As they heard these things, he went on and told a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that God’s Kingdom would be revealed immediately. He said therefore, “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. He called ten servants of his and gave them ten mina coins, and told them, ‘Conduct business until I come.’ But his citizens hated him, and sent an envoy after him, saying, ‘We don’t want this man to reign over us.’
“When he had come back again, having received the kingdom, he commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by conducting business. The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten more minas.’
“He said to him, ‘Well done, you good servant! Because you were found faithful with very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’
“The second came, saying, ‘Your mina, Lord, has made five minas.’
“So he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ Another came, saying, ‘Lord, behold, your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief, for I feared you, because you are an exacting man. You take up that which you didn’t lay down, and reap that which you didn’t sow.’
“He said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant! You knew that I am an exacting man, taking up that which I didn’t lay down, and reaping that which I didn’t sow. Then why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank, and at my coming, I might have earned interest on it?’ He said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to him who has the ten minas.’
“They said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’ ‘For I tell you that to everyone who has, will more be given; but from him who doesn’t have, even that which he has will be taken away from him. But bring those enemies of mine who didn’t want me to reign over them here, and kill them before me.’ ” Having said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv11, 13, 16, 20, 23, 28 We must patiently wait for the judgment of God,…
We must patiently wait for the judgment of God, which shall be revealed in his time.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28 11 And as they heard these things, he added…
11 And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.
Ver. 11. That the kingdom of God] A temporal earthly kingdom, such as they expected by the Messiah. And it should seem that hearing our Saviour say he came "to seek and to save that which was lost," they mistook him so far as to think that he meant the Jewish kingdom, the public liberty, &c. This misconceit he confuteth in the following parable.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv11, 12, 28 We noted before, that Jericho was but a hundred…
We noted before, that Jericho was but a hundred and fifty furlongs from Jerusalem, (which were not twenty miles), and probably this discourse was upon the way when he was come nearer to it. But the principal occasion of the following parable was, his discerning of the opinion which possessed some of the company which went along with him, that the time was now at hand when the kingdom of God should appear; when Christ would put forth some eminent act of his power, in delivering them from the servitude they were in to the Romans, or in destroying the unbelieving Jews and Pharisees; or when his gospel should take a further place, and prevail in the world beyond what it yet had done. He therefore putteth forth a parable to them, wherein by a familiar similitude he lets them understand, that he was going away from them, but would come again, and then receive the kingdom: that in the mean time he would employ them, as his servants, with his goods, and when he came would take an account what use and improvement they had made of them, and then he would both reward his friends and be revenged on his enemies. The parable followeth.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv11, 28 For the better understanding of this parable, we must,
For the better understanding of this parable, we must,
1. Consider the occasion of it.
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2. The design and scope of it.
3. The lessons of instruction which our Saviour intended us by it.
As to the former; the occasion of our Saviour’s uttering this parable seems to be this, He was now going up to Jerusalem to die; some of the company were of opinion, that he would immediately enter upon his kingdom, and act as a temporal prince, delivering them from the Romans, and destroying his and their enemies: he lets them understand the quite contrary, that he must die and rise again, and ascend into heaven, and then return again and receive the kingdom; and that he was now taking his last journey to Jerusalem, in order to that end.
The design and scope of the parable, together with the interpretation of it, is this, the nobleman here mentioned is our Saviour himself, who in his state of great humiliation was but like a nobleman: his going into a far country, signifies his return from earth to heaven: his coming back again, signifies his coming to judgment: his calling his servants, and delivering them their talents, intimates to us the various gifts which he bestows upon the sons of men, all which are to be employed in his service, and improved to his glory: his calling his servants to an account, plainly signifies, that when Christ comes to judgment, he will have an account of every individual person, how they used the gifts, and improved the talents, intrusted with them; and that they may expect to be impartially rewarded according to their works; for God will appear a righteous God, and will condemn sinners out of their own mouths, and a most certain and final ruin will be their portion, while those that were faithful in his service shall be crowned with his reward.
Now from the whole we may learn these lessons of instruction:
1. That our Lords’ state of humiliation and great abasement on earth being passed and over, a glorious state of exaltation he is now arrived at in heaven. God has exalted him with great triumph to his kingdom in heaven.
2. That, clothed with inifinite majesty and power, and attended with an innumerable host of glorious angels and saints, this exalted Saviour will come to judge angels and men.
3. That in the mean time Christ variously dispenses to his servants particular talents, to be employed and improved for his own glory and his church’s good.
4. That there will most certainly be a reckoning-day, or a time when our Lord will take an account of men’s improving those gifts and graces, which were given them as so many talents to be improved by them.
5. That there will be degrees of happiness and misery in the other world, according to men’s degrees of faithfulness or negligence in this.
6. That it is abominably false and impious to charge God, as being rigid and severe with men, and requiring impossibilities at their hands: For out of their own mouths will God condemn them.
Lastly, that the condition of God’s faithful servants will be unspeakably happy, and that of the unprofitable servant intolerably miserable both in this world and in the next: the righteous shall enter into the joy of their Lord, and be confirmed therein, with an utter impossibility of losing that happiness. The wicked, who would not submit to Christ’s authority, shall not be able to resist his power. They that would not suffer Christ to reign over them, shall at the last day be brought forth and slain before him. Those mine enemies that would not that I, and etc.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv11, 28 Our Lord Jesus is now upon his way to…
Our Lord Jesus is now upon his way to Jerusalem, to his last passover, when he was to suffer and die; now here we are told,
I. How the expectations of his friends were raised upon this occasion: They thought that the kingdom of God would immediately appear, Luk 19:11. The Pharisees expected it about this time (Luk 17:20), and, it seems, so did Christ's own disciples; but they both had a mistaken notion of it. The Pharisees thought that it must be introduced by some other temporal prince or potentate. The disciples thought that their Master would introduce it, but with temporal pomp and power, which, with the power he had to work miracles, they knew he could clothe himself with in a short time, whenever he pleased. Jerusalem, they concluded, must be the seat of his kingdom, and therefore, now that he is going directly thither, they doubt not but in a little time to see him upon the throne there. Note, Even good men are subject to mistakes concerning the kingdom of Christ, and to form wrong notions of it, and are ready to think that will immediately appear which is reserved for hereafter.
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II. How their expectations were checked, and the mistakes rectified upon which they were founded; and this he does in three things: -
1. They expected that he should appear in his glory now presently, but he tells them that he must not be publicly installed in his kingdom for a great while yet. He is like a certain nobleman anthrōpos tis eugenēs - a certain man of high birth (so Dr. Hammond), for he is the Lord from heaven, and is entitled by birth to the kingdom; but he goes into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom. Christ must go to heaven, to sit down at the right hand of the Father there, and to receive from him honour and glory, before the Spirit was poured out by which his kingdom was to be set up on earth, and before a church was to be set up for him in the Gentile world. He must receive the kingdom, and then return. Christ returned when the Spirit was poured out, when Jerusalem was destroyed, by which time that generation, both of friends and enemies, which he had personally conversed with, was wholly worn off by death, and gone to give up their account. But his chief return here meant is that at the great day, of which we are yet in expectation. That which they thought would immediately appear, Christ tells them will not appear till this same Jesus who is taken into heaven shall in like manner come again; see Act 1:11.
2. They expected that his apostles and immediate attendants should be advanced to dignity and honour, that they should all be made princes and peers, privy-counsellors and judges, and have all the pomp and preferments of the court and of the town. But Christ here tells them that, instead of this, he designed them to be men of business; they must expect no other preferment in this world than that of the trading end of the town; he would set them up with a stock under their hands, that they might employ it themselves, in serving him and the interest of his kingdom among men. That is the true honour of a Christian and a minister which, if we be as we ought to be truly ambitious of it, will enable us to look upon all temporal honours with a holy contempt. The apostles had dreamed of sitting on his right hand and on his left in his kingdom, enjoying ease after their present toil and honour after the present contempt put upon them, and were pleasing themselves with this dream; but Christ tells them that which, if they understood it aright, would fill them with care, and concern, and serious thoughts, instead of those aspiring ones with which they filled their heads.
(1.) They have a great work to do now. Their Master leaves them, to receive his kingdom, and, at parting, he gives each of them a pound, which the margin of our common bibles tells us amounts in our money to three pounds and half a crown; this signifies the same thing with the talents in the parable that is parallel to this (Mt. 25), all the gifts with which Christ's apostles were endued, and the advantages and capacities which they had of serving the interests of Christ in the world, and others, both ministers and Christians, like them in a lower degree. But perhaps it is in the parable thus represented to make them the more humble; their honour in this world is only that of traders, and that not of first-rate merchants, who have vast stocks to begin upon, but that of poor traders, who must take a great deal of care and pains to make any thing of what they have. He gave these pounds to his servants, not to buy rich liveries, much less robes, and a splendid equipage, for themselves to appear in, as they expected, but with this charge: Occupy till I come. Or, as it might much better be translated, Trade till I come, Pragmateusasthe - Be busy. So the word properly signifies. "You are sent forth to preach the gospel, to set up a church for Christ in the world, to bring the nations to the obedience of faith, and to build them up in it. You shall receive power to do this, for you shall be filled with the Holy Ghost," Act 1:8. When Christ breathed on the eleven disciples, saying, Receive ye the Holy Ghost, then he delivered them ten pounds. "Now," saith he, "mind your business, and make a business of it; set about it in good earnest, and stick to it. Lay out yourselves to do all the good you can to the souls of men, and to gather them in to Christ." Note, [1.] All Christians have business to do for Christ in this world, and ministers especially; the former were not baptized, nor the latter ordained, to be idle. [2.] Those that are called to business for Christ he furnishes with gifts necessary for their business; and, on the other hand, from those to whom he gives power he expects service. He delivers the pounds with this charge, Go work, go trade. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal, Co1 12:7. And as every one has received the gift, so let him minister the same, Pe1 4:10. [3.] We must continue to mind our business till our Master comes, whatever difficulties or oppositions we may meet with in it; those only that endure to the end shall be saved.
(2.) They have a great account to make shortly. These servants are called to him, to show what use they made of the gifts they were dignified with, what service they had done for Christ, and what good to the souls of men, that he might know what every man had gained by trading. Note,
[1.] They that trade diligently and faithfully in the service of Christ shall be gainers. We cannot say so of the business of the world; many a labouring tradesman has been a loser; but those that trade for Christ shall be gainers; though Israel be not gathered, yet they will be glorious.
[2.] The conversion of souls is the winning of them; every true convert is clear gain to Jesus Christ. Ministers are but factors for him, and to him they must give account what fish they have enclosed in the gospel-net, what guests they have prevailed with to come to the wedding-supper; that is, what they have gained by trading. Now observe,
First, The good account which was given by some of the servants, and the master's approbation of them. Two such are instanced, Luk 19:16, Luk 19:19. 1. They had both made considerable improvements, but not both alike; one had gained ten pounds by his trading, and another five. Those that are diligent and faithful in serving Christ are commonly blessed in being made blessings to the places where they live. They shall see the travail of their soul, and not labour in vain. And yet all that are alike faithful are not alike successful. And perhaps, though they were both faithful, it is intimated that one of them took more pains, and applied himself more closely to his business, than the other, and sped accordingly. Blessed Paul was surely this servant that gained ten pounds, double to what any of the rest did, for he laboured more abundantly than they all, and fully preached the gospel of Christ. 2. They both acknowledged their obligations to their Master for entrusting them with these abilities and opportunities to do him service: Lord, it is not my industry, but thy pound, that has gained ten pounds. Note, God must have all the glory of all our gains; not unto us, but unto him, must be the praise, Psa 115:1. Paul, who gained the ten pounds, acknowledges, "I laboured, yet not I. By the grace of God, I am what I am, and do what I do; and his grace was not in vain," Co1 15:10. He will not speak of what he had done, but of what God had done by him, Rom 15:18. 3. They were both commended for their fidelity and industry: Well done, thou good servant, Luk 19:17. And to the other he said likewise, Luk 19:19. Note, They who do that which is good shall have praise of the same. Do well, and Christ will say to thee, Well done: and, if he says Well done, the matter is not great who says otherwise. See Gen 4:7. 4. They were preferred in proportion to the improvement they had made: "Because thou hast been faithful in a very little, and didst not say, 'As good sit still as go to trade with one pound, what can one do with so small a stock?' but didst humbly and honestly apply thyself to the improvement of that, have thou authority over ten cities." Note, Those are in a fair way to rise who are content to begin low. He that has used the office of a deacon well purchaseth to himself a good degree, Ti1 3:13. Two things are hereby promised the apostles: - (1.) That when they have taken pains to plant many churches they shall have the satisfaction and honour of presiding in them, and governing among them; they shall have great respect paid them, and have a great interest in the love and esteem of good Christians. He that keepeth the fig-tree shall eat the fruit thereof; and he that laboureth in the word and doctrine shall be counted worthy of double honour. (2.) That, when they have served their generation, according to the will of Christ, though they pass through this world despised and trampled upon, and perhaps pass out of it under disgrace and persecution as the apostles did, yet in the other world they shall reign as kings with Christ, shall sit with him on his throne, shall have power over the nations, Rev 2:26. The happiness of heaven will be a much greater advancement to a good minister or Christian than it would be to a poor tradesman, that with much ado had cleared ten pounds, to be made governor of ten cities. He that had gained but five pounds had dominion over five cities. This intimates that there are degrees of glory in heaven; every vessel will be alike full, but not alike large. And the degrees of glory there will be according to the degrees of usefulness here.
Secondly, The bad account that was given by one of them, and the sentence passed upon him for his slothfulness and unfaithfulness, Luk 19:20, etc. 1. He owned that he had not traded with the pound with which he had been entrusted (Luk 19:20): "Lord, behold, here is thy pound; it is true, I have not made it more, but withal I have not made it less; I have kept it safely laid up in a napkin." This represents the carelessness of those who have gifts, but never lay out themselves to do good with them. It is all one to them whether the interests of Christ's kingdom sink or swim, go backward or forward; for their parts, they will take no care about it, no pains, be at no expenses, run no hazard. Those are the servants that lay up their pound in a napkin who think it enough to say that they have done no hurt in the world, but did no good. 2. He justified himself in his omission, with a plea that made the matter worse and not better (Luk 19:21): I feared thee, because thou art an austere man, rigid and severe, anthrōpos austēros ei. Austere is the Greed word itself: a sharp man: Thou takest up that which thou laidst not down. He thought that his master put a hardship upon his servants when he required and expected the improvement of their pounds, and that it was reaping where he did not sow; whereas really it was reaping where he had sown, and, as the husbandman, expecting in proportion to what he had sown. He had no reason to fear his master's austerity, nor blame his expectations, but this was a mere sham, a frivolous groundless excuse for his idleness, which there was no manner of colour for. Note, The pleas of slothful professors, when they come to be examined, will be found more to their shame than in their justification. 3. His excuse is turned upon him: Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant, Luk 19:22. He will be condemned by his crime, but self-condemned by his plea. "If thou didst look upon it as hard that I should expect the profit of thy trading, which would have been the greater profit, yet, if thou hadst had any regard to my interest, thou mightest have put my money into the bank, into some of the funds, that I might have had, not only my own, but my own with usury, which, though a less advantage, would have been some." If he durst not trade for fear of losing the principal, and so being made accountable to his lord for it though it was lost, which he pretends, yet that would be no excuse for his not setting it out to interest, where it would be sure. Note, Whatever may be the pretences of slothful professors, in excuse of their slothfulness, the true reason of it is a reigning indifference to the interests of Christ and his kingdom, and their coldness therein. They care not whether religion gets around or loses ground, so they can but live at ease. 4. His pound is taken from him, Luk 19:24. It is fit that those should lose their gifts who will not use them, and that those who have dealt falsely should be no longer trusted. Those who will not serve their Master with what he bestows upon them, why should they be suffered to serve themselves with it? Take from him the pound. 5. It is given to him that had the ten pounds. When this was objected against by the standers-by, because he had so much already (Lord, he has ten pounds, Luk 19:25), it is answered (Luk 19:26), Unto every one that hath shall be given. It is the rule of justice, (1.) That those should be most encouraged who have been most industrious, and that those who have laid out themselves most to do good should have their opportunities of doing good enlarged, and be put into a higher and more extensive sphere of usefulness. To him that hath gotten shall more be given, that he may be in a capacity to get more. (2.) That those who have their gifts, as if they had them not, who have them to no purpose, who do no good with them, should be deprived of them. To those who endeavour to increase the grace they have, God will impart more; those who neglect it, and suffer it to decline, can expect no other than that God should do so too. This needful warning Christ gives to his disciples, lest, while they were gaping for honours on earth, they should neglect their business, and so come short of their happiness in heaven.
3. Another thing they expected was, that, when the kingdom of God should appear, the body of the Jewish nation would immediately fall in with it, and submit to it, and all their aversions to Christ and his gospel would immediately vanish; but Christ tells them that, after his departure, the generality of them would persist in their obstinacy and rebellion, and it would be their ruin. This is shown here,
(1.) In the message which his citizens sent after him, Luk 19:14. They not only opposed him, while he was in obscurity; but, when he was gone into glory, to be invested in his kingdom, then they continued their enmity to him, protested against his dominion, and said, We will not have this man to reign over us. [1.] This was fulfilled in the prevailing infidelity of the Jews after the ascension of Christ, and the setting up of the gospel kingdom. They would not submit their necks to his yoke, nor touch the top of his golden sceptre. They said, Let us break his bands in sunder, Psa 2:1-3; Act 4:26. [2.] It speaks the language of all unbelievers; they could be content that Christ should save them, but they will not have him to reign over them; whereas Christ is a Saviour to those only to whom he is a prince, and who are willing to obey him.
