much" in the Lord. In the same way, Nehemiah 3 tells us of many who helped rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, but singles out some as working "earnestly." All who want to please the absent Christ should think about that "much" and that "earnestly."
Five pounds gained, five cities given. The proportion is exact, and it shows that rewards will not be the same for all:
In Luke 19 each of the ten servants receives the same amount, but not the same reward. The difference there is in how faithful each servant was. So their reward differs, matching that degree of faithfulness. The one who has gained ten pounds receives authority over ten cities, and the one who has gained five pounds, over five cities. The reward corresponds exactly with their faithfulness.
The cities mean real place and real authority in the coming kingdom:
This large sphere of authority is because of faithfulness "in a very little". That is, the servant has proven trustworthy, and in the millennial kingdom he will have this degree of public prominence.
A smaller reward is not a smaller welcome. The same grace saves every servant, and what differs is the reward, not the fullness of the joy:
It is essential to hold that the very same grace which pardoned the thief on the cross was needed to save Paul of Tarsus. Yet it would be a grand mistake to think that the thief will have the same reward in glory... The vessels that are to hold the blessing may not all be the same size. But the little cup will be as full as the big one, filled, if I may say so, with the same materials of joy and blessing.
- Same start. Each servant received one pound. The five and the ten measure the servant's diligence, not the Master's gift.
- Same trust. The pound is the knowledge of God in His grace, left here for His servants. The least servant holds what the greatest holds.
- Same reckoning. The Master notices both quantity and quality. He names and credits the five, though only the first servant hears "Well done."
- Matched reward. Five pounds earns five cities. That is real authority in the coming kingdom, given for faithfulness "in a very little."
- Equal fullness. Rewards differ; love does not. The little cup will be as full as the big one.
And he said also to this one, And *thou*, be over five cities.
The second servant reports half of what the first gained, and the master gives him authority over five cities. So why does one servant get ten cities, another five, and a third nothing at all?
This parable corrects people who thought the kingdom was about to appear. One writer explains why:
The parable of the nobleman who goes into a far country to receive a kingdom for himself, and to return. They were all wrong, then, in expecting the kingdom of God to appear at once. Not so. Christ was going away to heaven to receive the kingdom from God there. He was not about to take it from man now, in this world. Meanwhile, He shows, His servants are called to occupy themselves till He comes. He called His ten servants and gave them ten pounds, and said to them, "Occupy till I come."
So the five cities are not handed out now. They belong to the day the nobleman comes back.
Every servant received the same amount. That single detail is what makes the difference in verse 19 meaningful:
But in the parable of Luke 19:11-27, the ten servants each receive a pound. They all start alike. One makes ten pounds with his pound, and another makes five. The rewards are different. Clearly the one who gained ten pounds was more diligent than the one who gained five. The one is made ruler over ten cities, the other over five.
Another writer sets this parable beside the one in Matthew 25:
In Matthew 25 the question is faithfulness with the talents the Master has entrusted to us. That parable says nothing about the degree of faithfulness, so each faithful servant receives the same reward. In Luke 19 each of the ten servants receives the same amount, but not the same reward. The difference there is the degree of each servant's faithfulness, and their reward differs according to that degree. The reward corresponds exactly with their faithfulness.
In verse 19 the master's words are shorter too:
One had traded well and gained ten pounds; another had traded and gained five. Each was to have authority over cities in the kingdom, according to what he had gained. But the master gives his greatest approval to the one who had gained the most. To him, and to him only, does the master say, "Well done, good servant."
The second man still receives real rule. He just does not hear "Well done."
The five cities are not a picture of some vague blessing. They are real responsibility when Christ returns to reign:
Each of these servants is commended and given a matching reward — the one, authority over ten cities, the other, over five cities. This large sphere of authority comes from faithfulness "in a very little." The servant has proven trustworthy, so in the millennial kingdom he will have this degree of public prominence.
That gain also carries into the world to come:
The servant does not lose what he has gained, although it was for his master. He enjoys it. Not so with the servant who made no use of his pound; what had been committed to him is given to the one who had gained ten. What we gain spiritually here, in spiritual intelligence and the knowledge of God in power, is not lost in the other world. On the contrary, we receive more, and the glory of the inheritance is given to us in proportion to our work. But all is grace.
