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.