(2.) In the sentence passed upon them at his return: Those mine enemies bring hither, Luk 19:27. When his faithful subjects are preferred and rewarded, then he will take vengeance on his enemies, and particularly on the Jewish nation, the doom of which is here read. When Christ had set up his gospel kingdom, and thereby put reputation upon the gospel ministry, then he comes to reckon with the Jews; then it is remembered against them that they had particularly disclaimed and protested against his kingly office, when they said, We have no king but Caesar, nor would own him for their king. They appealed to Caesar, and to Caesar they shall go; Caesar shall be their ruin. Then the kingdom of God appeared when vengeance was taken on those irreconcileable enemies to Christ and his government; they were brought forth and slain before him. Never was so much slaughter made in any war as in the wars of the Jews. That nation lived to see Christianity victorious in the Gentile world, in spite of their enmity and opposition to it, and then it was taken away as dross. The wrath of Christ came upon them to the uttermost (Th1 2:15, Th1 2:16), and their destruction redounded very much to the honour of Christ and the peace of the church. But this is applicable to all others who persist in their infidelity, and will undoubtedly perish in it. Note, [1.] Utter ruin will certainly be the portion of all Christ's enemies; in the day of vengeance they shall all be brought forth, and slain before him. Bring them hither, to be made a spectacle to saints and angels; see Jos 10:22, Jos 10:24. Bring them hither, that they may see the glory and happiness of Christ and his followers, whom they hated and persecuted. Bring them hither, to have their frivolous pleas overruled, and to receive sentence according to their merits. Bring them, and slay them before me, as Agag before Samuel. The Saviour whom they have slighted will stand by and see them slain, and not interpose on their behalf. [2.] Those that will not have Christ to reign over them shall be reputed and dealt with as his enemies. We are ready to think that none are Christ's enemies but persecutors of Christianity, or scoffers at least; but you see that those will be accounted so that dislike the terms of salvation, will not submit to Christ's yoke, but will be their own masters. Note, Whoever will not be ruled by the grace of Christ will inevitably be ruined by the wrath of Christ.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv11–28 He said therefore,.... The following parable, with the above…
He said therefore,.... The following parable, with the above said design and view:
a certain nobleman; the son of a great family, as the Syriac version renders it; of noble descent, of an illustrious extract; by whom is meant Jesus Christ, who was a "man", as he agreed to be, and was prophesied of as such; and who frequently appeared in an human form before his incarnation; and was now actually become man, though not a mere man: and he may truly be said to be "noble"; not only as the word may signify, as it sometimes does, a person of great authority and power, and of great generosity and goodness, but one of a noble birth; for Christ, as man, descended from the kings of the house of Judah, and was the son of David; and from the Jewish fathers and ancestors of the greatest renown, as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and he may be so called as man, because of the union of the human nature to the Son of God; or because of his divine relation, as the Son of God: this illustrious person,
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went into a far country; by which, heaven is meant; so called, not only because of its distance from the earth, but in comparison of the earth, as a place of pilgrimage; and because that it is out of sight, and the views which are had of it, are very distant ones: hither Christ went at his ascension; he came from heaven at his incarnation, by the assumption of human nature; he stayed here awhile, till he had done his work he came about, and then went up to heaven; where he is received, and from whence he is expected again: the end of his going there is,
to receive for himself a kingdom: by which is intended, not the kingdom of nature and providence; for that he had, and did not receive from another; it was his of right, and by nature; nor the kingdom of grace, set up in the hearts of his people, and which was already within many of them; nor the kingdom of glory, prepared for them from the foundation of the world; though into this he entered at his ascension, and took possession of it for himself and them: but a more visible display of his mediatorial kingdom, he received from his Father; and which, upon his ascension, became more manifest, by the dispossessing of Satan, and casting him out of the Gentile world; by converting large numbers of his people, both among Jews and Gentiles; and by ruling in their hearts, subduing their enemies, and protecting and defending them; and by thus reigning till he has gathered them all in, either in Judea, or in the whole world, and then he will come again:
and return; either to destroy the Jews; the doing of which fully proved he had received his kingdom, was vested with power and authority, and was made, or declared Lord and Christ; or at the end of the world, to judge both quick and dead: and this is said, to show that his personal glorious kingdom on earth, or his kingdom in its greatest glory here, will not be till he comes a second time; and to engage diligence in his servants in the mean while; and to keep up the faith, hope, and expectation of his coming again.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 23, 25, 26, 27 They thought the kingdom of God - A glorious…
They thought the kingdom of God - A glorious temporal kingdom, would immediately appear.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28 Verse 11. And as they heard these things] I…
Verse 11. And as they heard these things] I believe the participle of the present tense, here, is used for the participle of the past, or rather that the participle of the present conveys sometimes the sense of the past; for this discourse appears to have taken place the next day after he had lodged at the house of Zaccheus; for the text says that he was then drawing nigh to Jerusalem, from which Jericho was distant nineteen miles. I have not ventured to translate it so, yet I think probably the text should be read thus: And after they had heard these things, he proceded to speak a parable, because they were nigh to Jerusalem.
Immediately appear.] Perhaps the generality of his followers thought that, on his arrival at Jerusalem, he would proclaim himself king.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 22, 24, 27, 28 Luk 19:11. And as they heard these things —…
Luk 19:11. And as they heard these things — Namely, that salvation was come to Zaccheus’s family; he added, and spake a parable — From this we gather, that he spake the parable in Zaccheus’s house; because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and they thought, &c. — Because his followers were accompanying him to the royal city, in expectation that the kingdom of God would immediately appear, and with a resolution to assist him in erecting it, he spake this parable, wherein he showed them their duty, described the true nature of the kingdom of God, and taught them that it was not immediately to appear. “The parable,” says Dr. Doddridge, “considered in this view, as suited to the circumstance of time, and to the case of those to whom it was delivered, will appear a most wise and seasonable admonition; and by neglecting the instruction it was designed to give them, the Jews deservedly brought ruin on themselves.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 28 He spake a parable - This parable has in…
He spake a parable - This parable has in some respects a resemblance to the parable of the “talents” in Mat 25:14-28, but it is not the same. They differ in the following respects: That was spoken “after” he had entered Jerusalem; this, while on his way there. That was delivered on the Mount of Olives; this, in the house of Zacchaeus. That was delivered to teach them the necessity of “improving” the talents committed to them; this was for a different design. He was now near Jerusalem. A great multitude attended him. His disciples regarded him as the Messiah, and by this they understood a temporal prince who should deliver them from the dominion of the Romans and set them at liberty. They were anxious for that, and supposed that the time was at hand, and that “now,” as soon as he entered Jerusalem, he would assume the appearance of such a prince and set up his kingdom. To “correct that notion” seems to have been the main design of this parable. To do that, he tells them of a man who had a right to the kingdom, yet who, “before” taking possession of it, went into another kingdom to receive a confirmation of his title, thus intimating that “he” would also go away “before” he would completely set up his kingdom Luk 19:12; he tells them that this nobleman left to his servants “property” to be improved in his absence, as “he” would leave to his disciples “talents” to be used in his service Luk 19:12-13; he tells them that this nobleman was rejected by his own citizens Luk 19:14, as “he” would be by the Jews; and that he received the kingdom and called them to an account, as he also would his own disciples.
Because he was nigh to Jerusalem - The capital of the country, and where they supposed he would probably set up his kingdom.
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The kingdom of God should immediately appear - That the reign of the Messiah would immediately commence. He spoke the parable to “correct” that expectation.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv11, 12, 13, 19 That the kingdom of God should immediately be manifested.…
That the kingdom of God should immediately be manifested. The disciples were full of the expectation of the temporal kingdom of the Messias, though he had divers times told them he was to suffer and die on a cross. (Witham) --- Notwithstanding all that Jesus had said to them about his kingdom, his death, his consummation, and resurrection, they still believed that the kingdom of God was going to be manifested, and that Jesus, in this journey, would make himself be acknowledged king by the whole nation of the Jews. They could not lay aside the ideas they had formed of the personal and temporal reign of the Messias. Every thing which they could not reconcile with this standard, was completely impenetrable to them. It was a language they could not comprehend. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On vv11, 28 5. Jesus in relation to the Sanguine Hopes of…
5. Jesus in relation to the Sanguine Hopes of His Disciples (Luk_19:11-27)
11And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought [or, imagined] that the kingdom of God should 12[was about] immediately appear [to be manifested immediately]. He said therefore, A certain nobleman [εὐγενής] went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom,and to return. 13And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy [Do business therewith] till I come.114But his citizens [or, those of his city] hated him, and sent a message [embassy] after him, saying, We will not have [we do not wish] this man to reign over us. 15And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that be might know how much every man had gained by trading. 16Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. 17And he said unto him, Well [Excellent], thou good servant: because 18thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities. And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. 19And he said likewise 20to him, Be thou also over five cities. And another2 came, saying, Lord, behold, 21 here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin [handkerchief]: For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that [which] thou layedst not 22down [didst not deposit], and reapest that [which] thou didst not sow. And [om., And, V. O.3] he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down 23[which I did not deposit], and reaping that [which] I did not sow: Wherefore then And wherefore, καὶ διὰ τί] gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury [collected it with interest]? 24And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath 25, 26ten pounds. (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.) For [om., For, V. O.4] I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that [which] he hath shall be taken away from him. 27But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them5 before me.
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EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Luk_19:11. And as they heard these things.—The instruction communicated by Luke in the next following parable, our Lord may have delivered while yet in the house of Zaccheus, but we doubt whether it was uttered just at the entrance of this dwelling before the ears of the murmuring throng, Luk_19:7 (Meyer). With better right, perhaps, we might conclude from Luk_19:28 that the Saviour delivered this parable immediately before His departure from Jericho. But, however this may be, it stands in direct connection with. His declaration, Luk_19:10. It may be that the mention of the Son of Man having come, threw a new spark into the tinder of their earthly expectations, although it is difficult to state more exactly what precise connection there could be between this declaration and the thought that the kingdom of God should become παραχρῆμα manifest. We know, however, how many looks were directed with the liveliest interest upon the approaching Passover, where it appeared that the intense opposition between Jesus and His enemies was about to come to a public decision. Besides this, they were already in the neighborhood of the capital; and might there not there, even by the least word, be kindled anew the expectation of that which had been most longingly desired? In no case do we need to deny that the now-following parable was addressed to the disciples of the Saviour also. From Luk_18:34 it appears that they were as yet by no means cured of their earthly Messianic hopes, and here also, as often, there lay a certain truth at the basis of their error. That the kingdom of God should become manifest, ἀναφαίνεσθαι, was in and of itself subject to no doubt, but that it would come into view at this very point, and that in a palpable, sensuous form—in other words, that Christ would be glorified without a previous separation from His own; in that lay the error of which they must be immediately cured, and to controvert it the following parable is designed.
A parable.—That the parable coincides in many respects with that of the Talents (Mat_25:14-30), and yet is in no way identical with that, but is more or less modified in the redaction, Lange has, Matthew, p. 441, convincingly demonstrated. So also the assertion is destitute of any ground (Strauss) that this parable has arisen from an only half-successful amalgamation of two others, namely, that of the Talents and that of the Unfaithful Husbandmen. Undoubtedly the representation of a king who, instead of arms, rather entrusts his money to his servants, has at the first look something strange, but if this admits of sufficient explanation from the purpose of the parable, it can by no means prove anything against the originality and exactness of the rendering of Luke. Precisely in this way would our Lord teach His disciples that His true subjects were not, like those of other kingdoms, to strive with arms in their hands, but that they were to carry on business with the entrusted pound, while not till after His return (Luk_19:27) should they be called to take part in His victory over His irreconcilable foes. In view of the relative coincidence which exists between this parable and that of the Talents in Matthew, the question can hardly be avoided which of them was first delivered, and may consequently be considered as the foundation of the other. Directly in opposition to the common views (Schleiermacher, Neander), we believe that the parable of the Talents must be regarded as a further explanation of the parable before us, not the reverse; in other words, that the first delivered parable (in Luke) is also the simplest; that the one subsequently uttered (in Matthew) bears, on the other hand, a more complicated character. For here the work for all the servants is alike; there there exists a diversity in the number of the talents. Here there is bestowed on the servant only recompense; there with the recompense an extended eulogy. Here it is only an ignominious loss; there also a terrible judgment, which is the punishment of the slothful servant—grounds enough for the opinion that in reality the parable of the Pounds must have preceded that of the Talents. It is true, there are. single features in the last-named parable which are less elaborated than in the former: but this phenomenon is sufficiently explained if we only consider that one was, at all events, delivered shortly after the other, and that the parable of the Talents can be only so far called a variation—or, if we will, a short summary of the one before us—as this, that in it the chief thought is modified according to the necessity of the disciples, and set forth yet more clearly. Because the parable, Matthew 25, was delivered exclusively for the faithful disciples, and not, like this, in the presence also of secret enemies, it was there unnecessary again to depict the fate of the rebellious citizens, without, however, the parable of the Talents having suffered the least loss in completeness by the falling away of this feature; on the other hand, it has even gained in unity thereby. Thus may the two stand very well independently by one another; and, moreover, the parable of the Pounds has this peculiar character, that it sets forth the King of the kingdom of God on the one hand in contrast with His servants, on the other with His enemies. In the prospect of righteous retribution which is prepared for both at His coming, is the inner unity of the representation grounded.
Luk_19:12. A certain nobleman.—An indirect intimation of the kingly descent and dignity of our Lord; at the same time a prophecy of His going away from the earth, and a comforting representation of His departure to the Father, as of the means ordained for the obtaining of the kingly dignity and glory. Finally, the definite assurance that the interval between the departure and the return of the Lord is only an interim.
Luk_19:13. Ten pounds.—Δέκαμνᾶς. It is not probable that we have here to understand a Hebrew mina of 100 shekels; rather an Attic mina of 100 drachmæ = 21 thalers ($14),6 about one-sixtieth of the talent, Mat_25:15. The distinction is sufficiently explained from the consideration that the lord in the latter parable leaves behind his whole property in the hands of his servants. Here, on the other hand, he only commits to them a slight gift, by which their faithfulness in the least is to be proved, comp. Luk_16:10. In comparison with the great reward which is hereafter bestowed above upon the faithful, even five talents are an ὀλίλον, in comparison with which ten pounds deserved to be called an ἐλάχιστον, Luk_19:17.—Πραγματεύεσθαι is used by the Rabbins also in the sense of ἐργάζεσθαι, Mat_25:26 = negotiari. This must they do, not till the King returns, but while he is on the journey. Ἐν ᾧ, see notes on the text. General indication of the period of time which remains allotted them for trading. He spends the time in travelling, they the same time in business.
Luk_19:14. Embassy.—A peculiar designation, taken from the political history of this period, of the stubborn enmity of the Jews (see below), especially as this should exhibit itself after our Lord’s departure from the earth. The capriciousness of the enmity appears from this, that the ambassadors do not give even a word of reason for their dislike, and the degree in which they despise the king finds expression in the contemptuous τοῦτον. That this essay has no success, since the king nevertheless receives the kingdom, and returns as judge, appears from the sequel of the parable. Before, however, he punishes his enemies, his servants must give account for themselves.
Luk_19:15. How much every man, τίς τί, contracted form for two different questions. It must be shown what form of business each one had carried on, and with what success. By the pounds we are to understand in general that which the Lord bestows on His servants that they may labor therewith for the kingdom of God and make profit: as well the external possessions as the inward endowment and energy. In deep humility all the servants acknowledge that this gain is not their own, but the lord’s, therefore with emphasis, Thy pound.
Luk_19:16. Gained ten pounds.—Here the thought comes into the foreground that faithfulness, even with the smallest χάρισμα, may become a source of inexhaustible blessing. In Matthew the emphasis is laid more upon the proportionableness of the capital, the profit, and the reward. In this the faithfulness is rewarded simply with a more extended circle of operation (“I will place thee over many things”), and with the enjoyment of the joy of their Lord. Finally, the praise here bestowed on the first servant is withheld from the second, who with the same pound had only gained the half of what the first had gained, in order thereby to intimate that the reward should be different in just that proportion in which the profit of the labor is greater or less. As to the rest, the government over five cities is of itself distinction enough, especially when we consider that the cities lie in the midst of the land of the rebels, that is now become the king’s kingdom, and from which the enemies are now soon to be exterminated.
Luk_19:20. In a handkerchief.—The conduct of the third had been, therefore, in direct conflict with his calling; without personal faithfulness or love he had in secret calculated that if he had gained much, his lord would pluck the fruit thereof; if he, on the other hand, lost, that the responsibility and the damage would be on his side, since he, at all events, would have to give back the amount entrusted. Thus had he given ear to the voice of self-seeking, suffered himself to be strengthened in his natural slothfulness, and instead of laboring in the sweat of his brow for the interest of his lord, he had hidden the entrusted money in the now entirely superfluous handkerchief [Greek, ἐν σουδαρίῳ; literally, sweat-cloth]. To excuse his words and his character (Olshausen) appears to us to conflict as well with the letter as with the spirit of the parable. We see evidently that our Saviour will describe the slothful egoist, who allows himself to be held back by carnal considerations from that which in any event would have been his duty, and who believes that he can excuse his mean conduct by the appeal to the austere character of his lord. So much greater, therefore, must his consternation be, when the very ground made the pretext by him for his vindication prepares the way for his condemnation. See further on Mat_25:25-26.
Luk_19:22. Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee.—“A wonderfully happy argument ex concessis” (Lange). Comp. Mat_12:37. His own word is retorted upon the slothful one, and thereon a question is grounded, beginning with καὶ διὰ τί, which brings him into contradiction with himself. The lord does not concede to him that he is actually a hard man, but only refutes the shameless one on the position he had most arbitrarily taken. “Ne dicas, te invenire non potuisse, quibus pecunia esset opus. Argentarii ab omnibus pecuniam sumunt fœnore. Sensus est: non est etiam, quod in collocanda pecunia periculum, obtendas; mea erat; ego jam exegissem non tuo, sed meo periculo.” Grotius.
Luk_19:24. Unto them that stood by.—Not the other δοῦλοι (Kuinoel), who had already rendered account, but the halberdiers, who surround him when he appears in his majesty, comp. Mat_25:31. The astonishment which these testify (Luk_19:25 may be put in a parenthesis, Lachmann and Ewald), gives the king occasion now more particularly to give the reason for his severe determination. Without giving heed to the remonstrance, he repeats the great principle, “Unto every one which hath,” &c. See Luk_8:18, and the admirable remarks of Neander, L. J., ad loc. The positive retribution, Mat_25:30, which is threatened against the unprofitable servant is omitted here, probably because the judgment upon the enemies is yet to be declared. Yet by the loss itself decreed against him his unfaithfulness is sufficiently punished; while he that gained the ten pounds has now, besides the gracious recompense, received a happy surprise in addition.
Luk_19:27. But those mine enemies.—The command is given to the same guards to whom that in Luk_19:24 was addressed. Contemptuously the enemies are named τούτους (see Tischendorf, ad loc.), as they previously had named their lawful king, τοῦτον.—Slay them.—A strong expression of the severity and hopelessness of the Messianic retribution. The sudden breaking off of the parable heightens not a little its beauty.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Far more than any other parable of our Lord, the parable of the Ten Pounds is a picture which, as it were, is framed into the political history of that unquiet period. Native princes of minor territories were then sometimes obliged to repair to Rome, in order there to be elevated to their legitimate rank. This had been the case in the Jewish land also with Herod the First, and with Archelaus, and it belongs to the yet too little considered traits of the deep humility of the Son of Man, that He can compare His Ascension, even though only remotely, with the journey of a Herod to Rome; a μείωσις, and yet, at the same time, an accommodation beyond compare.—But also a second trait of the parable was taken from life, namely, the embassy of the hostile citizens, who sought to work against the dreaded enthronement. We are to understand the fifty Jews, who had followed Archelaus with this very intention, and the eight thousand who afterwards followed these, and earnestly besought Augustus, in the temple of Apollo, that he would free them from the Idumæan prince, and in case of necessity rather even unite them with Syria. In Jericho, where, perhaps not far from the dwelling of Zaccheus, the kingly palace stood which Archelaus had built with princely splendor (see Josephus, A. J. Luk_17:13; Luk_17:1), such an allusion was doubly fitting, and at the same time easily intelligible. The bloody vengeance, with the mention of which the parable ends, was in those days often exercised, if at Rome the intrigues of the prince had triumphed over his opponents. It was, moreover, well remembered by the hearers of our Lord how Archelaus, after he had returned as Ethnarch over Judæa and Samaria, had bestowed on his faithful adherents cities for a reward, and had on the other hand, out of vengeance, deprived his enemies of life. (See A. J. 14, 14, 3; Luk_15:6-7; Luk_17:9; Luk_17:3, a. o.) It scarcely needs an intimation how much freshness and life such an historical background imparts to this parabolical instruction, and how spontaneously the question must have arisen: Who is the king—who his servants—who are the enemies that are here spoken of?