A difference in reward is not a difference in salvation:
He will come to the world, and His people will take their places with Him, sharing in His government. Then dignities, honours, and rewards for work will find their place. It will be "Have authority over ten" — "And you are to be over five cities." We cannot keep these things too distinct in our minds. Think of salvation, righteousness, the child's place with the Father, and membership of the body of Christ. Think of our relationship to Christ as His bride, and even our being "kings and priests to His God and Father." No work of ours gains these things or loses them. Christ has procured them for us, and grace bestows them — grace, and grace alone.
There is also a warning against reading the cities as the highest prize on offer:
To have authority over so many cities is the reward of the kingdom, not entrance into their Lord's joy. But what a deep mistake it is to set a place of outward honour above sharing the Lord's joy with Himself! The good and faithful will receive that too, both being in the kingdom.
- Same pound. Every servant starts with the same pound. The gap between ten cities and five is not about the gift, but about the trading.
- Same measure. The reward matches the gain exactly; the second man's five answers his five, not more, not less.
- Same Lord, different word. Only the first hears "Well done, good servant." The second gets his cities, but fewer words.
- Same kingdom. The cities are real authority under Christ when He returns as king. The servant keeps what he gained for Him.
- All grace. Rewards vary; salvation does not. Entry, sonship, and the Lord's own joy come by grace alone, and no rank of honour outranks sharing that joy.
And another came, saying, [My] Lord, lo, [there is] thy mina, which I have kept laid up in a towel.
The third servant comes back with nothing gained. His pound is safe, wrapped in a cloth, and unused. His words are polite, yet he is the one servant this parable counts as a failure. Why should keeping something safe count as failure?
The pound was not his own. It came from the master, and it came with a purpose.
The ten servants of the nobleman stand for us today. We are disciples placed in responsible testimony, called to fulfil a sacred trust: representing Him while He is away... How serious and holy a trust! Each servant receives the same amount of money. This is unlike Matthew 25:15, where the talents given to each differ in number according to ability... it would seem that the pounds (or minas) picture "the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).
The cloth he chose has a name in the original Greek. That name tells its own story about the man.
Grasping grace is also what makes a servant able to work. We see the opposite in the servant who bore no fruit, and his own words will indeed judge him. His words are only an excuse for laziness. "Instead of working up a sweat for his lord's interests, he had hidden the entrusted money in the soudarion — literally a 'sweat-cloth' — which he now had no use for at all."
Why hide it? One writer points to shame, and adds that a man who will not trade with his Master's money will still trade with his own.
But one servant hid his pound in a napkin. It was a burden to him, something he may even have been ashamed of. After all, the gospel of God looks like folly to the wise of this world. So he put it out of sight — out of his own sight, and out of his fellow servants' sight too. If he did any business at all, he did it with his own worthless coin, and for his own gain.
In the next verse the servant calls his Master hard. Those who know Him answer that this is not the Master they know.
Is the Lord a harsh Man, a hard Master, reaping where He has never sown, and demanding where He has never given? Who among all of us who know Him will give Him such a character? No, we have other things to say of Him; we have proved Him to be exactly the reverse of this... Our service has been poor and faulty, often we have thought more of ourselves in it than we did of the Master whom we serve. But this has not changed Him. His tender pity has not failed. Our very blunders have become the occasions for showing a grace that is as constant as it is free.
Nothing was lost. The failure lay somewhere else, and the Master answers the excuse in the servant's own words.
The third servant did not waste the money, did not make off with it, and was not unfaithful to the trust of the money. But he was not faithful to the confidence that the trust implied. Why give him money to put in a napkin? ... "For I feared you" is the word of a bad and unfaithful heart, of a guilty conscience. The Lord judges on the conduct that was due, on the estimate formed by the heart itself. On its own showing, the responsibility existed, the money was there; where was the conduct that should have followed? All the gaining of spiritual capacity remains, and is even added to, in those who have been faithful. In the unfaithful, the gift bestowed is taken away.
Who is this servant meant to picture? One writer answers with a very ordinary example.
