Occupy Till I Come: The Parable of the Ten Minas Text: Luke 19:11-27
Introduction: Kingdom Miscalculations
We live in an age of profound eschatological confusion. On the one hand, you have the breathless dispensationalists, forever packing their go-bags, convinced the kingdom is a future event that has nothing to do with this present world of grit and grime. For them, the Christian life is little more than sitting on the curb, waiting for the bus to glory. On the other hand, you have the secularists and their sad, liberal churchly echoes, who believe the kingdom is something we build with our own two hands, a worldly utopia achieved through political maneuvering and social programs, with Jesus providing some inspirational background music.
Both are dead wrong. Both are a dereliction of duty. And as it happens, the disciples to whom Jesus first told this parable were suffering from their own version of this confusion. Luke tells us the reason for this story: Jesus was near Jerusalem, and they thought the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. They were expecting a political coup, a glorious and sudden regime change. They thought the Roman eagles were about to be replaced by the Lion of Judah overnight. They were thinking in terms of spectacle, of instant gratification.
Jesus tells this parable to correct their timetable and to define their task. The kingdom would not be an instantaneous political explosion. The king was going away for a long time. And in the meantime, his servants were not to be idle spectators, but active, risk-taking entrepreneurs. This parable is a bucket of cold water on all forms of pietistic retreat and all forms of godless activism. It is a command to occupy, to do business, to engage in faithful, productive, risk-taking work until the king returns. It is a parable about stewardship in the long interim between the ascension and the final judgment. It teaches us that what we do with the King's capital in this life has eternal consequences for the next.
The Text
Now while they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. So He said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return. And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come back.’ But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ And it happened that when he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know how much they had made in business. So the first appeared, saying, ‘Master, your mina has made ten minas more.’ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.’ Then the second came, saying, ‘Your mina, master, has made five minas.’ And he said to him also, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a cloth; for I was afraid of you, because you are a strict man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.’ He said to him, ‘From your own mouth I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am a strict man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?’ Then he said to the bystanders, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ And they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas already.’ ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.’
(Luke 19:11-27 LSB)
The King, His Capital, and His Enemies (vv. 11-14)
Jesus sets the stage with a story that would have been familiar to his hearers, likely echoing the historical account of Archelaus, son of Herod the Great, who traveled to Rome to have his kingship confirmed.
"A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return. And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come back.’ But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’" (Luke 19:12-14)
The nobleman is Christ. The distant country is heaven, where Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father to receive the kingdom He had won through His death and resurrection. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. The return is His second coming. This framework immediately corrects the disciples' faulty timeline. There is going to be an interim. There is going to be a delay.
Before he leaves, he gives his slaves their marching orders. He gives them ten minas, which was a significant but not astronomical sum, about three months' wages. And the command is simple: "Engage in business until I come back." The Greek is pragmatic, not pious-sounding. It means to trade, to work, to invest, to make a profit. This is not a call to monastic retreat. It is a call to kingdom capitalism. The servants are to take the master's resources and multiply them in a hostile environment.
And the environment is most certainly hostile. "But his citizens hated him." This refers to the rebellious world, and in the immediate context, the Jewish leadership who would cry out, "We have no king but Caesar!" They reject his authority. They do not want this man to reign over them. This is the spiritual condition of the entire fallen world. It is a world in active, defiant rebellion against its rightful king. So the servants are not investing in a friendly market. They are trading behind enemy lines. Every act of faithful stewardship is an act of defiance against the usurping powers of darkness.
The Accounting: Faithful Stewards Rewarded (vv. 15-19)
The king returns, his authority now fully established, and the first order of business is the audit. He wants to see the books. He wants to know what his servants did with his money.
"So the first appeared, saying, ‘Master, your mina has made ten minas more.’ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.’" (Luke 19:16-17)
The first servant comes forward with a spectacular return on investment, a thousand percent gain. Notice his language: "your mina has made ten minas more." He doesn't take the credit. He recognizes that the power to produce was in the capital the master gave him. He was simply the faithful agent.