2. The parable of the Ten Pounds was thoroughly fitted to serve as a wholesome antidote against a fourfold error. It might be fancied that the Messianic kingdom would very soon appear; that it would be at once visible on earth; that every one would willingly and with joy submit himself to the same; and finally, that there could be for its subjects no higher calling than that of an inactive enjoyment. In opposition to the first opinion, there is this feature of the parable, that first, the far journey must be made, and therefore a comparatively long interval spent before everything could come to the desired issue; in contrast with the second expectation stands the remark, that not here but elsewhere must the native prince receive the reins of legitimate dominion, before he could vindicate His high rank on His own soil. Over against the third error, our Lord counts it needful to sketch the image of an enmity which would shamelessly, groundlessly, stubbornly, but at the same time also unsuccessfully, lift its head against the King. In opposition to the fourth opinion, He sets forth the image of the calling of the ten servants,—the type of the collective body of all His servants—to the carrying on of business and obtaining of gain. Not as proud warriors, but rather as humble dealers with a very small capital, does He leave them at His going away, and so must all ideal Utopias of their fantasy recede momentarily, at least, before the requirements of the soberest reality.
3. The whole parable is a strong testimony for the elevated self-consciousness of our Lord in reference to His heavenly origin and His high destiny. At the same time it gives a proof of the lofty courage and the still dignity with which He approaches Jerusalem. It is as if once more were heard the roaring of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, before the lamb gives itself to be led to the slaughter. On the one hand the whole Christology of this parable is an echo of many a royal psalm of the Old Testament, especially of Pss. 2. and 110; on the other hand, we have here the intimation of the more extended eschatological revelations which are afterwards to be given in the Apocalypse.
4. The promise of a future extension and elevation of their activity as the proper reward for the disciples of our Lord, is wholly in the spirit of the Hellenistic Pauline Gospel of Luke, comp. 1Co_13:9-12. With this, however, it deserves consideration, that the promise of a personal return of our Lord to earth, Luk_19:15, comp. Act_3:21, is not only made in the Gospel of Matthew, or in the discourses and Epistles of Peter, but also in Luke. Certainly a proof that this doctrine is something more than the mere offspring of a narrow Judaistic theology, and, therefore, at the same time, for all who reject every hope of a personal Parusia as gross Chiliasm, an important intimation that at all events they are not to throw away husk and kernel together.
5. The parable of the Pounds places visibly before our eyes not only the life-calling of the apostles, but also that of all believers. From the fact that here ten servants appear who all receive the same, the diversity recedes before the unity. As bond-servants of their Lord they are called to wait for His return, and that not in inactive rest, but in zealous activity. They have not to contend with carnal weapons against His enemies, but in the midst of all opposition quietly to proceed with their labor. In the humble position of witnesses to the faith, they must seek with word and deed to spread abroad God’s kingdom, and expect their share in the government of the world, not before, but only after, the personal return of the Lord. The success of their endeavors is differently modified according to the diversity of time, talents, and energies; but the reward is suited to the different deserts. In every case it is in proportion to that which was demanded and accomplished. For the ten pounds which the best one I gained, he would scarcely have been able to buy a house, and he is placed over ten cities; but never does a reward fall to the portion of the slothful one, who has contented himself merely with this, that he did no positive harm. To gain nothing is the way to lose all, and the injury which one prepares for himself by his own unfaithfulness appears as irrevocable. Certainly here also agrees the word: γίνεσθε δόκιμοι τραπεζῖται, which our Lord, according to some, really uttered on this occasion. (According to Dionysius Alexandrinus, Cyril, and others, the admonition, 1Th_5:21, is also to be taken as proceeding from our Lord, and as belonging to the same connection. See Lardner, Probab. ii. p. 38.)
6. In the concluding word of the parable there stands before the eyes of our Lord, without doubt, the terrible fate of Jerusalem, which He soon so sadly weeps over, Luk_19:41-42. It is the greater for this, that He immediately after these discourses sets forth, in order, for enemies from whom He foresees such hatred, and who are to be condemned to such a punishment, to die the death of a slave.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Earthly-minded Messianic expectations a weed: 1. Deeply rooted; 2. hard to eradicate; 3. soon shooting up again.—On the point of accomplishing His Priestly offering, our Lord speaks as a Prophet of His future Kingly dignity.—The opinion that the Lord will never come again is, in its kind, not less to be reprobated than the fancy of His apostles that He would never, go away.—The parable of the Ten Pounds sketches for us an image: 1. Of the King of the kingdom of God, a. His origin, b. His destiny, c. His departure and return; 2. of His servants, a. their calling, b. their giving account, c. their reward; 3. of His enemies, a. their hatred, b. their impotency, c. their punishment.—The Christian life, that of the merchant: 1. The capital; 2. the income; 3. the profit.—The absolute refusal to acknowledge the kingly authority of our Lord: 1. The height which it reaches; 2. the depth in which it ends.—We must all be manifested; 2Co_5:10.—On what depends the various profit for the kingdom of God, and according to what standard is the diverse recompense calculated?—They who suffer with Christ shall also reign with Him; 2Ti_2:12.—Faithfulness in the least the Saviour esteems not slightly.—The slothful servant condemned from his own words.—If we have presumptuously neglected good, it helps us little if we believe that we have avoided greater evil.—The sins of omission are not less worthy of punishment than the sins of commission; Jam_4:17.—The little pound put into a napkin, the greater talent buried in the earth.—Even the angels do not at once comprehend the πολυποίκιλος σοθία in the sentence of the Lord.—No earthly nor heavenly might can alter the judgment once pronounced.—The greater the Lord’s forbearance to His enemies has been, so much the more terrible will their judgment be.—The crime of treason is punished under the eyes of the King.—By the extirpation of the enemies of the kingdom of God, the blessedness of the redeemed is perfected.
Starke:—This parable, as it were the Testament of Christ, in which He shows the nature of His kingdom, &c.—Quesnel:—Jesus truly of a high descent.—There is no one that has not received from the hand of the Lord gifts wherewith to get usury.—Brentius:—Even the very wisest rulers never satisfy the rabble.—Their humility of heart is the main character of all true servants and children of God.—The growth of grace in us draws the growth of glory after it.—Canstein:—As to worldly business there appertains not only diligence and laboriousness, but also understanding and prudence, so also in spiritual husbandry.; Eph_5:15.—The eternal glory has its fixed degrees.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—Terrible is it that sinners undertake to divert from themselves the guilt of their wickedness, and to push it upon God.—For unreasonable excuses the ungodly are never at a loss.—God is righteous in His judgments; let man only lay his hand upon his mouth.—God will avenge and punish ungodliness not in secret, but before the tribunal of the whole world.—The Almighty God hath committed all judgment to the Son.—Whoever will not let himself be pastured by the lamb, him shall the lion devour.—Up! Christians that die in the Lord—they are setting out towards Jerusalem.
Heubner:—Not the abundance and magnitude of what is done, but faithfulness, makes worthy of reward.—Thou needest be no eminent character.—The selfish heart continually hostile to God.—All that originates from God has an inner fructifying power if it is only used aright.—Divine love knows no limits; it gives ad infinitum.—Lisco:—The great responsibility of the Christian, which is imposed upon him through the possession of Divine gifts.—The rule according to which the King of the kingdom of heaven will hereafter judge His subjects.—Palmer:—“Him that hath, to him shall be given,” &c.; text for communion sermon.—F. W. Krummacher:—“Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee:” the stinging rebuke of apostasy.—Beck:—How we in the light of eternity have to regard this time below.
Footnotes:
[1][Luk_19:13.—Van Oosterzee translates: “while I am on the journey,” on the strength of the reading ἐν ᾦ for ἕως. Ἐν ᾦ is found in A., B., D., Cod. Sin., K., L., R., and is accepted by Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Meyer, Tregelles, Alford. Bleek, however, objects to it as not giving a good sense, as ἔρχομαι cannot well have any other meaning than “come” in the connection.—C. C. S.]
[2]Luk_19:20.—Ὁ ἕτερος should be read, according to B., D., [Cod. Sin.,] L., [R.,] cursives, Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Tregelles, Alford. Meyer regards the article as a mechanical repetition of those in Luk_19:16; Luk_19:18.—C. C. S.]
[3]Luk_19:22.—Δέ is not sufficiently attested.
[4][Luk_19:26.—The γάρ of the Recepta is apparently borrowed from Mat_25:29. [Omitted by Meyer, Alford; bracketed by Lachmann, Tregelles; retained by Tischendorf. Not found in B., Cod. Sin., L. More reason for adding it, than for omitting it if genuine.—C. C. S.]
[5]Luk_19:27.—“Them” being in italics in E. V. indicates the absence of the pronoun in the Greek. Tischendorf, Tregelles, and Alford, however, read αὐτοὺς on the authority of B., [Cod. Sin.,] F., L., R.—C. C. S.]
[6][Equal, of course, to many times the present value of that sum.—C. C. S.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 27 PARABLE OF THE POUNDS. (Luke 19:11-27)
PARABLE OF THE POUNDS. (Luke 19:11-27)
a far country--said to put down the notion that He was just on His way to set up His kingdom, and to inaugurate it by His personal presence.
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to receive . . . a kingdom--be invested with royalty; as when Herod went to Rome and was there made king; a striking expression of what our Lord went away for and received, "sitting down at the right hand of the Majesty on high."
to return--at His second coming.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 25, 26, 27, 28 Parable of the Pounds, Luk_19:11-27.
Parable of the Pounds, Luk_19:11-27.
From the front door of Zaccheus’s house we seem to trace the Lord’s course into the court, preceded by Zaccheus, and followed by the press (Luk_19:3) or crowd, who were in a high state of excitement at the expectation that Jesus was proceeding to Jerusalem for the purpose of assuming the glorious Messianic kingdom. (See on Luk_19:7.) Our Lord, therefore, in the following parable teaches them that, so far from erecting a kingdom now at Jerusalem, Jerusalem is to be but his point of departure to a far country, namely, to his Father in heaven. By him being invested with a divine royalty, he would return to a day of final judgment, and administer retribution.
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11. And as they heard these things—The Lord seems to address the listening multitude from the gallery of the court of the house of Zaccheus. See our supplementary note, p. 121; and p. 326, of vol. 1.
He added and spake—The parable was in the proper train of discourse.
Kingdom of God should immediately appear—The word appear indicates their expectation that it was to be revealed as in a glory from above. On this expectation see note on Mat_20:21.
The parable of the pounds, though much the same in structure with that of the talents, Mat_25:14, (on which see our notes,) was undoubtedly uttered on another occasion and to illustrate a different point. It was, indeed, the same parable varied to different occasions. The present parable was based upon well known historic facts of the day. Both Herod and his son Archelaus received the kingdom of Judaea by going to a far country; that is, to the emperor at Rome. (See our notes on Mat_2:22.) And when Archelaus went to Rome to obtain the royalty, the Jews sent an embassy to the emperor to express their desire not to have the man to reign over them.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 11-27. The Parable of the Pounds.
11-27. The Parable of the Pounds.
11. because he was nigh to Jerusalem] Probably therefore the parable was spoken on the journey.
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should immediately appear] Literally, “be manifested to view.” The disciples had the same excited anticipation after the Resurrection, Act_1:6-7. Our Lord was always careful to lead them away from false material hopes. The lessons of the parable are patient waiting and active work.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28 (11) He added and spake a parable.—As in Luk_18:1;…
(11) He added and spake a parable.—As in Luk_18:1; Luk_18:9, so here, it is characteristic of St. Luke that he states, more fully than is common in the other Gospels, the occasion and the purpose of the parable which follows. The verse throws light upon all the history that follows. In all previous visits to Jerusalem our Lord had gone up either alone or accompanied only by His chosen disciples. Now He was followed by a crowd,, gathering strength as they journeyed on, and roused, by their very nearness to the Holy City, to an almost uncontrollable excitement. The time for delay, they thought, had come to an end. He was about to claim the throne of His father David. The Kingdom of God would “immediately appear.” The parable shows us, and was, in part, meant to teach them, how the Master regarded the dreams of the disciples.
Should immediately appear.—Better, perhaps, should be shown forth, or manifested. The Greek word is not used by any other New Testament writer. It is clear, from the tenor of the parable, that disciples and multitude were alike dwelling on the greatness to which they were to attain, on the high places in store for them on the right hand and on the left, rather than on their work and their duties in relation to that Kingdom of God.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 20, 23, 26, 27, 28 Vers. 11-27. The parable of the pounds.
Vers. 11-27. The parable of the pounds.
And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable. The words which introduce this parable-story indicate its close connection with the events which had just taken place. "He added, and spake (prosyei )." Because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. Thus were briefly stated the reasons which determined the Master to speak the following parable. First, "he was nigh to Jerusalem," only at most a few hours" journey from the holy city his last solemn, awful visit, when the mysterious act of stupendous love would be accomplished. So he determined to give a veiled parabolic picture of himself and of his chosen people. Second, "they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear." In his parable he proposed to moderate the wild romantic enthusiasm of his immediate followers and of the Passover crowds by painting for them a quiet picture of the future of work and waiting which lay before them. The parable contains three sets of lessons.
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(1) The varieties of reward apportioned to different degrees of zeal and industry in the Master"s service.
(2) The eternity of loss and shame which will be the portion of the slothful and unfaithful servant.
(3) The terrible doom of his enemies.
Vers. 11-27. The parable of the pounds.
This parable closely resembles that reported in Mat_25:14-30. The two are undoubtedly different, but they have much in common. We cannot rightly understand each without balancing it by the other. Certainly we realize the full effect of their application when, to borrow an expressive figure, we look on them "as twin parables, resembling one of those trees whose main trunk separates just above the earth into two equal towering stems." Thus connecting them, let us extract a portion of the instruction conveyed, our topics these:
(1) The endowments bestowed;
(2) the trading recommended; and
(3) the dealing of the Master with his servants presented.
I Observe the two principles which run in parallel lines as THE PRINCIPLES OF GOD"S DISTRIBUTION OF ENDOWMENTS.
1. The parable of the talents suggests an inequality in the gifts or faculties with which God enriches men: one gets five talents, another two, and another one. And this description is entirely consistent with fact. It is true as to even the commonest things; it is true as to higher qualities of intellect and will. There is no dead level. There are hills and plains; there are gardens and deserts in man"s world as well as in the physical universe. God takes fact into account. He distributes according to ability; he imposes responsibility according to ability. He does not demand that the one with two talents make the ten only the four. Let the vessel, according to its possibilities, be full; the smaller vessel is not required to hold the amount of the larger. One farm may not be as extensive as another, but it is still a farm. Cultivate to the measure of the farm; make full use of the capital such as it is. "What but this, O man, does the Lord thy God require of thee?
2. But observe the teaching in the parable of the pounds. If talents are unequally bestowed, remember every one has his pound. The pound was of very small value as compared with the talent or a little more as compared with The ten servants get each one pound the same sum in every case. We have varying capacity, but we have all some capacity little knowledge, a little love, a little experience, a little money, a little favour with men, a little conscience, a little pity, a little time, a little opportunity." We have one mina, one pound. Work, my brother, with thy pound, rather with the pound that the Lord has given thee. It may be increased tenfold, and the gain is (ver. 17) a city for every added pound a blessing in possession, and rule, wholly unmerited by, yet graciously corresponding to, the servant"s faithfulness.
II WHAT MEANS THE OCCUPYING OR TRADING WHICH THE LORD ENJOINS ON ALL TO WHOM HE GIVES HIS GOODS? Let it be remembered that, in the olden time, the relation between master and servant was different from that in our time. It is not usual to leave sums of money to the servant to be put out by him in his master"s behalf when he takes a journey into the far country. But it was a common practice to make such arrangements as allowed the slave to transact business, either on condition of paying a yearly sum to his master, or on the footing of a man with so much of another"s wealth committed to his charge to be invested for the other"s benefit. To this custom our Lord feints. "Occupy or, "trade till I come." The two persons opposed are the trader and the idler; and the striking feature is that the idler is denounced as "the slothful and wicked servant." All start with some advantages; they are not persons just hired; they have been in his service, they know his character, and they know what he wants. The one who does not trade is lying when he excuses himself; his slothfulness (ver. 22) is sheer wickedness. The point of the exhortation can very readily be apprehended. God wants his interest, as the merchant wants his. How is this interest to be gained? The purpose and destination of life must be kept steadily in view"Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Is our destined end and way; But to act that each to-morrow Find us farther than to-day.
Recollect that the self in each of us connects with two factors God who made us; and our brother, whose good is to be as sacred to us as our own. We cannot be making increase unless we are true to him whose we are, and to every one who is near us; unless both God and man are benefited, and benefited the more the greater our means and ability are. Consider how we can best lay out our influence, whatever that may be; how we can best use our time; how we can get the best percentage for whatever capacity, whatever force, we possess. As it is essential to a prosperous business that there be a good administration, reflect how we are administering the affairs with which, in one sphere or another, we are entrusted in a word, on what plan, with what aim, and by what methods, our life is being fulfilled. Give two men five pounds each; in the hands of the one they may remain five pounds neither more nor less, or they will gradually melt away; the other will spend the sum wisely, will so invest it that it will increase to him tenfold. We have read the story of the successful merchant of Bristol the beginning of whose merchant life was the horseshoe that he picked up one day on his way to school, and carried for three miles and sold to the blacksmith for a penny. That penny was the foundation of a business pronounced, after his death, the largest in the West of England, turning nearer millions than thousands in the course of the year. All was the result of the judicious use of that which he had. In our Christian life and service this is the lesson which we most need to learn. Is there not comfort in the thought that, whilst the talents increase only twice, the pounds increase ten times? The more ordinary gifts which we all have, when faithfully applied, are capable of indefinite increase. We cannot keep unless we add; and it is God"s law that to him who, thus adding, has, much is given. In spiritual, as in every other kind of commerce, much always tends to the making of more. The trader and the idler! Notice, neither the talent nor the pound is absolutely lost. It is not a spendthrift who is held up to contempt. It is the awfully careful man. It is the one who hoards. "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth... and it tendeth to poverty." Here is the one who withholds. And a distinction is delicately hinted at. The pound is carefully wrapped in the napkin; the man intends to do something with it when the convenient season comes; in the mean time it is safe in the napkin. But the talent is not in a napkin; it is hidden in the earth precious thing," as it has been said, "made worthless because abandoned to be useless. And within how many a man"s earthiness is there a talent hidden and wasted?" Take that thought home the Master"s antipathy to the idler. Who of us, in these harvest-days of God, is standing all the day idle?
III Consider THE DEALING OF THE LORD WITH HIS SERVANTS. That is very striking and solemn as it is set before us in both the parables, especially the one as to the talents. In that of the pounds we are told only that the unused, napkin-hidden, pound is taken from the unprofitable servant and given to the one who has ten pounds. "Lord," his hearers exclaim, "he hath ten pounds" (ver. 25). The thriftiest, the most diligent, will get the addition. Why not? He has proved himself the ablest, the one who has given the most abundant guarantee that it will not be wasted. But in that of the talents the judgment is, "Let the unfaithful be bound hand and foot, and cast into the outer darkness." The wasted life, the life that has buried its force in mere earthiness, is that for which the outer darkness is reserved. The soul consigns itself to an unspeakable loneliness that, by indolence and engrossment with what is perishing, loses the grace of God. Abiding alone is the second death the outer darkness. Most noteworthy are the scathing sentences to the poor trembling idler! How he stammers out his lame and impotent excuses (vers. 20, 21)! The very words are sent back. The mouth is the witness against the man. He might have known, should have known, if he had done right would have known, that his excuse was a falsehood. Hard thoughts of the Lord are certain if the Lord"s work is shirked. The man would not be foolish if he were not wicked. O man, woman, with thy pound kept, but not traded with, who shall abide the day of his coming? who shall stand when he appeareth? Very different are the sentences on the nine who have been faithful, who have seen in their pound the Lord"s pound, and traded with it for him. Humbly, joyfully, the first and the second meet the Master"s eye (vers. 16, 18). What is the award? It is so gracious (ver. 17): "Thou hast been faithful in a very little. " To faithful service, rule is given. The one who can best serve is the one who can best rule. "Strive, man, to win that glory; Toil, man, to gain that light; Send hope before to grasp it, Till hope be lost in sight.