But one servant made no gain whatever. His excuse was foolish... This is the case of one who claims to be a Christian, but has no true respect for the Lord Jesus: he is not a child of God at all. He may have a Bible, but keeps it unopened on a shelf. It does not mean enough to him to cause him to share its precious truths with others, because he has a critical attitude toward its Author.
Still, this servant is not the same as the open enemies later in the parable.
The unfaithful servant is not called an enemy, though no doubt he was no friend of the Son, and was dealt with righteously.
- Trust. Every servant received the same pound — a sacred trust to represent an absent Master. No one can plead that he got too little.
- Cloth. The handkerchief was a working man's sweat-cloth, useless to a servant who never broke a sweat.
- Shame. He hid the pound because he was ashamed of it, and traded instead with his own worthless coin, for himself.
- Slander. His excuse described a hard Master. Those who know Him tell of constant grace, even over their blunders.
- Verdict. His own account condemns him: the trust was real, the conduct never followed — and the unused gift is taken away.
For I feared thee because thou art a harsh man thou takest up what thou hast not laid down, and thou reapest what thou hast not sowed.
The servant who gained nothing hands back his pound with an excuse, and the excuse accuses his master. His words raise the parable's real question: what is your Lord like, and what will you do with what He has given you?
The servant does not offer a report of his work. He describes his master's character instead. One writer calls that description slander.
There is, sadly, a dark side to this parable. One man returned his pound to the Lord wrapped up in a napkin. He wanted to excuse his complete indifference to the claims of his absent Master. So he slandered His character like this: "I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow." This wicked servant stands for Christendom's Christians in name only. They never dream of using their powers and possessions for Him whose name they bear.
The servant claims knowledge of his master. One writer asks whether anyone who knows the Lord could ever say such a thing to His face.
This servant did not know the Lord at all; out of his own mouth we will judge him. "I knew," he said, "that you were a severe man." Did he know? Did he not declare his ignorance the moment he opened his mouth? Who among you who know the Lord will go down on your knees and say to Him, "I know that You are a severe man"? No, you have other things to say of Him. You have seen no frowns on His brow. You have heard no hard words from His lips. The tenderest heart in the universe beats in His breast, and you have proved it so. Your service has been full of failure. You have often blundered. But those very blunders have become chances for Him to show His grace to you.
Set this servant beside a man who did know his Master's character. Jonah fled from his errand because he was sure God would show mercy.
What was it that Jonah had said in "my country"? Why did he want to flee to Tarshish? He tells us himself: "I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster." What a glorious character! How true it was, and is! Yes, Jonah truly knew his God. You will recall that another could say, "I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man." How little this servant knew his Master!
This false view of God is not one man's oddity. One writer finds the same thought in every human heart.
God makes Himself known to us as the "God of all grace". He sets us in the place of "tasting that He is gracious." How hard it is for us to believe this, that the Lord is gracious. The natural feeling of our hearts is, "I know that you are a severe man." We all naturally fail to understand the grace of God.
The charge is that his master claims what he never earned. Yet the servant himself took no trouble to earn anything at all.
People hold hard thoughts of God. They forget or despise His gifts. They treat His demands as unfair claims on them. They look on Him as "a severe man," taking what He did not deposit and reaping what He did not sow. And yet man is inconsistent, as usual. He judges God as demanding more than is due, but he has taken no trouble to earn anything for Him. So he is judged out of his own mouth, and condemned as an unprofitable servant.
This man is not careless about the future. He is careful — but only about himself. One writer sets him against Zacchaeus.
In the unprofitable servant we see a picture of the young ruler, and in the other servants we see Zacchaeus. The moral difference between them is this. The unprofitable servant does acknowledge, in a religious way, that a day of judgment and reckoning is serious. He is careful, for his own sake, to guard against it in the way he thinks best. He lays up his Lord's pound in a napkin, dreading the account he may later have to give of it. But that is all. He has no heart for Christ or His service at all.
- Fear — the servant acted out of dread, not love. He dreaded a master he had invented.
- Slander — he did not report failure. He attacked the character of the One who trusted him, and that charge condemned him.
- Ignorance — his claim to know his master showed how little he knew Him. Jonah fled because he knew God was gracious.
- Nature — this false picture of God is common. The untaught heart imagines a hard God, not a gracious one.
