Amy C Walters

The Parable of the Ten Minas | Luke 19:11-27

Jesus is on the outskirts of Jerusalem and his followers are hoping that he will soon establish his kingdom. So Jesus tells them a parable about a nobleman who goes away for a while and returns a king. And while he’s gone, his servants have work to do.

This parable follows close on the heels of the story of Zacchaeus. In fact, it starts off by saying, “While they were listening to these things.” “These things” refers to the interaction between Jesus and Zacchaeus. 

This parable is also very similar to the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) but with some key, intentional differences. One of those differences is the explanation of why Jesus tells this parable this way and at this time: because Jesus was near to Jerusalem and because the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. So this has to do with the timing of the kingdom of God. 

But before we get into this parable and what it has to do with timing, let’s look back at what Jesus has done and said up to this point. Then, let’s look ahead to what comes just after this and see how these things all relate together. 

First of all, what have we seen from Jesus so far? We’ve seen incredible miracles: calming storms, feeding thousands, and healing diseases. We’ve seen Jesus teaching with power and authority that stumps even the Pharisees. And we’ve seen Jesus winning over people who seem to be far from God, like Zacchaeus. 

The story that follows this one is the Triumphal Entry, when Jesus enters Jerusalem. In that story, we’ll see how the people welcome Jesus as a king into Jerusalem. 

With everything that the crowd has seen from Jesus, it makes sense that they would now expect him to enter Jerusalem and establish his kingdom right then and there. In that context, Jesus tells them this parable. 

The main character is a nobleman who is a rightful ruler, but instead of taking the throne right then, he goes away for a time and then returns as the king. So there’s a gap in time, an indeterminate length of time between when the nobleman leaves and when he returns. 

And in that gap, the nobleman assigns tasks to his servants. He calls ten of his servants and gives them ten minas. A mina was a unit of money that was equal to about three months’ wages. 

Notice that each of the servants received the same quantity: one mina. They each had equal opportunity to use it well. 

Notice too that this mina came from the nobleman. This was his own money used to seed their enterprise. 

And what is the assignment that the nobleman gives them? He says, “Engage in business.” He gives each servant the responsibility of investing that mina so that it grows and multiplies.

How long does this assignment last? He says, “Until I return.” So this is both a specific length of time and an unknown length of time. They don’t know when the king will return. 

How does this parable fit with the current context and the situation that Jesus’ followers found themselves in? Jesus is teaching his followers that he is the nobleman king, and he will establish his rule over everything. But not yet. There is a gap. And in that gap, there is work for his servants to do. In fact, that is our key truth today: there is work to be done while the king is gone.

The king represents Jesus, and his servants are his followers. And that gap is right now: we are in that time period.

What about the minas? This one is a little more tricky. There is a little bit more debate over what those minas represent.

Kent Hughes believes that the minas represent the gospel. We have all received the gospel, and we now have the responsibility to do something with it: first of all, to accept it ourselves, and secondly, to spread it to others. 

The minas could represent our lives. We each have received one life to do something with. Will we use it well? 

Jesus has been talking a lot in the near context about money and how it’s to be spent in telling people about the kingdom. Maybe that’s what the minas refer to. 

They could be talents and skills. That’s what we usually go to in the Parable of the Talents. How are we using our experiences and abilities and knowledge to point people to the king? 

I think that Jesus leaves it purposely vague in this parable because the emphasis is not on the minas themselves, but on the multiplication of them. I think he’s saying that whatever you have received from the king, multiply it. 

So then what are the implications for us, the king’s servants, Jesus’ followers? What will it take to obey Jesus’ orders and multiply what he has given us until he returns?

It’s going to require faithfulness and perseverance. not stopping and not giving up. To the servants who invest well, the king says, “Well done, good servant. You have been faithful.” The gap in time before the king returns is no time to be lazy or hide. There’s work to do. 

This emphasis on investment reminds us that there’s risk involved. It can be risky business investing what the king has left to us, and yet it is necessary for multiplication. 

It also requires that the servants look for opportunities. It requires a proactiveness on their part to not just sit back and wait for those opportunities to come, but to be on the lookout to find ways to multiply what the king has given us.

And it requires that the servants see everything they have is on loan from the king. We as Jesus’ followers must recognize that our money, our resources, our homes, our relationships, our jobs, our lives themselves are all things on loan from the king to use for his purposes.