Vers. 11-27. The law of capital in Christ"s kingdom.
Zacchaeus"s conversion and all the stir on leaving Jericho led many in the crowd to imagine that Christ was immediately to assume a visible kingdom. To remove misapprehension, therefore, he proceeds to tell them a parable which would at once rouse them to the necessity of working instead of indulging in lackadaisical waiting. Comparing himself to a nobleman who is going into a far country to receive a kingdom and to return, he compares his disciples to servants left to make the best of what is entrusted to them. The worldly minded as distinct from the servants are called his citizens, whose spirit is manifested in the message transmitted to him, "We will not have this man to reign over us." Then the return of the crowned king is to be celebrated by the distribution of rewards and punishments as the case may be. Out of this significant parable we may learn the following lessons.
I IT IS IN HEAVEN, AND NOT ON EARTH, OUR LORD IS TO RECEIVE HIS KINGDOM. This is the great mistake many have made about Christ"s kingdom and reign. They localize head-quarters on earth instead of in heaven. It is not by a democratic vote, by a plebiscite, our Lord is to receive his kingdom, but by donation from the Father. When he went away by death, resurrection, and ascension, therefore, it was to receive a kingdom that he might return crowned. Hence we are to regard him as now reigning over his mediatorial kingdom. He is on the throne. His government is administered from the heavenly places.
II IT IS PERILOUS TO REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE HIS PRESENT REIGN. The citizens that hate the absent King will be slain before him when he returns for judgment. Hostility, enmity, to Christ, if continued, must lead to utter discomfiture at last. Rebellion of spirit is, therefore, to be diligently uprooted if we would have any share in Christ"s kingdom. It is at our peril if we refuse his loving and righteous reign.
III CHRIST"S SERVANTS LIVE UNDER A LAW OF CAPITAL IN HIS KINGDOM. In this parable we have "pounds," and not "talents," referred to. The question is, therefore, of some equal endowment which all receive in common, not of unequal endowment distributed in sovereign wisdom. In the parable of the talents, given in another Gospel, we have equal diligence exhibited in the use of unequal endowments; and the reward is righteously equalized in the completed kingdom. Here, on the other hand, we have an unequal use of equal endowments, with the unequal reward attached in proportion to the diligence. We discern in the arrangement, therefore, that law of increase which has been denominated the law of capital. But first we have to settle the signification of the pounds. We shall not be far astray if, with Godet, we regard them as indicating those donations of Divine grace which are offered to the Lord"s servants, we may suppose, in equal measure. These endowments are put to use in some cases, utterly neglected in others. It will be found at last that the law of capital has obtained in the Lord"s arrangements. One man, by judicious use of what the Lord has given, finds his grace growing tenfold, so that by the time the Lord returns he is ready to undertake the government of ten cities. Another man, by diligence, but not so persevering as the former, finds his graces growing fivefold, so that in the final arrangement he is equal to the oversight of five cities. A third is represented as making no use whatever of his endowment, under the impression that the Lord is a grasping speculator, who wants to make the most he can out of men. He ventures to return his trust just as it was. He finds, however, that his selfish idleness is visited with utter ruin. He has the misused endowment recalled and made over to the better trader. To him that hath shall be given." Accumulated capital tends to increase in proper hands, and it is right it should do so. It follows, then, from this law of capital as thus applied:
1. That we should use diligently every means to increase our Christian graces. Sanctification should be our life-work, and all action, meditation, prayer, should be utilized for the one great object of becoming the best servants of our Master our circumstances admit of.
2. We shall find ourselves thereby becoming rulers of men. It is wonderful the influence exercised by consecrated lives. It is easy understanding how we may become kings and priests unto God the Father. As consecrated by his grace, we begin immediately to influence others for good and to reign.
3. The influence on earth will have its counterpart in the reign enjoyed by us in heaven. For heaven will be the home of order. It will be no happy, musical mob. It will be a great society, with recognized kings of men, under the gracious authority, of course, of him who is "King of kings, and Lord of lords," Influence, character, all that is gracious, is destined to be continued and to abide. Those who have done men most good, and made the most of their opportunities here, shall be rewarded with corresponding influence in the well-ordered commonwealth above.
4. Wrong views of Christs character may also be perpetuated, with their corresponding judgments. The pitiful servant who thought his Master austere, hard, grasping, was only attributing his own hard character to his superior. He failed to understand him. So is it with some souls. They insist on misunderstanding God, and the result is that their misunderstanding continues and is its own punishment. How important, therefore, that we should have correct views of God our Saviour! It will save us from misuse of his gifts and graces, and from the doom awaiting all faithless souls. R.M.E.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv11, 28 A certain nobleman went into a far country
Luk_19:11-27
A certain nobleman went into a far country
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Parable of the pounds
I.
CHRISTS ABSENCE IS A PERIOD OF PROBATION.
II. THE NATURE OF THE PROBATION IS TWOFOLD.
1. The obligation to loyalty involved in Christs king ship and our citizenship.
2. The obligation to fidelity involved in Christs lordship, and our service and trust.
III. CHRISTS RETURN WILL BE THE OCCASION OF ACCOUNT AND RECOMPENSE. (J. R. Thomson, M. A.)
Parable of the pounds
I. IN CHRISTS KINGDOM THE CHARACTERISTIC FEATURE IS SERVICE. Instead of fostering a spirit of self-seeking, Christ represents Himself as placing in the hands of each of His subjects a small sum,--a pound only, a Greek mina. What a rebuke to ambitious schemes! There is nothing suggestive of display, nothing to awaken pride. All that is asked or expected is fidelity to a small trust, a conscientious use of a little sum committed to each for keeping. This is made the condition and test of membership in Messiahs kingdom.
II. IN CHRISTS KINGDOM SERVICE, HOWEVER SLIGHT, IS SURE OF REWARD. The faithful use of one pound brought large return. Christ asks that there be employed for Him only what has been received from Him. Augustine prayed, Give what Thou requirest, and require what Thou wilt. Natural gifts, says Trench, are as the vessel which may be large or small, and which receives according to its capacity, but which in each case is filled: so that we are not to think of him who received the two talents as incompletely furnished in comparison with him who received the five, any more than we should affirm a small circle incomplete as compared with a large. Unfitted he might be for so wide a sphere of labour, but altogether as perfectly equipped for that to which he was destined. The parable sets before us the contrasted results of using, or failing to use for Christ, a small bestowment. When this is faithfully employed, the reward, though delayed, is sure.
III. IN CHRISTS KINGDOM, FAILURE TO SERVE, RESULTS IN LOSS OF FACULTIES TO SERVE. One servant neglected to use his pound, and, on the kings return, the unused gift was taken from him. This denotes no arbitrary enactment. The heart that refuses to love and serve Christ loses by degrees the capacity for such love and service. This is the souls death, the dying and decaying of its noblest faculties, its heaven-born instincts and aspirations.
IV. IN CHRISTS KINGDOM, SERVICE, OR NEGLECT OF SERVICE, GROWS OUT OF LOVE, OR THE WANT OF LOVE, TO CHRIST. The citizens hated the king, and would not have him to rule over them. The idle servant knew that he was an austere man. In neither case was there love, and hence in neither case service. Love to Christ is indispensable to serving Him. (P. B. Davis.)
Trading for Christ
I. EVERY CHRISTIAN IS ENDOWED BY HIS REDEEMER. All that a man hath, that is worth possessing, all that he lawfully holds, partakes of the nature of a Divine endowment; even every natural faculty, and every lawful acquisition and attainment.
II. OF THE THINGS CHRIST HAS GIVEN US, WE ARE STEWARDS. Now stewardship involves what? It involves responsibility to another. We are not proprietors.
III. IN OUR USE OF WHAT CHRIST HAS COMMITTED TO US, HE EXPECTS US TO KEEP HIMSELF AND HIS OBJECTS EVER IN VIEW. What we do, is to be done for His sake. If we give a cup of cold water to a disciple, it is to be in the name of a disciple, it is to be given for Jesus sake. Whatever we do is to be done as to Him. If we regard a day as sacred, we must regard it unto the Lord. If we refuse to regard a particular day as sacred, that refusal is to be as unto the Lord. If we eat, we are to eat to the Lord. If we refuse to eat, that refusal, again, is to be as unto the Lord. Brethren, we have not yet entered sufficiently into the idea of servitude, and yet the position of servitude is our position. Towards Christ we are not only pupils--we are not only learners--we are as servants. We have a distinct and positive vocation.
IV. This passage reminds us that THE SAVIOUR WILL COME, AND CALL US TO ACCOUNT FOR THE USE OF ALL THAT HE HAS COMMITTED TO US.
V. ACTIVITY IN THE PAST WILL NOT JUSTIFY INERTNESS IN THE PRESENT. (S. Martin, D. D.)
Parable of the pounds
Notice the following points:
1. The pound had been kept in a napkin--to show sometimes, as people keep a Bible in their house to let us see how religious they are. But the very brightness of the Book proves how little it is read. It is kept for the respectability of it, not used for the love of it. The anxious faithless keeper of the pound had perhaps sometimes talked of his fellow-servants risking their pounds in that way; adding I take care of mine. But spending is better than hoarding; and the risks of a trade sure to be on the whole gainful are better than the formal guardianship of that which, kept to the last, is then lost, and which, while kept, is of no use.
2. The pound is taken away from the unfaithful servant, and given to the ablest of the group. Let the man who is ablest have what has been wasted. Let all, in their proportion, receive to their care the advantages which have been neglected, and employ these for themselves and for us.
3. Notice next, how it fares with the different servants when the king and the master return. Those who had been faithful are all commended and rewarded. The king shares his kingdom with those who had been faithful to him in his poverty. They have gained pounds, and they receive cities. The master receives those into happiest intimacy with himself, who, in his absence, have been faithfully industrious for him. These good men enter into his joy. He delayed his coming; but they continued their labours. They said not, He will never come to reckon with us; let us make his goods our own; we have been busy, let us now be merry. Outer darkness! How expressively do the words represent both the state of man before his souls good is gained, and his state when that good has been lost! Who that has gained shelter, and is one of the many whose hope, whose interests are one, who have light and warmth and sometimes festive music, would be cast forth again into the cold, dark, lonely night?
4. There are for each man two ways of gain--the direct and the indirect, increase and interest. How comes increase? It comes by the plenty of nature, which enables us to add one thing to another, as gold to iron and wood; by the productiveness of nature, which out of one seed yields many; by the application of skill to nature, through which we extract, connect, and adapt natures gifts, and, first fashioning took, then fashion many things. But all were to little purpose without combination. And whatever of ours another uses, paying us for the use, yields us interest. We depend for the increase of our possessions on our connection with others, our combination with them. And we can always employ our talent indirectly, if we cannot directly; usually, we can do both. We can both sow a field and lend money to a farmer. We can attend to work of our own, and sustain the work of others. We can teach, and help, and comfort; and we can subscribe in aid of those who do such work of this kind as we cannot ourselves perform. (T. T. Lynch.)
The servants and the pounds
I. THERE ARE HERE TWO SETS OF PERSONS. We see the enemies who would not have this man to reign over them, and the servants who had to trade with his money. You are all either enemies or servants of Jesus.
II. We now advance a step further, and notice THE ENGAGEMENTS OF THESE SERVANTS. Their lord was going away, and he left his ten servants in charge with a little capital, with which they were to trade for him till he returned.
1. Notice, first, that this was honourable work. They were not entrusted with large funds, but the amount was enough to serve as a test. It put them upon their honour.
2. It was work for which he gave them capital. He gave to each of them a pound. Not much, you will say. No, he did not intend it to be much. They were not capable of managing very much. If he found them faithful in a very little he could then raise them to a higher responsibility. He did not expect them to make more than the pound would fairly bring in; for after all, he was not an austere man. Thus he gave them a sufficient capital for his purpose.
3. What they had to do with the pound was prescribed in general terms. They were to trade with it, not to play with it.
(1) The work which he prescribed was one that would bring them out. The man that is to succeed in trade in these times must have confidence, look alive, keep his eyes open, and be all there.
(2) Trading, if it be successfully carried on, is an engrossing concern, calling out the whole man. It is a continuous toil, a varied trial, a remarkable test, a valuable discipline, and this is why the nobleman put his bondsmen to it, that he might afterwards use them in still higher service.
(3) At the same time, let us notice that it was work suitable to their capacity. Small as the capital was, it was enough for them; for they were no more than bondsmen, not of a high grade of rank or education.
III. Thirdly, to understand this parable, we must remember THE EXPECTANCY WHICH WAS ALWAYS TO INFLUENCE THEM. They were left as trusted servants till he should return, but that return was a main item in the matter.
1. They were to believe that he would return, and that he would return a king.
2. They were to regard their absent master as already king, and they were so to trade among his enemies that they should never compromise their own loyalty.
3. I find that the original would suggest to any one carefully reading it, that they were to regard their master as already returning. This should be our view of our Lords Advent? He is even now on His way hither.
IV. Now comes the sweet part of the subject. Note well THE SECRET DESIGN OF THE LORD. Did it ever strike you that this nobleman had a very kindly design towards his servants? Did this nobleman give these men one pound each with the sole design that they should make money for him? It would be absurd to think so. A few pounds would be no item to one who was made a king. No, not it was, as Mr. Bruce says, he was net money making, but character making. His design was not to gain by them, but to educate them.
1. First, their being entrusted with a pound each was a test. The test was only a pound, and they could not make much mischief out of that; but it would be quite sufficient to try their capacity and fidelity, for he that is faithful in that which is least will be faithful also in much. They did not all endure the test, but by its means he revealed their characters.
2. It was also a preparation of them for future service. He would lift them up from being servants to become rulers.
3. Besides this, I think he was giving them a little anticipation of their future honours. He was about to make them rulers over cities, and so he first made them rulers over pounds. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Accountability and reward
1. We may learn that Christians have received special advantages, and that every one is accountable to God for the use or abuse of them.
2. From this parable we may learn that no man is so obscure or contemptible as to escape the penetrating eye of the Judge of the world; either because he has done nothing but evil, or done no good. No man is so mean, or poor, or wicked, as to be over-looked or forgotten. No man is so insignificant nor so feeble as not to have duties to perform. -3. From this parable also we infer that all who shall improve will be rewarded; and that the reward will be in proportion to the improvement.
4. The advantages which God bestows, when improved, shall be increased, so as to form additional means of progress; while he who misimproves his present means and opportunities shall be deprived of them.
5. Those who reject Jesus Christ shall be punished in the most exemplary manner (Luk_19:27). (J. Thomson, D. D.)
Lessons
1. That our Lords absence, here attributed to His having gone to receive a kingdom, does not conflict with other representations of the reason of such absence, viz., to send forth the Holy Spirit, and to make intercession for us.
2. That the period of our Lords absence is definite in its duration, until the times of restitution of all things (Act_3:21), and also under the absolute authority of the Father (Act_1:7).
3. That our duty is not to be prying into the mysteries of our Lords coming, or spending precious time in making useless calculations in respect to the time when He will come, but to occupy till He come. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
Christs spiritual kingdom
I. THE PROPER NATURE OF THE KINGDOM.
1. The Son of God from heaven is King.
2. He has received the kingdom in heaven. He will give lull manifestation of it from heaven; and return.
II. THE PRESENT STATE OF THE KINGDOM. Although a heavenly kingdom, it yet stretches over the whole human race upon earth; for on earth He has--
1. Servants, as stewards of entrusted gifts.
2. Enemies, who grudge His heavenly glory.
III. THE FUTURE MANIFESTATION OF THE KINGDOM SHOWS IT TO BE A HEAVENLY ONE, from the manner in which rewards and punishments are to be distributed; which is--
1. Righteous and beneficent in the gracious apportionment of reward to those of approved fidelity.
2. Just and righteous in the punishment--
(1) of the faithless;
(2) of avowed enemies. (F. G. Lisco.)
Parable of the pounds
I. THE DESIGN OF THIS PARABLE.
1. It corrects false notions about the immediate appearance of
Gods kingdom as temporal and visible.
2. It teaches that Christ would take His departure from earth, and delay His return.
3. It enforces the need of present fidelity to our trust.
4. It illustrates the folly of expecting good from the future if the present be neglected.
5. It contains the promise of our Lords return.
II. WHEN WILL HE COME TO US INDIVIDUALLY?
1. Either at our death.
2. Or, at the last day to institute judgment.
3. The time for either, for both, is unknown to us.
III. CLASSES PASSED UPON IN JUDGMENT AS HERE FORESHADOWED.
1. This parable contains no reference to the heathen.
2. Those who improved their pounds were approved and rewarded according to the measure of their fidelity.
3. He that knew his masters will and neglected his trust was reproved and deprived of his pound.
4. The Lords enemies, who would not have Him to reign over them, were punished with the severity their hate and wicked opposition merited.
IV. SOME LESSONS.
1. Our Lords return has already been delayed 18--years.
2. We are not to infer from this that He never will return.
3. He that is faithful only in the visible presence of his master, is not entirely trustworthy.
4. Each one of the ten servants received ten pounds. The outward circumstances of none are so meagre that in them each one may not equally serve his Lord.
5. If the parable of the talents refers to inward gifts, which are equally distributed, then the parable of the pounds refer to our opportunities for doing good, which to all are alike.
6. Improved opportunities increase our capacity to do and get good. They are like money at interest. After Girard had saved his first thousand, it was the same, he said, as if he had a man to work for him all the time.
7. Neglected opportunities never return. You cannot put your hand into yesterday to do what was then neglected, or sow the seeds of future harvests.
8. Even if we knew that the Lord would return to-morrow, to-days work should not be neglected. Trade ye herewith, till I come. (L. O.Thompson.)
The pounds
1. The departure of the nobleman to the far country, and his sojourn there until he should receive his kingdom, intimate that the second coming of the Lord was not to be immediate.
2. The true preparation for the coming of the Kingdom of the Lord, is that of character. The pound given to each, is the common blessing of the gospel and its opportunities.
I. THE GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT WHO MADE HIS ONE POUND INTO TEN. Symbolizing the conduct and blessedness of those who make the most of their enjoyment of the gospel blessings. They do not despise the day of small things. They do not trifle away their time in idleness, or waste it in sin; but finding salvation in the gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ, they set themselves to turn every occupation in which they are engaged, and every providential dispensation through which they may be brought, to the highest account, for the development in them of the Christian character.
II. ANOTHER WAY OF DEALING WITH THE COMMON BLESSING OF THE GOSPEL IS ILLUSTRATED IN THE CASE OF HIM WHO HAD INCREASED HIS POUND TO FIVE. He had been a real servant; but his diligence had been less ardent, his devotion less thorough, his activity less constant, and so the Lord simply said to him, Be thou also over five cities. The representative of the easy-going disciple. There are some who will be saved, yet so as by fire, and others who shall have salvation in fulness; some who shall have little personal holiness on which to graft the life of the future, and who shall thus be in a lower place in heaven for evermore, enjoying its blessedness as thoroughly as they are competent to do, yet having there a position analogous it may be, though of course not at all identical, with that occupied by the Gideonites of old in the promised land.
III. THE SERVANT WHO HID HIS POUND IN THE EARTH, AFTER HE HAD CAREFULLY SOUGHT TO KEEP IT FROM BEING INJURED, BY WRAPPING IT IN A NAPKIN. He lost everything by an unbelieving anxiety to lose nothing. He was so afraid of doing anything amiss, that he did nothing at all. The representative of the great multitude of hearers of the gospel, who simply do nothing whatever about it. They do not oppose it; they do not laugh at it; they do not argue against it; their worst enemies would not call them immoral; but they neglect the great salvation, and think that because, as they phrase it, they have done no harm, therefore they are in no danger. But Christ requires positive improvement of the privileges which He bestows.