- Emptiness — a religion that guards itself against the day of reckoning has no heart for Christ. It produces nothing and keeps nothing.
He says to him, Out of thy mouth will I judge thee, wicked bondman thou knewest that *I* am a harsh man, taking up what I have not laid down and reaping what I have not sowed.
The third servant hands the money back untouched and blames his master's hard character. The master answers by turning that same excuse into the sentence.
The reckoning takes back what this servant was given, and then turns to the master's enemies. One writer notes that the failed servant is not counted among them.
The one who was fearful and unbelieving has his mina taken from him. Then come the enemies. The unfaithful servant is not called an enemy. No doubt he was no friend of the Son, and he was dealt with righteously.
The excuse carries its own answer. One writer shows that the complaint and the conduct do not fit together. (Older translations read "an austere man" where the ESV has "a severe man".)
People hold hard thoughts of God. They forget or despise His gifts. They treat what He asks as unreasonable demands. They look on Him as "a severe man," taking up what He had not laid down, reaping what He had not sown. And yet people are inconsistent as always. They judge God as demanding more than is due, and yet they have taken no pains to earn anything for Him. So He judges them out of their own mouth, and condemns them as unprofitable servants.
The word sounds strong for a man who only did nothing. But he did do something: he told a lie about his master.
To excuse his complete indifference to the claims of his absent Master, he slandered His character like this: "I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow." This wicked servant stands for the people in the Christian world who are Christians in name only. They never dream of using their powers and possessions for Him whose name they bear. All such will find themselves rejected in the great day. Their judgment is richly deserved, if only for the way they twisted the character of Him who is infinitely gracious and good.
The master repeats the servant's own claim: you knew. One writer asks whether he knew anything at all, and tests his words against what those who know the Lord say of Him.
This servant did not know the Lord at all; out of his own mouth we will judge him. "I knew," he said, "that you were a severe man." Did he know? Did he not declare his ignorance the moment he opened his mouth? Which of you who know the Lord will go down on your knees before Him tonight and say, "I know that You are a severe man"? No, you have other things to say of Him. You have seen no frowns on His face. You have heard no hard words from His lips. The tenderest heart in the universe beats in His breast, and you have proved it so. Your service has been full of failure. You have often blundered. But those very blunders have become opportunities for Him to show you His grace.
One writer applies the same rule to anyone who claims the Christian name today.
If people take up Christian ground, God accepts them at their own valuation for the purposes of His holy judgment, and condemns them out of their own mouth like the wicked servant of Luke 19:22.
The pattern goes back to the first excuses ever made. One writer recalls Adam and Eve: God passed sentence and never answered them.
The Judge of all the earth will do right. He will be justified when He speaks and clear when He judges. Out of our own mouth will He condemn. Eve pleaded the serpent's trickery. Adam pleaded Eve's gift to him. The Lord God did not stoop to answer their pleas. And who of us today does not declare Him right in passing that sentence without replying to those excuses?
- His own words. The master needs no new evidence. The servant's own excuse becomes the sentence.
- His own picture of God. Calling the Master severe was slander. That twisted picture of One who is infinitely gracious earns the judgment on its own.
- His own inconsistency. He complained the Master demanded too much, yet took no trouble to earn anything for Him.
- His own ignorance. Nobody who knows the Lord speaks of Him that way. Those who know Him tell of no frowns, no hard words, and blunders met with grace.
- His own valuation. Anyone who takes Christian ground is held to the account he gives of God — so the question now is simple: do I know Him, and am I using what He gave me for Him?
And why didst thou not give my money to [the] bank; and *I* should have received it, at my coming, with interest?
The master does not argue with the servant's excuse. He turns the servant's own words back on him. If fear was the real motive, one safe and lazy option was still open: the bank. The servant did not take it.
Older translations use the word "usury" here. It did not mean then what it means now:
This word does not mean in Scripture, as it does now, excessive interest, but simply interest of any kind. The Israelites were forbidden to take interest from their fellow Israelites. The law always assumed the borrower was poor, since otherwise he would not need to borrow. To foreigners, however, they were allowed to lend at interest. The New Testament mentions usury only in the parables of the Talents and the Pounds. There the master blamed the servant for not putting the gifts to use, so that he might have received his own back with interest.