The master's response is pure grace. "Well done, good slave." These are the words every Christian should long to hear. And the reward is not retirement. The reward for faithful work is more work, greater responsibility. Because he was faithful in a little thing, a few months' wages, he is given authority over ten cities. There is a direct, proportional correspondence between our faithfulness with the small trusts God gives us now and the authority we will be delegated in the age to come. The second servant, who produced a five hundred percent return, is likewise commended and rewarded with authority over five cities. God is not an egalitarian. He rewards us according to our deeds, according to our faithful productivity.
The Wicked and Worthless Slave (vv. 20-26)
Then the third servant comes forward. His story is very different. He has nothing to show for his time but excuses.
"‘Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a cloth; for I was afraid of you, because you are a strict man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.’" (Luke 19:20-21)
This is the portrait of false piety, of cowardly inactivity masquerading as reverence. This slave did not lose the mina. He preserved it. He was a conservationist, not an investor. And his justification is a slander against the master's character. He says, "I was afraid of you." He paints the master as a harsh, grasping, unreasonable tyrant. This is how the unregenerate heart always views God. God's holiness is seen as severity, His demands as exploitation. This slave's theology was rotten, and his rotten theology produced rotten fruit, which is to say, no fruit at all.
The master's response is devastating. He judges the slave right out of his own mouth. "You worthless slave. Did you know that I am a strict man...?" The master doesn't even argue with the slander. He grants the premise for the sake of the argument. "Alright, let's say I am as harsh as you claim. If you really believed that, why wouldn't you at least have put my money in the bank? The one risk-free option available?" Even the most basic, lazy form of stewardship would have yielded some interest. The slave's excuse is exposed as a lie. His problem wasn't fear; it was sloth and hatred for the master. He did nothing because he did not love the master and did not want to advance his kingdom.
The judgment is swift. The mina is taken from him and given to the one who has ten. This reveals a fundamental law of the kingdom: the law of use. To the one who has, more will be given. The one who faithfully uses what God gives him will be entrusted with more. But from the one who has not, who is unproductive, even what he has will be taken away. Gifts that are not put to use are forfeited. This is a terrifying warning to all who call themselves Christians but whose lives are marked by fruitless inactivity.
The Fate of the Rebels (v. 27)
The parable concludes with a stark and brutal command regarding the citizens who rejected the king's rule.
"But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence." (Luke 19:27)
This is one of the hard sayings of Jesus that our soft, sentimental generation wants to airbrush out of the Bible. But it is essential to the point of the parable. The returning king is not just a CEO checking on his investments; he is a conquering king executing judgment. There are two groups in the story: the servants who are judged based on their faithfulness, and the enemies who are judged based on their rebellion.
This is a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, when the Jewish nation that rejected its Messiah was catastrophically judged. But it is also a prophecy of the final judgment, when all who have persisted in their rebellion, who have said "we will not have this man to reign over us," will be brought before the throne of Christ and face His righteous wrath. There is no neutrality. You are either a faithful servant, investing your life for the King's glory, or you are an enemy, destined for destruction. Christ is a gentle shepherd to His sheep, but He is a consuming fire to His adversaries.
Conclusion: Are You in Business for the King?
This parable is a direct charge to every one of us. Christ has ascended. He has received the kingdom. He has entrusted each of us with a mina. That mina represents everything He has given you: your time, your talents, your money, your opportunities, your relationships, the gospel itself. He has given you capital.
The question is, what are you doing with it? Are you in business for the king? Are you taking risks for the gospel? Are you investing your life in things that will yield a return for His kingdom? Or have you wrapped your mina in a handkerchief? Have you buried your gifts in the name of safety and security? Is your Christian life characterized by a cowardly preservation of the status quo? Do you have a slanderous view of God that excuses your inactivity, seeing Him as a harsh taskmaster rather than a gracious king who delights to reward faithfulness?
The day of accounting is coming. The king will return, and he will demand to see the books. There will be no excuses. On that day, there will only be two words: "Well done" or "You worthless slave." There will only be two destinies: ruling with Christ or being slain in His presence. Therefore, take up your mina. Get to work. Occupy till He comes.