IV. THE CONDUCT OF THOSE CITIZENS WHO HATED THE NOBLEMAN, AND SAID, We will not, etc. Open enemies. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Occupy till I come
The traffic of the kingdom
Our Lord leads us into the great mart, and cries, Occupy till I come.
I. The Lord gives every man a fair start in this business, and old obligations are paid.
II. The Lord backs all the just and legal promissory notes of His merchantmen. I am with you.
III. The Christian trader has influential partnership. Co-workers with God.
IV. Success in this business requires extensive advertisement.
1. By expression of word.
2. By expression of deportment.
V. Diplomacy is essential. When to expend, when recruit.
VI. True effort and success will flow from intense earnestness.
VII. In this business nothing succeeds like success. His talents--are we improving them? (D. D. Moore.)
Occupation
I. LIFE OUGHT TO BE ONE OF OCCUPATION. World a great workshop.
II. WORK SHOULD BE RECEIVED AS FROM CHRIST. He says, Occupy. We must make sure that our occupation, or any part of it, is not in opposition to His will.
III. WORK TRULY PERFORMED LEADS TO AND PREPARES FOR HIGHER WORK. Occupy till I come. When He came it was to give kingdoms instead of pounds. The schoolboy does not need costly books. The young apprentice has his hand and eye trained by working on cheap materials. Every duty faithfully discharged is a step on Gods ladder of promotion. Do not wait for some great opportunity. The born artist makes his first pictures with a bit of chalk or burnt stick.
IV. THE WHOLE LIFE SHOULD BE SOLEMNIZED AND GUIDED BY THE THOUGHT OF CHRISTS COMING. Occupy till I come. The irrational creatures instinctively and necessarily perform their parts. The earth was kept by them till the householder, man, appeared. But the thought of Christs coming, the thought of meeting Him to give in our account, is necessary for mans right living here. Some say that men are simply to act their part, without thinking of a future. But a man cannot do this. As the sailor, the traveller, knows whither he is going before he sets out, and makes his preparations and steers his course accordingly, so must we. A ship simply set adrift--a traveller merely wandering on--is most unlikely to reach any happy haven. We must give account. We are moving on to the Judgment-seat of Christ. Duties done or neglected, opportunities improved or wasted, will meet us there. (E. F. Scott.)
We will not have this man to reign over us
Christs spiritual kingdom and its rejection by men
1. THAT CHRIST HATH A SPIRITUAL KINGDOM; for all things concur here which belong to a kingdom; here is a monarch, which is Christ; a law, which is the gospel; subjects, which are penitent believers; rewards and punishments, eternal life and eternal torment.
1. Here is a monarch, the mediator, whose kingdom it is. Originally it belongeth to God as God, but derivatively to Christ as Mediator (Ps Php_2:10-11).
2. There are subjects. Before I tell you who they are, I must premise that there is a double consideration of subjects. Some are subjects by the grant of God, others are subjects not only by the grant of God, but their own consent.
3. The law of commerce between this sovereign and these subjects (for all kingdoms are governed by laws).
4. Rewards and punishments.
(1) For punishments. Though the proper intent and business of the gospel is to bless, and not to curse, yet, if men wilfully refuse the benefit of this dispensation, they are involved in the greatest curse that can be thought of Joh_3:19).
(2) Rewards. The privileges of Christs kingdom are exceeding great.
(a) For the present, pardon and peace.
(b) Hereafter eternal happiness.
II. That in all reason THIS KINGDOM SHOULD BE SUBMITTED UNTO--
1. Because of the right which Christ hath to govern. He hath an unquestionable title by the grant of God (Act_2:36). And His own merit of purchase (Rom_14:9).
2. This new right and title is comfortable and beneficial to us.
3. It is by His kingly office that all Christs benefits are applied to us. As a Priest, He purchased them for us; as a Prophet, He giveth us the knowledge of these mysteries; but as a King, He conveyeth them to us, overcoming our enemies, changing our natures, and inclining us to believe in Him, love Him, and obey Him (Act_5:31).
4. Our actual personal title to all the benefits intended to us is mainly evidenced by our subjection to His regal authority.
5. We shall be unwillingly subject to His kingdom of power if we be not willingly subject to His kingdom of grace.
6. This government, which we so much stick at, is a blessed government. Christ Himself pleadeth this (Mat_11:30), My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. It is sweet in itself, and sweet in the issue.
III. WHAT MOVETH AND INDUCETH MEN SO MUCH TO DISLIKE CHRISTS REIGN AND GOVERNMENT.
1. The evil constitution of mens souls. This government is contrary to mens carnal and brutish affections. It comes from an affectation of liberty. Men would be at their own dispose, and do whatsoever pleaseth them, without any to call them to an account (Psa_12:4).
3. It proceeds from the nature of Christs laws.
(1) They are spiritual.
(2) They require self-denial.
Information.
1. It showeth us whence all the contentions arise which are raised about religion in the world. All the corrupt part of the world oppose His kingly office.
2. It informeth us how much they disserve Christianity that will hear of no injunctions of duty, or mention of the law of faith, or of the new covenant as a law. Besides that they take part with the carnal world, who cannot endure Christs reign and government, they blot out all religion with one dash. If there be no law, there is no government, nor governor, no duty, no sin, no punishment nor reward; for these things necessarily infer one another.
3. It informeth us what a difficult thing it is to seat Christ in His spiritual throne, namely, in the hearts of all faithful Christians.
4. It informeth us of the reason why so many nations shut the door against Christ, or else grow weary of Him.
5. It informeth us how ill they deal with Christ who have only notional opinions about His authority, but never practically submit to it.
Exhortation. If we would distinguish ourselves from the carnal world, let us resolve upon a thorough course of Christianity, owning Christs authority in all things.
1. If we be to begin, and have hitherto stood against Christ, oh I let us repent and reform, and return to our obedience (Mat_18:3).
2. Remember that faith is a great part of your works from first to last Joh_6:27).
3. Your obedience must be delightful, and such as cometh from love (1Jn_5:3).
4. Your obedience must be very circumspect and accurate (Heb_12:28).
5. It is a considerable part of our work to look for our wages, or expect the endless blessedness to which we are appointed (Tit_2:13). (T. Manton, D. D.)
When He was returned
The Lords return
Some weeks ago a great procession was in Chicago. On Sunday evening before, the park was filled with tents and people, in preparation for the display on Tuesday. Passing down the avenue, a lad said, as we crossed the railway track: Did you see that long train of cars, sir? They are going after the knights. Yes, I saw them, was the reply. My cousin is one of them, sir; he is a sir-knight. I wish I was one, said the boy. Why? said the gentleman. Oh! they look so pretty, and theyll have a big time, sir. Yes, said the man, but it is a great expense--one or two millions, and the interest of the money would support all the poor in the city. I never thought of that, said the boy; and we are poor. Having asked his age, residence, and place of work, the gentleman said, Do you go to church and Sunday-school? Yes, said the boy. Did you ever hear of Jesus? Yes, indeed. Do you know He will come again--come in glory, with all the angels, with all the prophets, kings, martyrs, holy men, and children, and with all the babies that have ever died? W-e-l-l, said the boy, I dont believe this procession, big as it is, will be a fleabite to that one, do you, sir? No, indeed, said the man; and remember, also, that when He comes in glory He will give places to every one who has been faithful to Him; even a boy may shine in that great Company. Well, sir, said the lad, I will tell you what I think. I had rather be at the tail-end of Jesus procession than to be at the head of this one. Wouldnt you, sir? Even so it will be. But His enemies, what of them? Slain before Him. There are His servants, His family, and His enemies; there is glory, reward, and judgment. Which for you and me?
Three ways of treating Gods gifts
There are three ways in which we may treat Gods gifts; we may misuse them, neglect them, or use them to good purpose. A tool-chest is a very handy thing. The boy who has one can do good work with it, if he wishes. But if he uses the chisel to chip the noses of statuettes, or the hammer to drive nails into choice pictures, or the hatchet to cut and hack the young trees in the orchard, that tool-chest becomes anything but a valuable acquisition to the family. A sharp knife is a good thing, but in the hand of a madman it may do untold damage. So education and natural talent are good things when rightly used; but there is no rogue so dangerous as the educated or talented rogue. Neglect, too, destroys. The sharpest tool will by and by rust, if left unused. The bread for our nourishment, if unused, will soon change into a corrupt mass. The untended garden will be quickly overrun with weeds. The sword that is never drawn at last holds fast to the scabbard. And so the learning and the talents that lie idle soon begin to deteriorate. An Eastern story tells of a merchant who gave to each of two friends a sack of grain to keep till he should call for it. Years passed; and at last he claimed his own again. One led him to a field of waving corn, and said, This is all yours. The other took him to a granary, and pointed out to him as his a rotten sack full of wasted grain. On the other hand, the proper use of talents brings its own reward. Cast forth the seed, and the harvest is sure. The sculptors chisel carves out the statue. Beneath the hand of man great palaces grow up. And beyond and above all, there is the consciousness that every good use of a talent, every noble act done, is adding a stone to the stately temple that shall be revealed hereafter. (Sunday School Times.)
Thou hast been faithful in a very little
Faithfulness in little things
There is a principle in this award which regulates Gods dealings with us in either world. And it is this--the ground and secret of all increase is faithfulness. And we may all rejoice that this is the rule of Gods moral gifts--for had anything else except faithfulness been made the condition, many would have been unable, or at least, would have thought themselves unable, to advance at all. I should have no hesitation in placing first faithfulness to convictions. So long as a man has not silenced them by sin, the heart is full of still small voices, speaking to him everywhere. There is a duty which has long lain neglected, and almost forgotten. Suddenly, there wakes up in your mind a memory of that forgotten duty. It is a very little thing that, by some association, woke the memory. An old sin presents itself to your mind in a new light. A thought comes to you in the early morning, Get up. Presently, another thought says, You are leaving your room without any real communion with God. Those are convictions. Everybody has them--they are the movings of the Holy Ghost in a man--they are the scintillations of an inner life which is struggling with the darkness. But, be faithful to them; for if you are unfaithful, they will get weaker and weaker, and fewer and fewer, till they go out. But if you are faithful to them, there will be an increase--stronger, more frequent, loftier, more spiritual, they will grow--till it is as if your whole being were penetrated with the mind of God;and everything within you and around you will be a message, and the whole world will be vocal to you of Christ. Next to this faithfulness to convictions, I should place faithfulness in little things to men--and this of two kinds. It is of the utmost importance that you be scrupulously accurate and just in all your most trivial transactions of honour and business with your fellow-creatures. And, secondly, every one of us has, or might have, influence with somebody. The acquisition and the use of that influence are great matters of faithfulness. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Soul-growth depends on fidelity
To employ well the present, is to command the future. And that for two reasons. One, the natural law, which pervades all nature, rational and irrational, that growth is the offspring of exercise. And the other, the sovereign will of a just God to increase the gifts of those who use them. But whence faithfulness? How shall we cultivate it? First, think a great deal of Gods faithfulness--how very faithful He has been to you--how faithful in all the little events of your life, and in all the secret passages of your soul. Steep your mind in the thought of the faithfulness of God to you, in all your little things, till you catch its savour. Look at it till the finest traits reflect themselves upon your heart. And, secondly, go, and do to-day some one faithful thing. Do it for Christ. Be faithful where your conscience tells you you have been faithless. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Faithful in little
A Persian king when hunting wished to eat venison in the field. Some of his attendants thereupon went into a village near, and helped themselves to a quantity of salt for their master. The king, suspecting what they had done, made them go back and pay for it, with the remark, If I cannot make my people just in small things, I can at least show them that it is possible to be so.
The joy of faithful work
There comes over to our shores a poor stonecutter. The times are so bad at home that he is scarcely able to earn bread enough to eat; and by a whole years stinting economy he manages to get together just enough to pay for a steerage passage to this country. He comes, homeless and acquaintanceless, and lands in New York, and wanders over to Brooklyn and seeks employment. He is ashamed to beg bread; and yet he is hungry. The yards are all full; but still, as he is an expert stonecutter, a man, out of charity, says, Well, I will give you a little work--enough to enable you to pay for your board. And he shows him a block of stone to work on. What is it? One of many parts which are to form some ornament. Here is just a querl or fern, and there is a branch of what is probably to be a flower. He goes to work on this stone, and most patiently shapes it. He carves that bit of a fern, putting all his skill and taste into it. And by and by the master says, Well done, and takes it away, and gives him another block, and tells him to work on that. And so he works on that, from the rising of the sun till the going down of the same, and he only knows that he is earning his bread. And he continues to put all his skill and taste into his work. He has no idea what use will be made of those few stems which he has been carving, until afterwards, when, one day, walking along the street, and looking up at the front of the Art Gallery, he sees the stones upon which he has worked. He did not know what they were for; but the architect did. And as he stands looking at his work on that structure which is the beauty of the whole street the tears drop down from his eyes, and he says, I am glad I did it well. And every day, as he passes that way, he says to himself exultingly, I did it well. He did not draw the design nor plan the building, and he knew nothing of what use was to be made of his work; but he took pains in cutting those stems; and when he saw that they were a part of that magnificent structure his soul rejoiced. Dear brethren, though the work which you are doing seems small, put your heart in it; do the best you can wherever you are; and by and by God will show you where He has put that work. And when you see it stand in that great structure which He is building you will rejoice in every single moment of fidelity with which you wrought. Do not let the seeming littleness of what you are doing now damp your fidelity. (H. W. Beecher.)
Laid up in a napkin
Laziness in the Church
This part of the parable is meant to teach the necessity of developing our forces, and bringing them into use in Christian life. The duty of the development of power in ones self as a part of his allegiance to Christ is the main thought. So, also, is it wrong for one affecting to be a Christian to confine his development and increase simply to things that surround him and that strengthen him from the exterior. It is not wrong for a man to seek wealth in appropriate methods and in due measure; it is not wrong for a man to build up around himself the household, the gallery, the library; it is not wrong for a man to make himself strong on the earthward side; but to make himself strong only on that side is wrong. Every man is bound to build within. Indeed, the very one of the moral functions which inheres in all religious industries is that, while a man is building himself exteriorly according to the laws of nature and society and of moral insight, he is by that very process building himself inwardly. He is building himself in patience, in foresight, in self-denial, in liberalities; for often generosity and liberality are in the struggle of men in life what oil is in the machine, that make the friction less and the movement easier. So it is wrong for men to build themselves up simply for the sake of deriving more pleasure from reason, from poetic sensibility, and from all aesthetic elements; but it is not wrong for them to render themselves, through education, susceptible to finer and higher pleasures. Not only this, but we learn from a fair interpretation of this parable that men are not to be content with their birthright state. It is not enough that a man has simply the uneducated qualities that are given to him. Life educates us so far as the gift of the hand and the foot is concerned. In so far as secular relations are concerned, the necessities of business and the sweep of public sentiment are tending constantly to educate men to bring out all that there is in them. In the higher spiritual life it is not always the case. Men are content with about the moral sense that they have, if it averages the moral sense of the community; about the amount of faith that comes to them without seeking or education; about the amount of personal and moral influence that exists in social relations. But the law of the gospel is: Develop. No man has a right to die with his faculties in about the state that they were when he came to his manhood. There should be growth, growth. Going on is the condition of life in the Church or in the community just as much as in the orchard or in the garden. When a tree is bound and wont grow, we know that it is very near to its end: and a tree that will not grow becomes a harbour of all manner of venomous insects. Men go and look under the bark, and seeing them consorting here and there and everywhere, say: That is the reason the tree did not grow. No, it was the not growing that brought them there. And so all sorts of errors and mistakes cluster under the bark of men that stand still and do not unfold--do not develop. This being the doctrine, I remark, in the first place, that one may be free from all vices and from great sins, and yet break Gods whole law. That law is love. Many say to themselves, What wrong do I do? The question is, What right do you do? An empty grape-vine might say, Why, what harm do I do? Yes, but what clusters do you produce? Vitality should be fruitful. Men are content if they can eat, and drink, and be clothed, and keep warm, and go on thus from year to year; because they say, I cheat no one; I do not lie or steal, nor am I drunk. I pay my debts, and what lack I yet? A man that can only do that is very poorly furnished within. And in no land in the world are men so culpable who stand still as in this land of Christian light and privileges. You are not saved because you do not do harm. In our age--in no land so much as in ours--not doing is criminal. The means of education, the sources of knowledge, the duties of citizenship, in this land, are such that to be born here is--I had almost said to take the oath--to fulfil these things. You cannot find in the New Testament anything that covers in detail each one of these particulars; and yet the spirit of the New Testament is--Grow, develop according to the measure of opportunity. That being so, there never was an age in which we had so much right to call upon men for fulness of influence and for the pouring out of their special and various talents in every sphere of duty. There never was a time, I think, in which it was so well worth a mans while to live. In former days a man might say: I know nothing of all these things; how can I be blamed? but no man can say that to-day. No man that works at the blacksmiths forge can say: Well, I was a blacksmith. A man may be a blacksmith, and yet educate himself. No man can say: I am a carpenter; how should I be suspected of knowledge? If you do not have knowledge, you are not fit to be a carpenter. It is not enough that a man should increase his refinement; he is to increase it under the law: It is more blessed to give than to receive. It is not enough that a man should pursue, ploughing deeply and uncovering continually, the truths of economy; he should seek for those truths that he may have that with which to enlighten and strengthen other men. (H. W. Beecher.)
The natural heart unveiled in the great account
I. First, lying at the bottom of all here, in the character of the natural mind, there comes out the evil heart of unbelief--A FATAL MISJUDGMENT OF THE ADORABLE GOD--an entire heart-ignorance of God, estrangement from God, believing of the devils lie concerning God, in place of Gods blessed revelation concerning Himself--Thou art an austere man, a hard master, very difficult to please. Still, still, the natural conscience will bear stern witness to the reality of a Divine judgment and law. And so, as often as the fallen heart is forced into near contact with God, this is its language--scarce uttered consciously even to itself, and much less uttered audibly to others--Thou art an austere man, a hard master, demanding things unreasonable, impossible for us weak creatures! Need I say that it is a lie of the devil, a foul calumny on the blessed God? A hard master? Oh, God is love.
II. Second, and inseparably connected with this first feature in the character, see a second--A DARK, JEALOUS DREAD OF SUCH A GOD, prompting the wish to be away from Him--I feared Thee, because Thou art an austere man, a hard master! The fear is obviously that of dark distrust, jealousy, suspicion. It is the opposite of confidence, affection, love. How, in fact, can such a God be loved?
III. And now, connected inseparably with these two features of character, even as the second with the first, see the third feature in the character--completing it--even AN UTTER INDISPOSITION FOR ALL CHEERFUL, ACTIVE SERVICE OF GOD, For I feared Thee--Lord, behold, here is Thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin; for I feared Thee, because Thou art an austere man. Impossible to serve such a God--impossible, first, to love Him; and, next, impossible to serve a God unloved. Oh, love is the spring of service; distrust, jealousy, suspicion, are the death of it. But this man thinks he has served God tolerably well. Lord, behold, here is Thy pound! In the exceeding deceitfulness of the natural heart, does he contrive to persuade himself that he has given God no serious cause of offence with him. It is the more strange he should be able so to persuade himself, inasmuch as in his own word, thy pound, he confesses that it was the property of another--of a Master who had lent it to him for a purpose, which, assuredly, was not that of keeping it laid uselessly up.