Notice what the master does not ask. He does not demand energy or success. He asks only that the servant hand the money to someone who would use it. One writer finds comfort in that:
There was one that hid his talent. Now notice the Lord's reply, for your comfort. "Why then did you not put my money in the bank?" He did not say, "Why have you not traded with it?" I may not have the energy and activity of my brother, but the Lord would say here, "Well, do not be afraid; if you have not the energy to go out and serve Me, at any rate own Me, and put My money into the bank." I love that "bank." If I have not my brother's energy in service, at least let me own that I am not my own, but bought with a price.
The servant's excuse became the trap that caught him. If his description of his master were true, his conduct still made no sense:
But one servant made no gain at all. His excuse was foolish. It showed his critical attitude toward the nobleman, and that attitude was unjustified. It also showed his stupidity. He did not even deposit the mina in the bank, though he did consider his master "austere." He was judged out of his own mouth. This is the case of one who claims to be a Christian but has no true respect for the Lord Jesus... He may have a Bible, but keeps it unopened on a shelf. It does not mean enough to him to make him share its precious truths with others, because he has a critical attitude toward its Author.
Behind the unused pound lies a false picture of the master. Those who know Him would never describe Him that way:
This servant did not know the Lord at all. "I knew," he said, "that you were an austere man." Did he know? Did he not declare his ignorance the moment he opened his mouth? Who among you who know the Lord will go down on your knees and say to Him, "I know that You are an austere man"? No, you have other things to say of Him. You have seen no frowns on His brow; you have heard no hard words from His lips; the tenderest heart in the universe beats in His breast, and you have proved it so. Your service has been full of failure. You have often blundered. But those very blunders have become chances for His grace to show itself to you.
Commentators differ on how far the loss goes. Some read this servant as a professing Christian in name only, whose end is rejection:
This wicked servant stands for the people in Christendom who are Christians in name only. They never dream of using their powers and possessions for Him whose name they bear. All such will find themselves completely rejected in the great day.
Others compare this with the parable of the talents and note that Luke's account stops short of casting the servant out:
In the similar parable recorded in Luke 19, the servants differ in their degrees of zeal and faithfulness, and each receives a reward to match. The servant with one pound suffers loss, but he is not ejected into outer darkness. It is worth noting that in both cases the failure is with the man entrusted with the least. If we probe our own hearts, we shall recognise that when we are only capable of small things our tendency is to do nothing.
- Trust — His problem was not weak ability. It was a false view of his Master. He called harsh the One whose heart is tender toward failing servants.
- Excuse — His own words convicted him. If the Master were truly severe, the bank was the obvious move.
- Minimum — The Master asks for the least: put the money in the bank. Even a servant with no energy for public service can still own that he is not his own, but bought with a price.
- Small — In both parables the failure lies with the man trusted with the least. When we can only do small things, our tendency is to do nothing.
- Loss — The servant who never used his pound suffers loss. Commentators differ on whether Luke's account goes as far as final rejection.
And he said to those that stood by, Take from him the mina and give [it] to him who has the ten minas.
The master's last word about the unfaithful servant is not a threat. It is a transfer. He hands the unused sum to the servant who already has the most. Commentators take up three questions here. What does the mina stand for? Why does an idle servant lose it? And why does the richest servant receive it? (Some writers below call the coin by its older English name, a pound.)
In Luke's parable every servant receives the same sum. So the difference at the end lies wholly in the servants. One writer sets Luke's parable beside the similar one in Matthew.
Matthew shows the sovereignty and the wisdom of the giver, who varies His gifts to fit the ability of His servants. Luke shows more the responsibility of the servants. They each receive the same sum, and one gains more by it, for his master, than the other does.
Since the sum is the same for all, it cannot stand for natural ability. One writer ties it to the theme of Luke's Gospel: God made known in His grace. On that view every believer holds it, however small he feels.
You may be very small in your own eyes, and hardly able to claim the place of a servant at all. Yet the pound has been given to you as well as to those who appear great and gifted. You are responsible to be active with it just as they are. I suggest that the pound represents the way the Gospel of Luke presents God to us, as glorious in His grace. The knowledge of this is given to us; it has shone into our hearts from the face of Jesus Christ.
