Day 7: No Need to Wait
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Transcript
In the Roman Empire, you couldn’t just declare yourself as ruler over a territory. You had to get permission from Rome. The Roman emperor had to appoint you as the leader. When there was a transition of power within one of the territories of Rome, the potential successor would have to travel to Rome in order to make it official.
In Luke 19, Jesus tells a parable that reflects that very thing. Many of his followers had heard Jesus talk about a new coming kingdom, and as he had done on a number of occasions, Jesus uses a parable to paint a picture of what this kingdom would look like—and how it would be different from any other kingdom. The parable starts with a situation the listeners would have known something about. Jesus says,
““A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’”
In other words, the nobleman was saying, “I’m not fully the king yet, but when I return, I will be.” This potential king was headed off to get the blessing of the governing authority (Rome in their case), and he leaves instructions to his servants while he’s gone. He gives ten servants ten minas—one mina apiece. (A mina wasn’t a small sum of money. It’s the equivalent of several thousand dollars for each person.)
While the nobleman was away, here’s what happened: A couple of the servants embraced the challenge, and they put that money to work. One of them made ten times more money, and another made five times more. But the third servant was nervous about losing the money altogether, so he just tucked it away.
When the king got back, he asked his servants what they had done with his money. He was pleased with the first two servants, but he asked the third servant why he didn’t at least do the bare minimum with his mina. Or, as Jesus says in the parable,
“‘Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’”
The king then took that servant's money and gave it to the one who had multiplied the money by ten, saying,
“‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away.’”
Now remember, this is a parable, and like all parables, it points to a lesson for the listener. But the takeaway from this parable didn’t involve an earthly king or kingdom. This was an illustration about Jesus’s kingdom. We’re not to passively wait for the king’s return—it is God’s desire that we actively participate in his work now, using everything he’s entrusted to us.
We can be one of two kinds of people. We can either take what we’ve been given and multiply it for kingdom purposes, or we can watch other people do it. Let’s be the former. Let’s choose to be people who don’t wait around but who proactively use what we’ve been given for something greater than us—investing in the kingdom of God.
“Heavenly Father,
I don’t want to sit back and wait. Give me the courage to step out in faith and use what you’ve given me to make a difference. Amen.”