And He called His ten servants and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come--occupy, that is, traffic diligently, trade, till I come. Oh, what is thus the whole Christian life but a busy commerce--a trading for God, for the good of all around us, for eternity? Fain I would have you to note--although it belongs less to my main theme--that, if you take the three features of character which we have seen in the text, and simply reverse them one by one, you shall have the whole character of Gods regenerated child--of the renewed heart--that heart of which it is written, A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. Thus,
1. First, substitute for that word of the apostle, The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine into them, the one which follows it, God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath Shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. For the mournful entire heart-ignorance of God, substitute the blessed promise fulfilled, I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord. For the evil heart of unbelief, crediting the devils lie concerning God, substitute that heaven-born faith, We believe and are sure that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God--We have known and believed the love that God hath unto us. And you have the foundation of the whole character of the new creature in Christ Jesus.
2. Secondly, for that fear of dark and jealous dread which springs of unbelief, substitute the love that springs of faith, We love Him, because He first loved us--My beloved is mine, and I am His--and you have the new heart in its very soul.
3. And thus, thirdly, for the utter indisposition to Gods cheerful service, substitute that heart for all service, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? A practical inference or two before I close
(1) First, there is to be a judgment day. Do you believe it?
(2) Second, how worthless, in that day, will be all merely negative religion--Lord, behold, here is Thy pound, which I have kept laid up in anapkin! And as for all attempts to occupy neutral ground in the kingdom of Christ, what dreams they are!
(3) But, thirdly, be it carefully noted that this, properly speaking, is not yet the Judge, but the Prophet, telling beforehand of the Judge, and of the judgment to come. (C. J. Brown, D. D.)
Out of thy own mouth will I judge thee
Now the general truth that I would deduce from this narrative, and endeavour to establish, may be expressed in these terms. That insensibility and inaction with which mankind are to so great an extent chargeable, as touching religion, are indefensible on every ground, unsusceptible of apology from any quarter, and incapable of being justified on any principles whatsoever, being inconsistent with what is enjoined by every mans belief, however loose and erroneous it may be.
1. It is a principle universally admitted among men that every subject should receive a degree of attention proportioned to its intrinsic magnitude and our personal interest in it; and in things purely secular they endeavour to carry this principle into practice. But not to dwell too long on this, I pass to another principle of common life--
2. Which is sinned against in religion, that of employing the present for the advantage of the future. What man of you is there whose schemes do not contemplate the future, and whose labours do not look to that which is to come?
3. And here I am reminded of another inconsistency into which many fall. I refer to the unjustifiable and unauthorized use which they make of the fact of the Divine benevolence in their speculations upon religion. A use which they would blush to make of it in reference to any other subject. What would you think of the man who should found all his expectations of health, and affluence, and happiness, on the simple fact of the Divine benignity, and should infer from the truth that God is good, that he shall never know want or feel pain?
4. There is another common principle unhesitatingly admitted among men, on which I would remark in this connection, as being denied a place among the first truths of religion--the principle of not expecting any acquisition of considerable value without much precedent labour and pains taken for it.
5. There is yet one other principle ,of common life, which, we have to complain, is not acted upon in religion. It is that of adopting always the safer course. (W. Nevins, D. D.)
Unto every one which hath shall be given
The law of use
The idea is that having is something quite other than mere passive, possession--the upturned, nerveless palm of beggary. Having, real having, is eager, instant, active possession, the sinewy grip. Having is using. Anything not used is already the same as lost. It will be lost by and by. In this sense of having, the more we have, the more we get; the less we have, the less we get. This is law, universal law.
I. THIS LAW OF USE IS PHYSICAL LAW. Muscular force gains nothing by being husbanded. Having is using. And to him that hath, shall be given. He shall grow stronger and stronger. What is difficult, perhaps impossible today, shall be easy to-morrow. He that keeps on day by day lifting the calf, shall lift the bullock by and by. More than this. Only he that uses shall even so much as keep. Unemployed strength steadily diminishes. The sluggards arm grows soft and flabby.
II. THIS LAW OF USE IS COMMERCIAL LAW. Real possession is muscular. The toil, care, sagacity, and self-denial required in getting property, are precisely the toil, care, sagacity, and self-denial required in keeping it. Nay, keeping is harder than getting, a great deal harder. Wise investments often require a genius like that of great generalship. Charles Lamb, in one of his essays, expresses pity for the poor, dull, thriftless fellow who wrapped his pound up in a napkin. But the poor fellow was also to be blamed. Those ten servants, who had the ten pounds given them, were commanded to trade therewith till the master came.
III. THIS LAW OF USE IS MENTAL LAW. Even knowledge, like the manna of old, must needs be fresh. It will not keep. The successful teacher is always the diligent and eager learner. Just when he has nothing new to say, just then his authority begins to wane. Much more is mental activity essential to mental force. It is related of Thorwaldsen that when at last he finished a statue that satisfied him, he told his friends that his genius was leaving him. Having reached a point beyond which he could push no further, his instinct told him that he had already begun to fail. So it proved. The summit of his fame was no broad plateau, but a sharp Alpine ridge. The last step up had to be quickly followed by the first step down. It is so in everything. Ceasing to gain, we begin to lose. Ceasing to advance, we begin to retrograde.
IV. THIS LAW OF USE IS ALSO MORAL LAW. Here lies the secret of character. There is no such thing as standing still. There is no such thing as merely holding ones own. Only the swimmer floats. Only the conqueror is unconquered. Character is not inheritance, nor happy accident, but hardest battle and victory. The fact is, evil never abdicates, never goes off on a vacation, never sleeps. Every day every one of us is ambushed and assaulted; and what we become, is simply our defeat or victory. Not to be crowned victor, is to pass under the yoke. If prayer be, what Tertullian has pictured it, the watch-cry of a soldier under arms, guarding the tent and standard of his general, then the habit of it ought to be growing on us. For the night is round about us, and, though the stars are out, our enemies are not asleep. H the Bible be what we say it is, we should know it better and better. Written by men, still it has God for its Author, unfathomable depths of wisdom for its contents, and for its shining goal the battlements and towers of the New Jerusalem. So of all the virtues and graces. They will not take care of themselves. Real goodness is as much an industry, as much a business, as any profession, trade, or pursuit of men. (R. D.Hitchcock, D. D.)
Spiritual investments
I. LET US SEEK TO GIVE FULL STATEMENT TO THE PRINCIPLE HERE ANNOUNCED, BEFORE WE ATTEMPT TO SHOW ITS PRACTICAL REACH.
1. The meaning of our Lords words is certainly clear. Consider that the pounds represent any sort of gift or endowment for usefulness--any capacity, resource, instrument, or opportunity for doing good to our fellow men. He does not really possess anything; he only occupies it; it is actually lent money, and belongs to his Lord.
2. The illustrations which suggest themselves in ordinary experience will make the whole matter our own. We are simply reminded once more of the working of the universal law of exercise. Our bodily members and our intelluctual faculties are skilled and invigorated by activity, and injured seriously by persistent disuse. An interesting example of cultivating alertness of observation is related in the life of Robert Houdin, the famous magician. Knowing the need of a swift mastery and a retentive memory of arbitrarily chosen objects in the great trick of second-sight, he took his son through the crowded streets, then required him to repeat the names of all the things he had seen. He often led the lad into a gentlemans library for just a passing moment, and then afterwards questioned him as to the colour and places of the books on the shelves and table. Thus he taught him to observe with amazing rapidity, and hold what he gained, till that pale child baffled the wise world that watched his performances. But, highest of all, our spiritual life comes in for an illustration. Here we find that, in what is truly the most subtle part of our human organization, we are quite as remarkable as elsewhere. Even in our intercourse with God, we bend to natural law. He prays best who is in the habit of prayer. His very fervour and spirituality, as well as his fluency, are increased by constant practice. Thus it is with studious reading of the Scriptures Thus it is with the constant and devout reference of ones life to Gods overruling providence. And thus it is with preparedness for heaven. Piety altogether is as capable of growth as any possession we have. He who has, gains more; he who leaves unused what he has, loses it.
II. A FEW PLAIN APPLICATIONS OF THIS PRINCIPLE.
1. Begin with the duty of Christian beneficence. Any pastor of a Church, any leader of a difficult enterprise, is acquainted with the fact that the best persons to ask for a contribution, with a sublime faith and a most cheerful expectation of success, are those who have just been giving largely, those who all along have been giving the most. Such Christians are prospered by the exercise. Their hearts and their purses alike are distended with the grace and the gold.
2. Take also the duty of teaching Gods truth to those who always need it. Does a wise man lose his learning by communicating it freely? Rather, are not those the best scholars who do hardest work in teaching the dullest pupils with the most patience?
3. Again, take our consistency of demeanour. This, if anything, would seem most personal and most incommunicable. A Christian who cares nothing for what people say of him deteriorates in fidelity. He who tries hardest to disarm criticism by a godly demeanour will grow in correctness and satisfaction. He need not become more rigid and so more unamiable.
4. Just so, once more, take into consideration all kinds of ordinary Church activity. Those efficient believers, who are generally in the lead when each charitable and energetic work is in its turn on hand, are not so prominent just because they are ambitious and officious, nor because they love conspicuousness; but because being in one sort of earnest labour, they learn to love all labour for Christ. Most naturally, they grow unconsciously zealous for Him.
III. This is going far enough now: we reach in proper order SOME OF THE MANY LESSONS WHICH ARE SUGGESTED BY THE PRINCIPLE.
1. It is high time that Christians should begin to apply business maxims to their spiritual investments.
2. Think joyously of the irresistible working of all these Divine laws of increase, if only we are found faithful.
3. Just here also we begin to understand what our Lord means when He tells us that a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth (Luk_12:15). We have no doubt that such a man as that in the parable, who hid his pound in the napkin, was far more disturbed over the care of it than either of those who had their ten or five pounds hard at work. Unemployed wealth, unimproved property, is but a perplexity, and generally enslaves the man who sits down to watch it. What we put to use--of our heart as well as of our money--is what We own; the rest owns us.
4. Finally, mark the sad reverse of all we have been dwelling upon. Observe that the pound taken away from this man was not his profit, but his capital. Hence, he had no further chance; the very opportunity of retrieval was gone. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
The napkin of secret doubt
Dost thou believe this doctrine that I ask thee of? Dost thou hold it firmly? Indeed I do, sir. I keep it most carefully. Keep it carefully! What dost thou mean? I have it, sir, folded away in a napkin. A napkin! What is the name of that napkin? It is called secret doubt. And why dost thou keep the truth in the napkin of secret doubt? They tell me that if exposed to the air of inquiry it will disappear; so, when asked for it, I shall not have it, and shall perish. Thou art foolish, and they that have told thee this arc foolish. Truth is corn, and thou wilt not be asked for the corn first given thee, but for sheaves. Thou art as if keeping thy corn in the sack of unbelief. The corn shall be taken from thee if thou use it not, and thyself put in thy sack of unbelief, and drowned in the deep, as evil-doers were punished in old times. (Thomas T. Lynch.)
Destroyed through disuse
The following extract from Mr. Darwins recently published life will, perhaps, explain the cause of his rejection of Christianity. The words are his own: I cannot endure to read a line of poetry: I have tried lately to read Shakespeare and found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me. I have also almost lost my taste for pictures or music My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts, but why this should have caused the atrophy of that part of the brain alone on which the higher tastes depend. I cannot conceive If I had to live my life again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry, and listen to some music at least once a week: for perhaps the parts of my brain now atrophied would then have kept alive through use. It is an accursed evil to a man, he writes in 1858, to become so absorbed in any subject as I am in mine. We cannot be accused either of want of sympathy or want of charity if, in the light of what Darwin has told us of his religious history, we sum up his scepticism in those words which we have italicized--atrophy of the brain.
The law of increase
The Times, speaking of the Exhibition of the Royal Academy, says, No doubt people ought to bring to a collection of pictures, or other works of art, as much knowledge as possible, according to the old saying that if we expect to bring back the wealth of the Indies, we must take the wealth of the Indies out with us. Learning and progress are continual accretions. This witness is true. He who studies the works of art in an exhibition of paintings, being himself already educated in such matters, adds greatly to his knowledge, and derives the utmost pleasure from the genius displayed. On the other hand, he who knows nothing at all about the matter, and yet pretends to be a critic, simply exhibits his own ignorance and self-conceit, and misses that measure of enjoyment which an entirely unsophisticated and unpretending spectator would have received. We must bring taste and information to art, or she will not deign to reveal her choicest charms. It is so with all the higher forms of knowledge. We were once in the fine museum of geology and mineralogy in Paris, and we noticed two or three enthusiastic gentlemen in perfect rapture over the specimens preserved in the eases; they paused lovingly here and there, used their glasses, and discoursed with delighted gesticulations concerning the various objects of interest; they were evidently increasing their stores of information; they had, and to them more was given. Money makes money, and knowledge increases knowledge. A few minutes after we noticed one of our own countrymen, who appeared to be a man of more wealth than education. He looked around him for a minute or two, walked along a line of cases, and then expressed the utmost disgust with the whole concern: There was nothing there, he said, except a lot of old bones and stones, and bits of marble. He was persuaded to look a little further, at a fine collection of fossil fishes, but the total result was a fuller manifestation of his ignorance upon the subjects so abundantly illustrated, and a declaration of his desire to remain in ignorance, for he remarked that He did not care a rap for such rubbish, and would not give three half-crowns for a waggonload of it. Truly, in the matter of knowledge, To him that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; and from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20, 24, 27, 28 11. Because he was nigh to Jerusalem. From fifteen…
11. Because he was nigh to Jerusalem. From fifteen to twenty miles away. The crowd thought that when he reached Jerusalem “his kingdom would immediately appear;” an earthly kingdom like that of David. The parable that follows was spoken, in part, to correct that idea.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv11, 28 Luk_19:11. He added.—This parable is thus distinctly connected with…
CRITICAL NOTES
Luk_19:11. He added.—This parable is thus distinctly connected with the words spoken in the house of Zacchæus. It is, therefore, not to be confused with the parable of the Talents, from which it differs in structure and incidents, and which was spoken in Jerusalem. “The main differences between the two parables may be stated thus:
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1. That of the Talents tells us the simple story of the committal of certain sums of money to individuals, and of the use made by each of the sum entrusted to him; that of the Pounds is complicated with a distinct incident—viz., the opposition of the citizens, and the vengeance taken upon them.
2. In that of the Talents the principal person is a householder; in that of the Pounds he is a nobleman seeking a kingdom.
3. The Talents are given in various proportions; the Pounds are distributed equally.
4. There is an enormous difference between the sums entrusted in each case (the ‘pound’ being equal to about £3 of our money, the ‘talent’ being sixty times as much).
5. In the parable of the Pounds the slothful servant only suffers loss; in that of the Talents a positive punishment is inflicted besides” (Speaker’s Commentary). Nigh to Jerusalem.—Jericho is about fifteen miles distant from it. They thought, etc.—I.e., the followers of Jesus anticipated that this formal progress to Jerusalem, during which so many miracles were wrought, would issue in the open manifestation of God’s kingdom.
Luk_19:12. A certain nobleman.—In this Christ refers to His own dignity as “born king of the Jews” (Mat_2:2). It is interesting to notice the close correspondence between incidents in the life of Archelaus and those which form the framework to this parable; these are, the journey to Rome to receive institution to a kingdom, the embassy of Jews sent to protest against it, his instructions to servants to look after his pecuniary interests in his absence, and his assignment of cities as a reward to faithful adherents. The fact that Archelaus had a splendid palace at Jericho has, not unreasonably, been taken by some as probably suggesting the allusions to him in the parable. As Archelaus was an unjust and cruel prince, we have in this picture of spiritual things something of the same paradoxical nature as in the parable of the Unjust Steward and the Unjust Judge.
Luk_19:13. His ten servants.—Rather, “ten servants of his” (R.V.). Occupy.—Rather, “trade ye herewith” (R.V.). The word is one specially used of business investments.
Luk_19:14. His citizens.—In the interpretation of the parable this is to be understood of the Jews, as “the servants” are the disciples. This man.—The phrase implies contempt.
Luk_19:16. Thy pound hath gained.—“He modestly attributes this to his lord’s money, and not to his own work” (Grotius). Cf. 1Co_15:10.
Luk_19:17. Faithful in a very little.—This is the essence of the parable. It is the faithfulness of the service rendered to which the lord looks, and not to the amount gained. The reward is proportioned to the faithfulness manifested.
Luk_19:19. Be thou also.—Notice that no special words of commendation are bestowed on this servant. He had not been as faithful as the other.
Luk_19:20. Laid up in a napkin.—A common mode among the Jews of hoarding coin.
Luk_19:21. Thou takest up, etc.—Proverbial expressions to describe a hard, grasping disposition.
Luk_19:23. Into the bank.—Or, “into a bank.” That at my coming, etc.—Or, “I should have gone and required,” etc. (R.V. margin). Usury.—I.e., interest.
Luk_19:25. And they said.—I.e., the bystanders in the parable. The lord proceeds without taking any notice of the interruption.
Luk_19:26. Even that he hath.—Cf. chap. Luk_8:18, “seemeth to have.”
Luk_19:27. Slay them.—Our Lord here combines into one picture His figurative coming to take vengeance upon the Jews who rejected Him, and His literal coming at the end of the world.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Luk_19:11-27
“Till He come.”—The object of the parable is not to state the Christian doctrine of reward for faithfulness, which is only part of its contents, but to damp down the expectation of the immediate bursting in of the kingdom by displaying the double series of events which must go before its appearance—namely, the protracted, faithful trading of His servants, and the antagonism of its foes, with the issues of both these when the King does appear.
I. What precedes the appearance of the kingdom.—Three different lines of activity are shadowed—the prince’s in the far-off land, the servants’, and the enemies’ in the territory which is to be his kingdom. Jesus does not say that He is the man of noble birth, but His hearers could not mistake his meaning. He teaches here, as always, that His departure is the pre-requisite to His investiture with the visible sovereignty of the world; that many long days must pass before He comes again; but that, while absent, He is not idle, but carrying on that “asking” which from of old was declared to be the condition of His recovering “the uttermost parts of the earth” for a possession. Till then His servants trade with the small capital which He has left them, and His enemies struggle against His rule. His gifts to His servants are absolutely the same in amount in every case, and they are of very small value. What, then, is the uniformly identical gift which all Christ’s servants receive? If we are to seek for any one answer, we must either say the blessing of salvation or the word of the gospel. “The common salvation” belongs to all alike. The same gospel is entrusted to all. Why is it represented as a small sum? Perhaps because the Christian’s gift from his absent Lord is of little worth in the world’s eyes, or more probably in order to contrast it with the greatness of the result of faithfulness. The small capital makes the faithfulness of service the more noticeable, and suggests that the great purpose of life is to test and to train—that its trivial business is only great when regarded as the means of obtaining what is infinitely greater. Life is redeemed from insignificance by being looked at in connection with the stupendous magnitudes beyond, which also makes it seem small. The more closely we link it with eternity, the smaller it will seem in itself, the greater in its issues.