Others describe the mina as the chance to serve. Everyone who professes to follow Christ receives it, and the time for using it runs out.
The mina represents the opportunity for service given to each professed disciple... The use each servant makes of his opportunity will decide his place and service later on... So we see how just the award is: "Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas." Now is the time of testing in service. The one who does not use his opportunity will lose it for ever. The one who has used his best will have the greatest opportunity later.
The servant lost the mina because of what he thought of the giver. His excuse was an accusation, and one writer says the slander alone deserved judgement.
He wanted an excuse for his complete indifference to the claims of his absent Master, so he slandered His character: "I feared you, because you are an austere man: you take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow." This wicked servant stands for people who are Christians in name only. They never dream of using their powers and possessions for Him whose name they bear... They fully deserve their judgement, if only for their miserable twisting of the character of One who is infinitely gracious and good.
In the next verse the bystanders protest that the man already has ten. One detail answers them: the master let the faithful servant keep what he had earned for him. It also answers the charge that the Master is austere.
The man had gained the ten minas for his master. It rightly belonged to his master once he brought it in, yet the servant was still holding it! His master let him keep it! What we honestly gain for the Lord we really gain for ourselves. How far He is from being an austere master! ... The one who proves faithful in valuing what God gives will receive more. The one who places no value on God's grace will lose even what he could have used to gain more.
The same writer looks past this life to what follows.
What we gain spiritually here, in spiritual intelligence and in the knowledge of God in power, is not lost in the other world. On the contrary, we receive more, and receive the glory of the inheritance in proportion to our work. All is grace.
- One mina each. Luke's parable gives every servant the same sum. The test at the end is not ability but use.
- The mina is grace known. It stands for the knowledge of God in His grace, and the chance to serve. The smallest believer holds it as truly as the most gifted.
- Trading is now. This life is the time of testing. The servant who never uses his chance loses it for ever. The one who uses it best gains the most later.
- Slander cost him. He did not lose the mina through weakness. He lost it through a false view of his Master, calling One who is gracious and good an austere man.
- Gain is kept. The master let the faithful servant keep all he earned, and gave him the idle man's mina too. What we gain for the Lord we truly gain — and all of it is grace.
And they said to him, Lord, he has ten minas.
The bystanders break in here. The master has just taken the idle servant's mina and given it to the man who earned the most. Their protest asks the question the parable answers: why does the Lord give more to the one who already has much?
These words are an aside. The master is not speaking; the onlookers are. One writer points out what their surprise shows: the successful servant was still holding the money he had earned for his lord.
Notice the aside in verse 25: "And they said to him, 'Lord, he has ten minas!'" The man had gained the ten minas for his master. It rightly belonged to his master once he brought it in, and yet the servant still had it! He was allowed to keep it! What we gain honestly for the Lord we really gain for ourselves. How far He is from being a harsh master! This man received everything he had gained, plus the Lord's praise, plus authority over ten cities, plus the mina that the other man had not valued!
The objection meant to expose unfairness ends up showing generosity instead.
One writer looks past the story to what a believer keeps after this life ends.
That which we gain spiritually here, in spiritual intelligence and in the knowledge of God in power, is not lost in the other world. On the contrary we receive more, and the glory of the inheritance is given us in proportion to our work. All is grace.
What was each servant handed? One writer reads the parable inside Luke's Gospel and says what the coin stands for.
This parable is not like the parable of the Talents in Matthew's Gospel. There the number of talents matched the ability of each servant. Here each servant is given one pound. The pound is that great treasure which the Lord brought into the world. It is the knowledge of God in His grace. Luke's Gospel opens this up for us in a special way.
(Older translations call the coin a "pound"; the ESV keeps the Greek word "mina.")
The bystanders see a gap between the man with ten and the man with none, and it looks like favouritism. But the gap was not there at the start.
But in the second passage, Luke 19, the nobleman calls his ten servants before him and gives them ten pounds in equal portions. They all started on exactly the same level.
Everyone started level, so the gap at the end is not about ability. One writer says what it does measure.
Rewards are not handed out according to gift, but on the ground of devotedness... The amount given to each depends on the sovereignty of the Giver; devotedness is the exercise of the one who receives.
