Scripture Daily

Context No. 830 of 4322 · Luke

Context · Reflection

Luke 19:25-31: in context

25“They said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’ 26‘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. 27But bring those enemies of mine who didn’t want me to reign over them here, and kill them before me.’” 28Having said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29When he came near to Bethsphage and Bethany, at the mountain that is called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples, 30saying, “Go your way into the village on the other side, in which, as you enter, you will find a colt tied, which no man has ever sat upon. Untie it and bring it. 31If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say to him: ‘The Lord needs it.’”

The parable Jesus has been telling ends on a hard, memorable line. A nobleman gave his servants money to put to work while he was away, and on his return the ones who traded and multiplied it are rewarded, while the one who simply hid his single mina in a cloth, doing nothing with it out of fear that the master was harsh, has even that taken from him. To everyone who has, Jesus says, more will be given; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. The bystanders protest, but the principle stands, and it is not about hoarding money. It is about what you do with what you were given.

The servant who lost everything did not squander his mina or gamble it away. He kept it perfectly safe, wrapped up and buried, precisely because he was afraid. And that turns out to be the failure: not recklessness but fear, the fear that paralyzes a person into doing nothing at all with the gift entrusted to them. A gift used, even at some risk, multiplies; a gift buried out of fear atrophies and is lost. That is the sober logic here. The talents and opportunities and callings God hands out are not museum pieces to be protected behind glass; they are seed to be sown. And then Jesus turns from the parable and walks on toward Jerusalem, sending two disciples ahead to fetch a colt no one has ridden, with the strange password, the Lord needs it, on his way to be, himself, the king so many did not want to reign.

The servant lost his gift not by wasting it but by burying it out of fear. What has God entrusted to me that I have wrapped up and hidden away, too afraid to risk using it, and so watched it quietly wither?

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