II. The circumstances of the appearance of the kingdom.—It is to be very unlike the sanguine, vulgar expectations of both disciples and crowd. The servants are to be summoned to give in their accounts; the enemies to be swiftly slain in His presence. Thus a solemn diet of judgment is to inaugurate it. The great principle of degrees in reward according to degrees in faithfulness is laid down. The joy of the Lord is one for all servants, but the dominion in the future is proportioned to faithfulness here. Note that the difference in results must be supposed to depend, not on circumstances beyond the servants’ control, but on their diligence. Observe, also, the omission of commendation to the second servant, which implies a less degree of faithful effort in him. The first represents Christians who excel; the second Christians who are content with small attainments and achievements. There is salvation in fulness, and also salvation “so as by fire.” Observe, too, the humility with which the servants present their gains. They say nothing about their own diligence. It is the Lord’s pound, not their pains, which has made the profit. The pounds and the pains are both due to Him who gives the treasure into our hands, and gives also the grace to use it. The servants are not all rewarded, but we do not know how many of the unnamed seven were faithful, and how many slothful. One idler is put before us, and stands for the class. His excuse seems to himself to be sufficient, and its very rudeness guarantees its sincerity. No man would speak so to his judge. But Christ translates thoughts into words, in order to show their falsity, and perhaps to suggest the solemn lesson that the inmost unavowed motives shall one day be plain to us, and that we shall be compelled to speak them out, however ugly and foolish they sound. Men will be their own accusers and condemnation. The excuse lays bare a very frequent motive of indolence—namely fear, built on a misconception of the character of the Lord and Giver of all gifts. Men darken their own spirits by thinking of God as demanding rather than as giving—and that while everything they have and see should teach them He is the God who gives. Such thoughts of Him paralyse activity and destroy the one all-powerful motive for service. Only when we know His infinite love, and are moved by His mercies, shall we task every power in grateful and joyful service. The prince’s answer is difficult, as no explanation of the “bank” is wholly satisfactory. Perhaps the best is that which takes it to mean the Church in its associated efforts, in some part of which the most timid may share, and, bringing his small contribution to the common stock, may be able to do something for Christ. The slothful servant is deprived of the gift which he had not used. That looks hard, and often draws forth remonstrances or, at least, our wonder. But we see it here, and we shall see it yonder. Christ states a law of human experience which works everywhere. Used faculties grow, unused ones decay. The parable is not complete with the rewards and retribution of the servants. Its purpose was to portray the course of events which must precede the appearance of the kingdom, and the stern judgment which should inaugurate it. In fact, it is the programme of the world’s history till the end, and the enemies are as important, though not as conspicuous, a part of the whole as the servants. They represent primarily the Jews, but it is surely an incongruous thrusting of history into parable to take the terrible vengeance on them, which is the very last act of the king after he has returned, as meaning nothing more than the destruction of Jerusalem. Surely the “slaying” here is more terrible than physical death. It points to that same awful retribution of hatred and opposition to the King of which the New Testament is full. That expression “before me” leads us tremblingly to think of “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.”—Maclaren.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk_19:11-27
Luk_19:11-27. The Pounds.
I. True followers.—These must be tried. Outward respect for a present master is no test of character, no evidence that his servants are fit for the positions to which they aspire. But faithfulness to a long-absent Lord, faithfulness to past memories, faithfulness to present duties and responsibilities, faithfulness to an undying hope that He shall come, will come, even though He seem to tarry long—that will test the character, and that will be rewarded with undreamt-of honour.
II. Seeming followers.—These are not true. They love not; they follow only through fear. Therefore they cannot abide faithful in absence, though they are not sure enough openly to throw off their allegiance. Theirs will be bitter loss and disappointment.
III. Open enemies.—There are these as well. Their pride of heart and badness of life make them prefer the rule of a Barabbas to that of the holy Lord. They do not even pretend to be disciples. There is, therefore, no degradation for them when He appears; there is simply swift destruction. They are not surprised at the sentence passed upon them. They have openly cast in their lot with His enemies; if He comes in power, they know what their end will be.—Hastings.
The Parable of the Pounds.
I. The occasion of the parable.
II. The historical incident in the parable.
III. The parable—a prophecy.
1. Of His own departure.
2. Of continued opposition to His rule.
3. Of a time of probation for His servants.
4. Of His triumphant return.
IV. The parable—a lesson in individual responsibility.—Each traded, was reckoned with, rewarded, or punished individually.—W. Taylor.
The True Preparation for the Coming of the Kingdom is that of Character.
I. The faithful and their reward.—Increasing spiritual capital. Divine approval. A larger sphere.
II. The unfaithful, and their loss.—To neglect the gospel is to be in peril, and to risk loss. Negative excellence is not positive obedience. The idler’s penalty is a soul dwarfed and unspiritual. The soul loses the capacity for love and service. The pound is taken away. The soul progressively deteriorates, by refusing to come into right relations with God.—Palmer.
The Parable is a Parallel.—Pursue the subject along the lines furnished by the laws of trade.
I. Some capital is needed.—
1. Natural.
2. Spiritual endowments.
II. Only the authorised money can be used in commerce.
III. Time and opportunity must be given.
IV. There must be wholesale and retail in trade.—The few are called to the first, the many to the second.
V. Both buyer and seller must gain a profit.
VI. “Till I come” limits the trading season.—When Christ comes, probation ends.—Wylie.
Structure of The Parable.—The introduction (Luk_19:11); the parable (Luk_19:12-28). The parable:—
I. The fidelity of the servants during their Lord’s absence put to the test (Luk_19:12-14).
II. The servants judged.—
1. The faithful servants rewarded (Luk_19:15-19).
2. The faithless servant convicted and punished (Luk_19:20-26).
III. The rebellious citizens slain (Luk_19:27).
Servants and Subjects.—The parable sets forth the twofold relation in which the ruler stands.
1. To his servants.
2. To his subjects. The servants represent the apostles and disciples; their faithfulness or unfaithfulness to the trust committed to them is praised or blamed; the citizens represent the Jewish people, and their disobedience to their rightful Lord is punished.
A picture—
I. Of the King of the kingdom of God.
1. His origin.
2. His destiny.
3. His departure and return.
II. Of His servants.—
1. Their calling.
2. Their giving account.
3. Their reward.
III. Of His enemies.—
1. Their hatred.
2. Their impotency.
3. Their punishment.
The parable teaches—
I. The need of a patient waiting for Christ.
II. Of an active working for Him till the time of His return.
“Should immediately appear.”—The parable is spoken to correct several erroneous opinions concerning the kingdom of God.
I. That the kingdom would very soon appear.—In contradiction to this idea the long journey and the consequent delay are spoken of.
II. That all would joyfully submit to it.—The parable speaks of bitter but unsuccessful enmity on the part of some.
III. That the subjects of the kingdom would enter on a life of inactive enjoyment.—In opposition to this, long and patient labours are spoken of.
Luk_19:12. “A certain nobleman.”
I. An intimation of the kingly descent and dignity of our Lord.
II. A prophecy of His departure from earth.
III. A comforting representation of His departure to the Father.—As the means ordained for obtaining the kingly power and glory.
Luk_19:13. “Occupy.”—I.e., “employ in trading.” How remarkable is this still ministry, these occupations of peace in which the servants of the future king shall be engaged, and that while a rebellion is raging! Why did he not distribute weapons to his servants? Because the duty of the servants was, with the diligent but silent occupation of their pound, to lay the rudiments of the kingdom, and so to prepare the world for the outbreaking of it; which yet should only be when the King Himself returned in His glory.—Trench.
Christ’s Traders.—The imagery of the text suggests the work of the servants while the Master is gone.
I. The stock-in-trade.—What is it that all Christian men have in common? The gospel, the message of salvation. This is the “pound” which each Christian has equally. Let us not be ashamed of it.
II. The trading.—In the trading is to be included the whole of the outward life which is to be shaped by the principles and motives contained in the message of the gospel. Specially the idea is involved of spreading the Word which has been received. The Christianity of any man must be very shallow who feels nothing of the obligation which it lays upon him to communicate it to others. Make a business of it. Such is the meaning of the metaphor. Do it as you do your business.
III. The audit.—The day arrives for scrutiny and judgment. There are varieties in the profits. Christ rewards, not success, but diligence. It is not all the same whether we have traded with our pound or hidden it in a napkin. A higher sphere of service is granted to the diligent traders.—Maclaren.
Luk_19:14. An Embassy.—The enmity of the citizens.
I. It is capricious, for they assign no reason for their dislike.
II. It is deeply-rooted, as implied in the contemptuous “this man.”
III. It is unsuccessful.
Luk_19:15. “Having received the kingdom.”—The elevation of their master to sovereignty places the servants in a totally new position. Not only does he manifest towards them a satisfaction proportionate to the success of their labours, but, their master, acting now as their king, assigns to them posts in the government of the state, corresponding in importance to the respective results of their activity. So will it be at the second coming of Christ. The humble work accomplished during the absence of the Lord will be the measure of the power entrusted by Him to each on His appearing.—Godet.
Luk_19:16. “Thy pound”.—In deep humility the faithful servants acknowledge that they claim no merit for the success that had attended their labours. Cf. “I laboured more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1Co_15:10). “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give the praise” (Psa_115:1).
Luk_19:17. “In a very little.”—Cf. Luk_12:48; Luk_16:10.
“Over ten cities.”—“We shall also reign with Him” (2Ti_2:12). It is perhaps not unduly spiritualising a mere detail of the parable to think of the reward being the privilege of communicating spiritual benefits to others; the ten or five cities to be thought of as communities of moral beings whom the glorified believer raises to his own level of spiritual life.
Luk_19:18. “Gained five.”—A lesser degree of success in consequence of less strenuous energy in work. This is implied by the facts that the servants had equal sums entrusted to them, and that the servant, though receiving a reward, receives no special commendation from his lord.
Luk_19:19. “Over five cities.”—The glory of each differs; their common joy is the same.
Luk_19:20. The Servant’s Defence.—It is fearful to sin; it is more fearful to delight in sin; yet more to defend it.
“And another came.”—Rather, and the other. The word used implies that this servant belonged to a different class from those who had preceded him in the interview with the master.
Luk_19:21. “I feared thee.”—I.e., knowing that his master was a man of austere character, who would be pitiless in punishing him for the loss of the pound, he had kept it safely, and now restored it as he had received it. So that he regarded himself as free from blame, even if he could lay no claim to commendation. The words “thou takest up,” etc., seem rather a proverbial description of a hard, grasping character than as specially appropriate to the circumstances of the case.
Luk_19:22. “Thou knewest,” etc.—I.e., “All the more, therefore, shouldest thou have sought to satisfy my demands; and thou mightest have satisfied them, though perhaps not to the full, with very little expenditure of labour. If the trouble and risk of trading were too great, I might at least have received the interest which a bank gives for money lodged in it.”
A Legal Christian.—This man, it seems to me, represents a believer who has not found salvation in Jesus Christ to be as attractive as he had expected—a legal Christian, who knows nothing of the grace of the gospel, and is acquainted only with its moral requirements. It seems to him that the Lord asks a great deal, and gives very little. This feeling leads him to do as little as possible. He thinks that God ought to be content with abstinence from evil-doing, and with an outward respect to His gospel.—Godet.
Luk_19:23. “The bank.”—Probably it is vain to try to find a spiritual counterpart to this detail of the parable. The reply of the Lord is, virtually, “If thou wouldest not do and dare for me in great ventures of faith, yet at all events in humbler paths, in safer and less perilous, thou mightest have shown fidelity, and have preserved me from loss.”
Luk_19:24. “Take from him the pound.”—The punishment for unfaithfulness is the loss of the faculty for service. And it is especially worthy of notice that this sentence of condemnation is strictly in accordance with the Divine law that prevails in the natural world. Let any member of the body or faculty of the mind lie disused for a time, and, by the very fact of disuse, its power is diminished or destroyed.
Luk_19:25. “And they said unto Him.”—This interruption is remarkably like that of Peter in chap. Luk_12:41; and the reply (Luk_19:26), virtually corresponds to that of Jesus in chap. Luk_12:42. The king apparently takes no account of the surprise his words have excited, but in Luk_19:26 he expounds the principle on which his judgment is based.
Luk_19:26. “Unto every one.”—It is not merely that the one receives more than before he had, and the other loses what he had. This is not all; but that very gift which the one forfeits, the other obtains; one is enriched with a pound withdrawn from the other; one takes a crown which another has let go (Rev_3:11);—even as we see continually one, by the ordinance of God, stepping into the place and the opportunities which another has neglected, despised, and misused, and so has lost (Gen_25:34; Gen_27:36; Gen_49:4; Gen_49:8; 1Sa_16:1; 1Sa_16:13; 1Ki_2:35; Isa_22:15-25; Act_1:25-26; Rom_11:11).—Trench.
Luk_19:27. “Bring hither and slay.”—They who will not submit to Christ the crucified will be crushed by Christ the King. Every eye shall see Him; they also who pierced Him. Meekly now He stands at the door and knocks; then He comes as the lightning comes.—Arnot.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v11 Luk 19:11-27. This wonderful, inspiring, conclusive, unmistakable, glorious parable…
THE RETURN OF JESUS WITH HIS GLORIOUS KINGDOM
Luk 19:11-27. This wonderful, inspiring, conclusive, unmistakable, glorious parable was delivered to the multitude by our Savior, in front of the house of Zaccheus, Saturday evening before His crucifixion the following Friday. It is so plain that I do hope every reader will understand and profit by it, as many of the Lord’s dear people have not yet received light on His second and glorious coming. We have no doctrine to give you. We are only endeavoring to expound the Word of the Lord as the blessed Holy Spirit reveals it. “And they, hearing these things, proceeding He spoke a parable, because He is nigh unto Jerusalem, and they are thinking that the kingdom of God is about to appear immediately.” That He will be crowned King of the Jews at the oncoming Passover, which is to open the ensuing Sabbath, they are all fondly and eagerly anticipating. Having waited three years, they see plainly that a momentous crisis is at hand. Having no light on the bloody tragedy looking Him in the face, they are vividly contemplating the coronation scene for which they have been praying ever since His mighty works had convinced them that He must be the Christ of prophecy. You will see plainly from this parable that the connection abundantly justifies the conclusion that the glorious coronation, which they regarded as at that time pending in a few days, is to take place at the second coming, it being His mission during His first advent to suffer and to die; but in the second, to conquer and to reign.
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“Then He said, A certain nobleman went away into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.” Herod the Great having died while the infant Jesus was in Egypt, Archelaus, his eldest son, succeeding him, went away from Jericho, as his father died there, to Rome, a great journey for that day — fifteen hundred miles — to receive the kingdom of Judea from the hands of Augustus Caesar, the Roman emperor, and return to reign over the Jews. But as the Jews didn’t like him, they sent an embassy after him, beseeching the emperor not to crown him king. Consequently the emperor, to their unutterable surprise and disappointment, sent them no king; but turned Judea into a Roman province, sending them Coponius to serve as proconsul, thus taking away their kingdom indefinitely. Though he did not know it, God was in it fulfilling the prophecy, that “the scepter shall depart from Judah.... when Shiloh comes.” This transaction was vivid in the memories o£ the people who heard Him, and forcibly illustrates the case, because at that time Rome ruled the whole world, and no king could reign anywhere unless the emperor crowned him. So all the kings of the earth had to go to Rome to receive their kingdom before they could return to their own country and reign. Now we all know that Jesus Himself is the nobleman, who, instead of reigning at that time, went away to heaven to “receive His kingdom, and return,” illustrating most conclusively the patent fact that the kingdom He is to receive in heaven is special, and, in some important respects, different from the kingdom of grace which He brought with Him on His first advent. Our Lord soon went away to heaven, and is still there. But He is certain to receive this kingdom from the hands of His Father and come back. This conclusion is irresistible, unless you flatly contradict the Savior. I believe Him without the shadow of a doubt, and am constantly looking out to see Him coming back in the glory of that kingdom which He went up to heaven to receive, and return to earth to reign, as this conclusion is irrefutable, from the fact that it was then exemplified throughout the world, all kings going to Rome to receive their kingdom from imperial Caesar, and return with their kingdom to reign over the land given by the emperor. The analogy of this parable clearly warrants the conclusion that our Lord has gone away to heaven to receive a kingdom, and return and reign over this world. More errors in interpretation arise from spiritualizing the literal, and literalizing the spiritual, than any other source. Lord, help us to leave everything where Thou hast put it! If it is literal, let it so remain; if spiritual, let us all say, Amen! Though our Lord certifies that His kingdom is not of this world, yet it by no means follows that it may not have dominion over this world. He rules all other worlds without a rival, and is going to cast out Satan and extend His glorious dominion over all this world.
“And having called his ten servants, he gave to them ten pounds, and said to them, Operate until I come.” Ten is a prominent representative number in the Bible, being a convenient multiple of hundreds, thousands, millions, etc. The mnaa, or mina, translated “pound,” was worth fifteen dollars. You see that he gave the money to his servants; i.e., his own people.
“And his citizens hated him, and sent an embassy after him, saying, We do not wish him to reign over us.” This was literally verified, right there at Jericho, in the case of Archelaus, within the memory of that audience. Hence the parable must have been very forcible with those people. N.B. — The citizens here differ widely from his servants — the latter being his disciples, and the former the people of this wicked world. How signally is this item of the parable verified this day! The people of the world are panic- stricken at the thought of Jesus coming back. They are glad He is gone, and hope that He will never return. Even the worldly Churches are so horrified at the thought of the Lord’s return that they will not tolerate the proclamation from their pulpits.
“And it came to pass that he returned, having received the kingdom, and said that those servants to whom he had given the money should be called, that he might know what each one had accumulated. And the first came, saying, Lord, thy pound has gained ten pounds. And he said to him, Well done, thou good servant; because thou wast faithful in the least, have thou authority over ten cities. And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound has gained five pounds. And he also said to him, Be thou ruler over five cities. And another came, saying, Lord, behold thy pound, which I had laid up in a napkin; for I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up what thou hast not laid down, and thou reapest what thou hast not sown. And he says to him, Out of thine own mouth I condemn thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knowest that I am an austere man, taking what I have not laid down, and reaping what I have not sown. Wherefore didst not thou indeed give my money to the bank, and having come, I would have received the same with the product?” “Usury,” in the E.V., is all objectionable translation of toko, which is from ticto, “to produce,” and has no such a meaning as unlawful interest, but simply the normal production of the money. Every investment, if judiciously managed, produces something. Money is no exception to commercial investments. The meaning of this passage is, that the man should have judiciously invested the money, instead of secreting it away where it brought no stipend to the proprietor. Of course, the estimation of his lord as an austere, unjust man was utterly false, the fault being in himself. Though a servant, you see that the lord denominates him “wicked,” thus showing up his character as a counterfeit disciple, parallel with the case of the tares growing among the wheat. Of course, these three reports sample all the balance, concerning whom we have no statement.
“And he said to the bystanders, Take the pound from him, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. And they said to him, Lord, he hath ten pounds. I say unto you, that to every one that hath, it shall be given; and from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath.” Here we see a beautiful recognition of the great law of spiritual thrift. Money is magnetic. If you have it and use it judiciously, it will attract from all directions and accumulate. It is so with everything. The soil of the frugal farmer is getting richer and more productive all the time; while that of his profligate, indolent, or injudicious neighbor is constantly wearing out and washing away. Thus, in both temporal and spiritual things, we see people moving with great expedition to diametrically opposite destinies.