Does this scene put a person's standing with God at risk? One writer keeps two things apart.
When He comes to the world, and His people take their places with Him and share in His government, then dignities, honours and rewards for work will find their place. It will be "You shall have authority over ten cities" — "you are to be over five cities." But other things are never gained by any work of ours, and so they are never lost by it either. These are salvation, righteousness, the child's place with the Father, membership of the body of Christ, our relationship to Christ as His bride, and even our being kings and priests to His God and Father. Christ has obtained them for us, and grace gives them — grace, and grace alone.
So what should we be trading with now?
Let us have no doubt or question about this: we can only gain by trading with the pound. The knowledge of God revealed by Christ Jesus, now told out in the gospel, is the only thing that can bring people to God and subdue them to Christ. Everything else will fail, however convincing and popular it seems... Knowing this, may we long to keep putting it into circulation "until He comes."
- The gift — every servant got the same pound: the knowledge of God in His grace, given equally, not by ability.
- The trading — the capital was the same for all. So the difference at the end measures devotedness, not talent.
- The gain — what we gain here is not lost in the other world. The servant kept his ten, and the inheritance matches the work.
- The protest — "he has ten already" was meant to expose unfairness. It showed the master's generosity instead.
- The limit — cities and authority reward work. Salvation and the child's place with the Father are never earned and never lost. All is grace.
For I say unto you, that to every one that has shall be given; but from him that has not, that even which he has shall be taken from him.
These words close the parable of the pounds: the master takes the unused pound from the servant who hid it and hands it to the man who already had ten. The rule sounds unfair — so what does a person "have" here, and how can anything be taken from someone who has nothing?
The saying belongs to a story about a master who goes away. His absence is not empty time.
The time of the kingdom would come, and all His enemies would be destroyed. But first comes a period of His absence, which would test the faithfulness and diligence of His servants. The master entrusts the same sum to each servant, so the difference in the result came from their diligence and skill, or the lack of it. The servant who did nothing only showed that he did not really know his Master. In the end he not only missed the reward — he suffered loss.
Every servant received the same sum — a pound, which some translations call a mina. So what is it?
The knowledge of God in the infinite grace of His heart is the silver pound, and our Lord has committed it to us. It is a great treasure and is so described in 2 Corinthians 4. "For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." This is the silver pound, and we are responsible to put it in circulation on our Lord's behalf, and to trade with it for Him until He comes.
The reward is not more money but more room to serve. And it does not stop when this life ends.
The pound stands for the opportunity to serve, given to everyone who claims to be His disciple. In this all are alike. What each gains shows the use each has made of it. And the servant's use of his opportunity decides his place and service later on. Service is not limited to this world, though its character will change. The master made the servant who traded during his absence a ruler when he returned. So we see the justice of the award: "Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas." Now is the time of testing in service. Whoever does not use his opportunity will lose it for ever. Whoever has used his best will have the greatest opportunity later.
Notice where the ten pounds end up. What the servant gained for his master stayed in his own hands.
The man had gained the ten minas for his master. It belonged to his master when he brought it in, yet the servant still held it! His master let him keep it! What we honestly gain for the Lord we truly gain for ourselves. How far He is from being a harsh master! This man received all he had gained, plus the Lord's praise, plus authority over ten cities, plus the mina that the other man had not valued! The one who proves faithful in valuing what God gives will receive more. The one who places no value on God's grace will lose even the gift he might have gained more with.
The third servant kept his pound, yet the verse counts him among those who "have not." His idleness came from how he pictured his master.
In this parable the wicked servant is not cast into outer darkness; he loses even what he had. The subject here is reward. If he had hard thoughts of his Master, he should at least have acted on them in a legal way, if he could not act according to grace. But under grace, not knowing grace takes away the sense of responsibility. The man does nothing. Under law it is not so. A man who is truly under law will work and toil out of fear.
No servant is locked into the size of his first gift.
Suppose we have only one talent. Every day's believing use of it will carry us some way towards two. We are not shut in by the limits of God's first gift. We may shut ourselves in — and by hiding our talent in the ground, lose both what we have and the power to gain more.
