Use it or lose it? Luke 19:11-27

Luke 19:11-27  Gospel reading for Sunday 21st November 2010

We have been jumping around a bit with the readings sequence in recent weeks. Note that in Luke's Gospel this parable fits in between two key stories. It follows immediately after the Zaccheus account and is the last recorded event before Jesus makes his final entry into Jerusalem.

[With regard to culture and context, an interesting piece of trivia is that it seems Jesus used a historical incident that would have happened when he was a boy, as the basis for this parable:
“The historical background for the parable was the visit of Archelaus, son of Herod the Great, to Rome to secure permission to reign as a so-called client king, i.e., over a territory actually subject to Rome. This petition was opposed by a delegation of Archelaus’ own subjects.” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary.) Therefore the people would have had a very real picture in their minds of what Jesus was describing.]

Note that there is also a similar story in Matthew's Gospel, but probably different enough to suggest that it is not just another Gospel writer's account of the same parable. (See Matthew 25:14-30). I mention that because in Matthew, the parable is (unfortunately) given the name of the Parable of the Talents. Unfortunate because the link with that name has been responsible for sending many people over the years down an interpretation pathway that may well be totally up the creek!

A common message derived from this story at a simple level is ... God has given us a wide range of talents ... we need to use them or lose them. That's OK if we are operating under an image of a task-master God, where we are conned into believing that we can earn points by using our talents and "doing stuff", but it is more than likely that this is a bit off the track from what Jesus had in mind. Besides ... that's not the God we know.

So this story is probably not about talents or wise use of money, possessions or assets. If we substitute THE GOSPEL for the minas (or talents) that puts us in a good place to see this story from a different perspective. Coming immediately on the back of the Zaccheus acted parable, that line of thinking seems to fit.

Everyone has been given the Gospel. The question is what have we done with that? Have we accepted it? Have we taken it on board and been entrepreneurial with our opportunity? Have we taken the information that we have about Jesus and used it in our family and in our community in such a way that it has brought substantial return? Or have we despite having the gospel placed before us and available to us, done nothing with it, let it sit there, even buried it away out of sight and in effect rejected it? (The key point that Jesus was trying to make to the people was probably not so much about productivity, but rather about the significance of simply saying YES or NO to the Gospel.)

As we in Lutheran Schools wait for the King to return, how effective have we been with the Gospel? That may seem to be a reasonable question ... but in some ways it is also a dangerous question. On no account should we read into it any fear of punishment, judgement or rejection because we already know that we have inherited the kingdom ... and what an inheritance that is!
It is quite profound that Jesus paints the picture of  the HUGE reward (five cities and ten cities) waiting for us. It also helps us make sense of verse 26 which we can now paraphrase as:

... to all of us who have accepted the Gospel of Jesus, our reward will be mega by earthly comparison to what we have now, but if anyone defiantly says NO to Jesus (having had Jesus placed before them), everything they have now will also be lost.

Having said all that, from a vocational and community building perspective, we could do worse than make the link to the Luther line of thinking that everyone in our school community is "called to their station" and has an equally important role to play in whatever their calling. It is often the people behind the scenes who quietly "show people Jesus" by simply going about their work in dedicated service, using what they may see as their humble talents to simply BE the Gospel in action.

 Nev