The Minas is the parable of a nobleman who went into a far country to receive a kingdom and then return.
He gave ten servants ten minas and said, Engage in business until I come.
His citizens hated him and sent a delegation: We do not want this man to reign over us.
The first servant’s mina gained ten.
He received authority over ten cities.
The second gained five.
The one who hid his mina lost it.
As for these enemies of mine,
who did not want me to reign over them,
bring them here and slaughter them before me.
Luke dates the story. He was near Jerusalem. They supposed the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. Jesus told of a nobleman who must go away to receive the kingdom—Archelaus had gone to Rome for that kind of title, and the Jews had sent a protest. The picture is plain. The King leaves. Servants trade. Citizens rebel. He returns having received the kingdom. A mina is a modest sum, the same gift to each of the ten. Faithfulness is measured by increase, not by starting capital. Ten cities and five cities are real authority in the coming reign, not a ribbon. The man who laid the gift away in a cloth calls the master severe and is judged by his own words. The enemies are another group. They are not lazy servants. They are subjects who refused His reign.
The parable therefore holds three lines at once:
- delay before the appearing,
- work with what He entrusted,
- and the hard end of those who will not have this Man as King.
Zacchaeus has just been called a son of Abraham. The crowd is walking toward a city that will cry, We have no king but Caesar. The nobleman will not stay away forever.
- They thought the kingdom would appear at once. He told them it would not.
- Receive a kingdom and return is the shape of this age.
- The same mina to each servant. The question is what you do until He comes.
- Cities are the reward of faithful trade. Little here becomes rule there.
- The cloth is unbelief dressed as caution.
- Enemies who will not have Him reign are not the same as the timid servant—and both meet Him.
- Engage in business until I come is the charge of the church between the going and the coming.
- The Departure – A nobleman goes to receive a kingdom.
- The Charge – Do business until I come.
- The Same Gift – Ten servants, ten minas.
- The Protest – We do not want this man to reign over us.
- The Return – Having received the kingdom.
- The Cities – Authority matching faithfulness.
- The Enemies – Slain before Him; refusal of His reign is not a small opinion.
- Luke 19:11-14 – “As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. He said therefore, ‘A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, and said to them, “Engage in business until I come.” But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, “We do not want this man to reign over us.”’”
- Luke 19:15-19 – “When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.’ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’ And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made five minas.’ And he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’”
- Luke 19:20-24 – “Then another came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief… I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man.’ He said to him, ‘I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant!… Why then did you not put my money in the bank…?’ And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’”
- Luke 19:25-27 – “‘Lord, he has ten minas!’ ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’”
- Luke 19:9-10 – Today salvation has come to this house; the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
- Matthew 25:14-30 – The talents: different sums, same demand of faithfulness, same outer darkness for the one who buried the gift.
- Acts 1:6-11 – Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom? It is not for you to know times or seasons. You will be My witnesses. This Jesus will come in the same way.
- Luke 19:38, 41-44 – Blessed is the King who comes; He wept over the city that did not know the time of its visitation.
- John 19:15 – “We have no king but Caesar.”
- Psalm 2:1-6, 12 – The nations rage; He has set His King on Zion; kiss the Son.
- Luke 12:42-48 – The faithful manager; much given, much required.
- Matthew 25:21 – Well done, good and faithful servant; faithful over a little, set over much.
- Revelation 2:26-27 – The one who conquers and keeps My works until the end—authority over the nations.
- Revelation 20:4, 6 – They came to life and reigned with Christ.
- 1 Corinthians 4:2 – It is required of stewards that they be found faithful.
- 2 Timothy 4:1, 8 – He will judge the living and the dead by His appearing and His kingdom; a crown for those who have loved His appearing.
- Romans 14:10-12 – We will all stand before the judgment seat of God; each will give an account.
A nobleman went into a far country to receive a kingdom and then return.
Engage in business until I come.
We do not want this man to reign over us.
Well done, good servant. Faithful in a very little—authority over ten cities.
I was afraid. I hid it in a cloth. Take it from him.
As for these enemies of Mine who did not want Me to reign over them, bring them here.
The kingdom would not appear that afternoon. It will appear. Trade with what He gave. Do not wrap the mina. Do not join the delegation that refuses the King. He returns having received the kingdom.
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