Luke 19:20-23 20And another came, saying, ‘Lord, behold your mina, which I have kept put away safely in a cloth; 21 for I was afraid of you, because you are strict man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.’ 22 He said to him, ‘From your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. Did you know that I am a strict man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? 23 So then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?’
A third servant came to give his report to the king. He thought the best approach was just to keep the single mina safe by wrapping it up and probably just hiding it away someplace for safekeeping. There are two problems in his report. The most significant issue was that the servant was afraid of the king. This fear came from the second major issue that the servant did not really know the king.
The fear of the servant was ungrounded and came from his own perception. He thought the king was a hard man who got rich by extracting money from people. Many wealthy people today are blamed for the same thing. They “got rich on the backs of the poor.” Sometimes that is the case, but other times, their wealth came from hard work, wise investments, and careful business practices. The third servant did not know the king wealth enough that he was actually quite generous, as his response to the other two servants shows. The new king judges the servant based on the servant’s understanding of him.
The servant failed at two crucial points. The most significant was that he did not know the character of the king. Knowledge comes through spending time with a person, watching, learning, and coming to understand how a person acts. The second failure was basic common business sense. The servant thought only of himself and his safety. Growing a business requires the risk of faith.
The implied application of this point of the parable is that disciples should not be fearful, lazy, or passive while awaiting Jesus’ return. What drives this fear is that people do not know king Jesus well. They may be casual followers who attend church once a year or once a month. Their discipleship is only a social faith out of obligation. Jesus calls his followers and extends his invitation to all people to get to know him and his ways. This personal knowledge should lead to obedient faith that makes a difference in the world by influencing others through the shining light of changes lives.
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