- Same trust. Every servant starts with one pound — the knowledge of God in His grace — so nobody can plead a smaller share.
- Use decides. The pound grows only when you put it to work. The difference between servants is diligence, not ability.
- Use enlarges. Use opens into more: ten cities for ten pounds, and service that carries on past this life.
- Disuse empties. The man who hid his pound thought his master harsh. That false picture killed his sense of responsibility.
- Disuse forfeits. He loses the gift and every gain it could have made. The loss here is reward. The faithful servant keeps all he gained — and receives the idle man's pound too.
Moreover those mine enemies, who would not [have] me to reign over them, bring them here and slay [them] before me.
The parable ends with a death sentence. The King Himself passes it on people who had told Him they did not want His rule. It raises two hard questions. Who are these enemies? And is this a real sentence, or just part of a story?
The verse ends a story Jesus told to correct a misunderstanding. The crowd expected the kingdom at once. He spoke instead of a journey away, a long absence, and only then a return with power.
The Lord Himself speaks of going into a far country to get the kingdom. He receives it there, then returns and carries out the judgments He refers to... They were looking for this. They imagined they would get the kingdom with Him in an earthly way straight away, instead of His being rejected as He was... Then, once He has taken account of His servants' service, He says, "But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me." This comes after He has received the kingdom and come back again. He does not judge while He is away... If He were to begin to judge now, He would have to close the time of grace and the gathering in of the church.
Earlier in the parable the citizens send word that they refuse His rule. Here the King calls them His enemies. One writer shows what lay under that refusal.
His citizens (the Jews) did not only despise Him. He came in humiliation, for the deepest purposes of divine love, and they "hated" Him. They sent a message after Him, saying, "We do not want this man to reign over us." It is awful to hear from His lips that these were His "enemies," above all others, who would not have Him reign over them. His heavenly glory was at least as offensive to them as His earthly lowliness. They valued neither the grace that brought Him down nor the glory to which as man He was raised.
The parable pictures a message dispatched to the nobleman after he has already left. One writer points to Stephen, killed for his witness, as the man who carried it.
Stephen was the man sent up with this message. They refused their Messiah on earth; and when, in heaven, He is by the grace of God presented to them again — in answer to His own prayer for them on the cross — they refused Him again. In Stephen's death they sent this message after Him: "We do not want this man to reign over us."
The refusal did not stay with one nation. It became the attitude of the whole world, and that shapes how His servants serve Him now.
The citizens were at that moment the Jewish people, but the hostility of the Jew is now the hostility of the world at large, which has let the Lord Jesus know it will not have Him as king... I am never really in the spirit of service if I do not remember that He is an absent and a rejected Lord.
Some treat the closing line as colour added to a story. One writer answers that it describes something real, and says the mercy of His first visit will not mark His return.
The Visitor from the far country is coming again. The world has not seen the last of Him. But how will He return? Not in lowly grace, on a second errand of mercy, but in kingly power, to take vengeance on all His foes... This is not mere parable language, but the setting out of a dreadful reality. He who is at present proclaimed as Saviour to all is the divinely appointed Judge of the living and the dead.
The parable ends with two kinds of failure: an unfaithful servant, and citizens who wanted no king. Commentators differ on how close the two are. One keeps them apart:
The unfaithful servant is not called an enemy, though no doubt he was no friend of the Son, and was dealt with righteously. But the Lord calls the open adversaries into the scene.
Another puts the unfaithful servant under the same judgment:
The final judgment will come for the outright enemies of the Lord, who did not want Him to reign over them. They will be slain before Him (v.27). But the unfaithful servant will share in this judgment too, for he had virtually taken the same stand as they.
- Refusal. One thing marks these enemies: they would not have Him reign. They turned down the grace that brought Him low and the glory that raised Him high.
- Delay. Jesus told the parable to kill the idea of an instant kingdom. He does not judge while He is away. The sentence falls only after He returns holding the kingdom.
- Reach. The refusal began with one nation and became the world's settled answer, so every servant works for a Master this world has cast out.
- Reality. The closing words are not stage dressing. God has appointed the One now offered as Saviour to judge the living and the dead.
- Reckoning. He weighs His servants and sentences His enemies. Commentators differ on where the unfaithful servant falls between the two.