“Moreover, these my enemies, who do not wish me to rule over them, lead them hither, and slay them before me.” Here we have the awful destruction of Armageddon, deluging the world with rivers of blood, and heaping it with mountains of the dead, “the great tribulation,” such as the world never saw before and will never see again. The flood was terrible, destroying all the world except one family. The plagues in Egypt, winding up with the desolations of the destroying angel, slaying the first-born in every home, and culminating in the destruction of Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea, was awful. The destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies, a million of people perishing by sword, pestilence, and famine, and a million more being sold into slavery, was an ordeal terrific in the extreme. Yet the indescribable calamities of all former ages will not be comparable to the unutterable woes which shall come upon this densely-populated earth in the last days. God made this world and has the sole right to rule it. With the fall of Jerusalem and the captivity of the Jews, B. C. 387, the last vestige of the Theocracy evanesced from the earth, human rule supervening, and being perpetuated in all lands down to the present day; but destined to be overthrown and utterly exterminated in the great tribulation, when the enemies of our Lord, who are opposed to Divine rule and conservative to human government, shall all be slain. (Dan 7:9) Here you see the adumbratory light on the Divine administration which shall cover the whole earth in the glorious coming kingdom, flashing out in the case of these two samples of our Lord’s service of those who shall prove faithful during His absence, diligently investing and utilizing His pound, which is committed to all of His servants. You see that the one who had quintupled his money, received the same loving congratulation as the mall who had centupled the pound committed to his care. However, we find each one rewarded according to his industry and thrift — the ten-pounder receiving the government of ten cities, and the five-pounder only five. Certainly the natural conclusion is very plain and simple. Our Lord is going to rule this world, in the glorious coming kingdom, through the instrumentality of His transfigured saints, among whom we find an endless diversity of reward.
Of course, none but carnally-minded people will apprehend the administration of the Millennial Theocracy from a selfish standpoint. In the realm of grace, the more we have, the more there is for others. After the multitude ate the loaves and fishes, there was vastly more left than all they began with. Even so in our Lord’s glorious kingdom, the more you receive, the more will be left for others. O what a thrilling inspiration to diligence, application, humility, frugality, industry, and perseverance! Let every one resolve to gain ten pounds, and receive the government of ten cities and the intervening country. I certainly would recoil from the responsibility of explaining away this plain and unequivocal parable of our Lord. O what a privilege to be one of His servants, and receive the pound from His hands, with all the encouragements of heavenly bliss and eternal felicity, on the one side, to inspire indefatigable energy, assiduity, and heroism; and on the other side, the awful incentives of hell and damnation to goad us up, and keep us, on precipitate wing, for truth, righteousness, holiness, and heaven! I certainly pity the exegete who shall undertake to emasculate, enervate, and explain away the lesson of this beautiful and unmistakable parable.
“Saying these things, He was going before them, marching up to Jerusalem.” Four times it has been my privilege to travel that same road from Jericho to Jerusalem. O how fond memories, on the wing of inspired history, did fly back to the days of yore, when Jesus walked along that road, accompanied by His disciples, and followed by the thronging multitude!
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv16–19 Luk 19:16, Luk 19:18.
Luke
THE TRADING SERVANTS
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Luk 19:16, Luk 19:18.
The Evangelist, contrary to his usual practice, tells us what was the occasion of this parable. It was spoken at Jericho, on our Lord’s last journey to Jerusalem, Bethany was but a day’s march distant; Calvary but a week ahead. An unusual tension of spirit marked our Lord’s demeanour, and was noticed by the disciples with awe. It infected them, and the excitable crowd, which was more than usually excitable because on its way to the passover festival. The air was electric, and everybody felt that something was impending. They ‘thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.’ So Christ spoke this parable to damp down that expectation which might easily flash up into the flame of rebellion. He tells them His real programme. He was to go a long way off to receive the kingdom. That was a familiar experience amongst the nations tributary to Rome, and more than one of the Herodian family had passed through it. In the meantime there was to be a period of expectancy. It was to be a long time, for he had to go to a ‘far country,’ and it was to be extended enough for the servants to turn their money over many times during His absence. When He did return it was not to do what they expected. They thought that the kingdom meant Jewish lordship over subject nations. He teaches them that it meant the destruction of the rebellious citizens, and a rigid scrutiny of the servants’ faithfulness.
Now, the words of my two texts bring out in connection with this outline of the future some large lessons which I desire to draw.
I. Notice the small capital that the servants receive to trade with.
It was a pound apiece, which, numismatic authorities tell us, is somewhat about the same value as some £6 odd of English money; though, of course, the purchasing power would be considerably greater. A small amount, and an equal amount to every servant-these are the two salient points of this parable. They make the broad distinction between it and the other parable, which is often mixed up with it, the parable of the talents. There, instead of the amount being excessively small, it is exceedingly great; for a talent was worth some £400, and ten talents would be £4000, a fair capital for a man to start with. The other point of difference between the two parables, which belongs to the essence of each, is that while the gift in the one case is identical, in the other case it is graduated and different.
Now, to suppose that these are but two varying versions of the same parable, which the Evangelists have manipulated is, in my judgment, to be blind to the plainest of the lessons to be drawn from them.
There are two sorts of gifts. In one, all Christian men, the Master’s servants, are alike; in another, they differ. Now, what is the thing in which all Christians are alike? What gift do they all possess equally; rich and poor, largely endowed or slenderly equipped; ‘talented’-as we use the word from the parable-or not? The rich man and the poor, the wise man and the foolish, the cultured man and the ignorant, the Fijian and the Englishman, have one thing alike-the message of salvation which we call the Gospel of the blessed Lord. That is the ‘pound.’ We all stand upon an equal platform there, however differently we are endowed in respect of capacities and other matters. All have it; and all have the same.
Now if that is the interpretation of this parable, there are considerations that flow from that thought, and on which I would dwell for a moment.
The first of them is the apparent smallness of the gift. You may feel a difficulty in accepting that explanation, and may have been saying to yourselves that it cannot be correct, because Jesus Christ would never compare the unspeakable gift of His message of salvation through Him, to that paltry sum. But throw yourselves back to the moment of utterance, and I think you will feel the pathos and power of the metaphor. Here was that handful of disciples set in the midst of a hostile world, dead against them, with its banded superstitions, venerable idolatries, systematised philosophies, the force of the mightiest instruments of material power that the world had ever seen, in the organisation and military power of Rome. And there stood twelve Galilean men, with their simple, unlettered message; one poor ‘pound,’ and that was all. ‘The foolishness of preaching,’ the message which to ‘the Jews was a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks was folly,’ was all that they were equipped with. Their Master, who left them to seek a Kingdom, had so little to bestow, before He received His crown, that all that He could spare them was that small sum. They had to go into business in a very poor way. They had to be content to do a very insignificant retail trade. ‘The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.’ The old experience of the leather sling and the five stones out of the brook, in the hand of the stripling, that made short work of the brazen armour of the giant, and penetrated with a whizz into his thick skull, and laid him prostrate, was to be repeated. ‘He called his servants, and gave them’-a pound apiece! If you and I, Christian men and women, were true to the Master’s legacy, and believed that we have in it more wealth than the treasures of wisdom and knowledge or force which the world has laid up, we should find that our mite was more than they all have in their possession.
Further, the texts suggest the purpose for which the pound is given. The servants had to live on it themselves, no doubt. So have we. They had to trade with it. So have we. Now that means two things. We get the Gospel, not as some of us lazily suppose, in order to secure that we shall not be punished for our past sins whilst we live, and go to heaven when we die. We get it, not only to enjoy its consolations and its sweetness, but to do business with.
And there are two ways in which this trading is to be done by us. The main one is the honest application of the principles and powers of the Gospel to the moulding of our own characters, and the making us better, purer, gentler, more heavenly-minded, and more Christlike. That is the first trading that we have to carry on with the Word. We get it not for an indolent assent, as so many of us misuse it. We receive it not merely to say, ‘Oh I believe it,’ and there an end, but that we may bring it to bear upon all our conduct, and that it may be the chief formative influence in our characters. Christian people! is that what you do with your Christianity? Is the Gospel moulding you, hour by hour, moment by moment? Have you brought all its great truths to bear upon your daily lives? Have you inwrought its substance into, not merely your understandings or your emotions, but your daily conduct? Is it indeed the life of your lives, and the leaven that is leavening your whole character? You have it to trade with; see that you do not wrap it in a napkin, and stow it idly away in some corner.
Then there is the other way of trading and that is, telling it to others. That is an obligation incumbent on all Christians. There may be differences in regard to other gifts, which determine the manner in which each shall use the equal gift which we all possess alike. But these are of subordinate importance. The main thing is to feel that the possession of Christian faith, which is our way of receiving the pound, carries with it indissolubly the obligation of Christian evangelism. However it may be discharged, discharged it is to be, by every true servant. I am sometimes half disposed to think that it would have been better for the Church if there had never been any men in my position, on whom the mass of unspiritual, idle because busy, and silent because little-loving, Christian professors contentedly roll the whole obligation to preach God’s Gospel. My brethren, the world is not going to be evangelised by officials. Until all Christian people wake up to the sense that they have the ‘pound’ to trade with, there will be nothing adequate done to bring the world to the obedience and the love of Jesus Christ. You say you have the Gospel; if you have it what are you doing with it?
Self-centred Christianity, if such a thing were possible, is a mistake. It is generally a sham; it is always a crime. A man that puts away his pound, and never goes out and says, ‘Come, share with me in the wealth that I have found in Jesus Christ’ will be like a miser that puts his hoardings into an old stocking, and hides it in the ground somewhere. When he goes to dig it up, he is only too likely to find that all the coins have slipped out. If you want to keep your Christianity, let the air into it. If you want it to increase, sow it. There are hosts of you who would be far happier Christian people, if you came out of your shells and traded with your pound.
II. Observe the varying profits of the trading.
The one man says, ‘Thy pound hath gained ten pounds.’ The other says, ‘Thy pound hath gained five pounds.’ And the others who are not mentioned, no doubt, had also varying results to present. Now that inequality of profits from an equal capital to start with, is but a picturesque way of saying what is, alas! too obviously true, that Christian people do not all stand on the same level in regard to the use they have made of, and the benefits they have derived from, the one equal gift which was bestowed upon them. It is the same to every one at the beginning, but differences develop as they go on. One man makes twice as much out of it as another does.
Now, let us distinctly understand what sort of differences these are which our Lord signalises here. Let me clear away a mistake which may interfere with the true lessons of this parable, that the differences in question are the superficial ones in apparent results which follow from difference of endowments, or from difference of influential position. That is the kind of meaning that is often attached to the ‘ten pounds’ or the ‘five pounds’ in the text. We think that the ten pounder is the man who has been able to do some large spiritual work for Jesus Christ, that fills the world with its greatness, the man who has been set in some most conspicuous place, and by reason of intellectual ability or other talent has been able to gather in many souls into the kingdom; but that is not Christ’s way of estimating. We should be going dead in the teeth of everything that He teaches if we thought that such as these were the differences intended. No, no! Every man that co-operates in a great work with equal diligence and devotion has an equal place in his eyes. The soldier that clapped Luther on the back as he was going into the Diet of Worms, and said, ‘You have a bigger fight to fight than we ever had; cheer up, little monk!’ stands on the same level as the great reformer, if what he did was done from the game motive and with as full consecration of himself. The old law of Israel states the true principle of Christian recompense: they that ‘abide by the stuff’ have the same share in the spoil as they ‘that go down into the battle.’ All servants who have exercised equal faithfulness and equal diligence stand on the same level and have the same success; no matter how different may be their estimation in the eyes of men; no matter how different may be the conspicuousness of the places that they fill in the eyes of the world whilst they live, or in the records of the Church when they are dead. Equal diligence will issue in equal results in the development of character, and the only reason for the diversity of results is the diversity of faithfulness and of zeal in trading with the pound.
Notice, too, before I go further, how all who trade make profits. There are no bad debts in that business. There are no investments that result in a loss. Everybody that goes into it makes something by it; which is just to say that any man who is honest and earnest in the attempt to utilise the powers of Christ’s Gospel for his own culture, or for the world’s good, will succeed in reality, however he may seem to fail in appearance. There are no commercial failures in this trading. The man with his ten pounds of profit made them because he worked hardest. The man that made the five made all that his work entitled him to. There was no one who came and said, ‘Lord! I put thy pound into my little shop, and I did my best with it, and it is all gone!’ Every Christian effort is crowned with success.
III. Lastly, we have here the final declaration of profits.
The master has come back. He is a king now, but he is the master still, and he wants to know what has become of the money that was left in the servants’ hands. Now, that is but a metaphorical way of bringing to our minds that which we cannot conceive of without metaphor-viz., the retribution that lies beyond the grave for us all. Although we cannot conceive it without metaphor, we may reach, through the metaphor to some apprehension, at any rate, of the facts that lie behind it. There are two points in reference to this final declaration of profits suggested here.
The first is this, that all the profit is ascribed to the capital. Neither of the two men say: ‘I, with thy pound, have gained,’ but ‘Thy pound hath gained.’ That is accurately true. For if I accept, and live by, any great moral truth or principle, it is the principle or the truth that is the real productive cause of the change in my life and character. I, by my acceptance of it, simply put the belt on the drum that connects my loom with the engine, but it is the engine that drives the looms and the shuttle, and brings out the web at last. And so, Christian people who, with God’s grace in their hearts, have utilised the ‘pound,’ and thereby made themselves Christlike, have to say, ‘It was not I, but Christ in me. It was the Gospel, and not my faith in the Gospel, that wrought this change.’ Is it your teeth or your dinner that nourishes you? Is it the Gospel or your trust in the Gospel that is the true cause of your sanctifying?
With regard to the other aspect of this trading, the same thing is true. Is it my word or Christ’s Word ministered by me that helps any of my hearers who are helped? Surely! surely! there is no question about that. It is the ‘pound’ that gains the ‘pounds.’ ‘Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So, then, neither is he that planteth anything nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.’
The other consideration suggested by these words is the exact knowledge of the precise results of a life, which is possessed at last. Each servant knew precisely what was the net outcome of his whole activity. That is exactly what we do not know here, and never shall, and never can know. But yonder all illusions will have vanished; and there will be two sorts of disillusionising then. Men, for instance, of my profession, whose names are familiar, and who hold high places in the esteem of the Church, and may be tempted to suppose that they have done a great deal-I am afraid that many of us will find, when we get yonder, that we have not done nearly so much as our admirers in this world, and we ourselves, were sometimes tempted to think that we had done. The searching light that comes in will show a great many seamy places in the cloth that looks very sound when it is inspected in the twilight. And there will be another kind of disillusionising. Many a man has said, ‘Lord! I have laboured in vain, and spent my strength for nought,’ who will find out that he was mistaken, and that where he saw failure there were solid results; that where he thought the grain had perished in the furrows, it had sprung up and borne fruit unto life everlasting. ‘Lord! when saw we Thee in prison, and visited Thee?’ We never knew that we had done anything of the sort. ‘Behold! I was left alone,’ said the widowed Jerusalem when she was restored to her husband, ‘these’-children that have gathered round me-’where had they been?’ We shall know, for good or bad, exactly the results of our lives.
We shall have to tell them. The slothful servant, too, was under this compulsion of absolute honesty. If he had not been so, do you think he would have ventured to stand up before his master, a king now, and insult him to his face? But he had to turn himself inside out, and tell then what he had thought in his inmost heart. So ‘every one of us shall give an account of himself to God’; and like a man in the bankruptcy court, we shall have to explain our books, and go into all our transactions. We are working in the dark today. Our work will be seen as it is, in the light. The coral reef rises in the ocean, and the creatures that made it do not see it. The ocean will be drained away, and the reef will stand up sheer and distinct.
My brother! ‘I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire’-and when you have bought your pound, see that you use it; for ‘it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv13, 15, 27 "mina," here translated "a pound," is 12 ounces and…
pounds
"mina," here translated "a pound," is 12 ounces and a half.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v28 V. In Jerusalem -- Chapter 19:28-21:38
V. In Jerusalem -- Chapter 19:28-21:38
CHAPTER 19:28-48
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1. The Triumphal Entry in Jerusalem. (Luk 19:28-40.)
2. Weeping over Jerusalem. (Luk 19:41-44.)
3. The Purification of the Temple. (Luk 19:45-48.)
Luk 19:28-40
The triumphal entry of the Lord into Jerusalem has been before us already in Matthew and Mark. He is presented as King. Luke gives an interesting addition. The multitude of disciples rejoiced and praised God for all the mighty works they had seen. “Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven and glory in the highest.” The angelic announcement was “peace on earth”; here the disciples say “peace in heaven.” Such will be the ultimate and glorious effect of the work of Christ, when Satan will be cast out of heaven, the heavenly inheritance redeemed (Eph 1:13), and the reconciliation of things in heaven (Col 1:20) accomplished. All this and much more will surely come, when the King-Messiah comes again. Then there will be peace on earth, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Luk 19:41-48. What a scene it must have been when He saw the great city and wept over it! Before He utters the great prophecy announcing the doom of the city, He weeps. What a glimpse it gives of the loving heart of the Saviour-King, the friend of sinners! And all came as He announced. The second cleansing of the temple took place after that. See annotations on Mar 11:15-18.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv11, 15, 22, 28 The Parable of the Talents.
The Parable of the Talents.
The departure of the nobleman:
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v. 11. And as they heard these things, He added and spake a parable, because He was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.
v. 12. He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into afar country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
v. 13. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
v. 14. But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.
To seek and save that which was lost, this, as Jesus had just stated, was the purpose of His coming. As the Messiah of the world He could have no other object, according to the prophecies of old. And therefore He wanted to impress this fact upon all His hearers, especially His disciples, once more. At the same time He wanted to indicate to them in just what way He expected His servants, His disciples and the believers of all time, to continue His work. He wanted to impress upon them the sense of responsibility in their position as followers of the Lord. He was nearing Jerusalem; the last act of the great drama was about to begin; He would soon be removed from their midst as their visible Leader. They must give up the foolish idea with which they were obsessed, as though Christ would still have a temporal rule, an earthly kingdom. Some of the disciples even now had the idea that He would be proclaimed king at Jerusalem at this time. So He wanted to make it clear to them that He was going away, and that they were, in the meantime, to continue the work which He had begun, in the upbuilding of the Church by the preaching of the Gospel. A certain man of noble birth, a prince, took a journey into a far country in order to take possession of a kingdom which belonged to him. He had the definite purpose and intention to return. But before going, he called ten of his servants to him and gave to them ten pounds, or minae (the value of each being somewhat less than twenty dollars). His instructions were brief and to the point: Do business until I come. The servants were to invest the money profitably, and gain for the master as much as possible. No sooner had the lord left than the citizens of his country sent an embassy after him with the message: We do not want this man to be king over us. They declared a state of open revolt against him.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv11, 13, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28 General Information:
General Information:
Jesus begins to tell a parable to the crowd. Verse 11 gives background information about why Jesus tells the parable. (See: Parables and Background Information)
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that the kingdom of God was about to appear immediately
The Jews believed that the Messiah would establish the kingdom as soon as he came to Jerusalem. AT: "that Jesus would immediately begin to rule over God's kingdom" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
A certain nobleman
"A certain man who was a member of the ruling class" or "A certain man from an important family"
to receive for himself a kingdom
This is the image of a lesser king going to a greater king. The greater king would give the lesser king the right and authority to rule over his own country. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
parable
Jerusalem
kingdom of God
noble
kingdom
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv11, 12, 14, 17, 23, 26, 27, 28 19:11-27 This parable has two main purposes: (1) to…
19:11-27 This parable has two main purposes: (1) to teach stewardship, the need to manage gifts and resources well while the king (Jesus) is away (cp. Matt 25:14-30); and (2) to correct the impression that the Kingdom of God would begin right away upon Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem. Most Jews of Jesus’ day expected that when the Messiah came, God’s Kingdom would be established physically on earth, with Jerusalem at its center (see Isa 2:2-4; 35:1-10; 65:17-25; Jer 30–31; Ezek 37, 40-48; Mic 4:1-5).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.