According to Luke: What Are You Investing In?

According to Luke: What Are You Investing In?

Luke 19:11-27  (NRSV)

As they were listening to this, he went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. So he said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to get royal power for himself and then return. He summoned ten of his slaves, and gave them ten pounds, and said to them, ‘Do business with these until I come back.’ But the citizens of his country hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to rule over us.’ When he returned, having received royal power, he ordered these slaves, to whom he had given the money, to be summoned so that he might find out what they had gained by trading. The first came forward and said, ‘Lord, your pound has made ten more pounds.’ He said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been trustworthy in a very small thing, take charge of ten cities.’ Then the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your pound has made five pounds.’ He said to him, ‘And you, rule over five cities.’ Then the other came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your pound. I wrapped it up in a piece of cloth, for I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man; you take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ He said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! You knew, did you, that I was a harsh man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not put my money into the bank? Then when I returned, I could have collected it with interest.’ He said to the bystanders, ‘Take the pound from him and give it to the one who has ten pounds.’ (And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten pounds!’) ‘I tell you, to all those who have, more will be given; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and slaughter them in my presence.’”

We made it!

12 months ago --- on December 1st we began our journey through Luke's Gospel.

We started with the birth stories

Then we jumped ahead to Jerusalem during Lent and Easter

And for the last few months we went back and have been traveling with Jesus as he headed toward Jerusalem and his confrontation with the authorities

This is the last story in Luke's Gospel before Jesus makes his triumphant entry into the Holy City of Jerusalem

And, I believe, he placed it here for a very important reason

As Jesus prepared to enter into Jerusalem --- Luke is asking us

          Which king are you going to follow?

                   The king of our parable --- or Jesus?

This parable sounds familiar because there is the related parable of the talents that is found in Mathew 25 (the parable of the talents)

But this parable is very different

Matthew's parable is all about Stewardship

Which, of course, is very important

·         especially this time of year when we are in the midst of our annual stewardship campaign

·         we are doing our stewardship campaign differently this year

·         NO STEWARDSHIP SUNDAY

o   You can turn in your faith promise card anytime before December

o   do it with a physical card or online

·         Every Sunday is an opportunity for us to be good stewards

This parable is really about a contrast between the Kingdom of God and a political kingdom

Do you remember how our story last week ended?

Jesus went to the home of the tax collector Zacchaeus and while there, Jesus declared to Zacchaeus that "today, salvation has come"

In our parable today, Jesus seems to want to make sure that we understand, that --- while the kingdom of God is near --- just because Jesus is getting ready to enter Jerusalem doesn't mean that it is coming immediately

Our parable starts with a noble man traveling to a distant land . . .

William Barclay writes that everyone, in 1st century Judea would know that this was referring to Herod Archelaus.

Archelaus --- when his father Herod the Great died --- was forced to go to Rome to ask Caesar Augustus to grant him his inheritance and the title of king of Judea

Augustus ultimately grants him the right to rule Judea but not the title king

We know from the parable of the prodigal son --- that when Luke tells us that somebody goes off to a "distant land" that nothing good can come of it

Allan Culpepper in his commentary on Luke writes:

This parable cannot have the same meaning as the Matthean parable of the talents.  It features not a lesson on responsibility and stewardship but a portrait of greed and vengeance.  The king is acquisitive.  He seeks a royal title and expects others to multiply his property five and tenfold. 

Culpepper goes on to suggest that we have a hard time understanding this parable because of the social codes invoked by this parable. 

We function with an economics of unlimited goods --- we believe that anyone can rise up starting from nothing and become fabulously wealthy.

If we are just cleaver enough

Ambitious enough

Lucky enough

But in first century Palestine --- nothing could be farther from reality

It was an economy of limited goods.

There was only so much wealth and property to go around

So if one person acquired more --- somebody had to lose it.

The king in our story is greedy --- seeking power --- and taking whatever property he could.

The Palestinian peasant who would have heard this story would have identified with the fear that the third servant in the story possessed --- and with the bystanders protest of this redistribution of wealth.

But this king believed that the rich should get richer and the poor poorer.

If Zacchaeus, as the chief tax collector, was despised and hated --- think how much more this greedy and vicious king would have been hated

Luke seems to place this story right before the entry into Jerusalem so that we (and the hearer in the 1st century) could clearly understand the distinction between the kingship of Jesus and that of the common or typical king of the day.

The kings of the day Lord over their subjects

They were corrupt, greedy and violent

Jesus seeks justice for his followers

His kingdom is diametrically opposed to that of the kingdom in this parable

This parable invites us to reflect on what it means to call Jesus king and Lord.

God's kingdom isn't going to appear immediately --- even though it is breaking in with the advent of Jesus.

This parable calls for us to have faithful allegiance to a king whose kingdom is in conflict with the world who seek profit at expense of the poor.

The protest by the bystanders in verse 25 is a call for justice --- and an invitation to us to join them in that quest for justice.

When we --- who have access to medical care protest against the expense of providing it for those that don't --- Jesus is calling out to us and challenging us

What should we say when regressive taxes are proposed that protect the assets of the wealthy at the expense of the poor?

Luke ends Jesus journey to Jerusalem right here

The rest of the story is of Jesus entrance into Jerusalem, his arrest, trial, crucifixion --- and of course --- his victory through the resurrection.

As we end our journey --- we need to decide where we stand.

          Will we be hailing Jesus as king?

                   or

          Shouting for his crucifixion?

It all depends on what kind of king you want?

On my Facebook page this past week, someone posted about their daughter not being welcome at a church --- not here.

I think one of the reasons that the church is dying is we have turned Jesus into the king in this parable.

As I explained why I felt like the church was dying --- another friend replied with this:

I'll offer a different reason -- the rise of big government. Hundreds of years of history have now taught us that the bigger government gets in people's lives, the more secular society gets and the less people think they need religion and God. Europe was the cradle of Christianity, and now church attendance is at dismal lows in countries where government is now here to take care of everybody's needs. After all, why tithe 10% of your income to a church when 10% of your income is already taken from you in taxes for social programs? In the most extreme cases of big goverrnment -- socialism and communism -- religion is all but expunged from culture. This is why I scratch my head at religious leaders in this country who keep preaching for more and more social programs and government sponsored income redistribution. Liberalism at its very core is about replacing faith in God (and faith in family and community) with faith in government

There may be a kernel of truth to what he writes --- but if we think that the government was not intrusive in Jesus day they we don't understand history.

Jesus wasn't calling for government to solve society's problems. 

But he also wasn't telling the rulers that they could ignore the problems either.

He is calling for us all --- those who rule and those who don't to seek a better, more just world

It is up to us --- you and I to choose

          Which kind of king will you follow?

The Prince of peace that Isaiah speaks of

Or

The Prince of Machiavelli?