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The Parable and the Point

It is Friday and as we read thru the New Testament we have arrived at Luke 19:11-48. After you have the chance to read the passage, come back and we’ll walk thru it a bit more.

Sometimes when we read Scripture - especially the Gospel stories - we can fail to see the connections in what the writer is giving us. Luke tells us that after dinner with Zacchaeus and that memorable encounter the day before, Jesus comes out to the crowd once again, and along with the disciples, they were going to head on to Jerusalem.

“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”

Luke sets the stage for this journey into Jerusalem. They were near Jerusalem - about 5 miles - and there was anticipation building among the crowd that Jesus would be pronounced King. Of course, we know that this was not Jesus’ intent, and his journey to Jerusalem was the opening of the week-long final events that would lead up to his death. We read that Jesus begins by telling a parable - a story that he throws out to his followers to make a point. A Nobleman leaves to get authorization to be the King of his land. He leaves 10 servants in charge, each with ten “minas” of money. A Mina was worth about 3 months' wages - so no small amount is given to each. They were now not merely servants, but “stewards”, people put in charge of the property, wealth, possessions of another.
As we read the story we can hear the words - he comes back, has three of them report...two did well...one did not. There’s another part to the story though. After he left, there were “subjects” who did not want him to be their King. One of them includes the third servant who said to the returning nobleman, “you are a hard man”. So here you have the characters... a King who leaves, servants who are left behind, faithfulness on the part of some, unfaithfulness on the part of another. Why did Jesus tell it?

Context... we must read on. Vs 28 begins, “After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem”. From Jericho the journey is “up”, through the villages of Bethphage first, then thru Bethany (where he will spend the weekend with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus). He crests the mount of Olives and tells two of his disciples to go find the man who has a donkey tied up - just for his entrance. Neither the disciples nor the owner knows ahead of time what Jesus is about to do. The disciples tell the owner, “the Lord needs it”. Not Jesus, not the Messiah, but the Lord! Now Jesus begins to ride the donkey - an ancient symbol in Israel of a King entering the city. The disciples and crowd following are excited... “Hosanna...blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord”... it is a quote from the Psalms recited at Passover. They are thinking, “The King from God has finally come”. The crowd must have burst into acclamation, but the Pharisees rush up to Jesus to tell him to stop this...he replies that even if they stopped, God would have the rocks proclaim it. What is happening?

As Jesus crests the Mount on the donkey and the disciples and crowd are crying out to proclaim him King, he begins to weep. The word Luke uses is not “shed a tear”, it is a word that describes “deep deep sobbing”. The King now becomes a Prophet. He knows what is ahead. He knows that in Jerusalem He will be rejected as King, for the King he was to become needed to die on the cross as a sacrificial lamb. It is Passover and in this coming, Jesus will not claim his Kingship, nor his Kingdom rule at this time. Instead, he weeps because he knows what is ahead. First, to him, Judgement from God for Sin. Then, ahead, Judgement on Jerusalem. It will be 40 years later, but in 70 a.d., the Roman armies came and destroyed Jerusalem. They came with an army of hundreds of thousands, built an embankment up to the wall of Jerusalem. When they broke through they killed a million Jews, and destroyed the Temple - all that was to remain was a wall on the West side of the former Temple. Jesus wept...and Prophetically told them what was going to happen. They didn’t want the kind of King he was to become.

Then Luke tells us that he took on his third role - as Priest. He entered the Temple and began to clean it out. This place of worship and prayer dedicated to God had become a religious flea market for wealth and the leader’s profit instead of their service. Luke adds... ”every day he was teaching in the Temple” and the religious leaders didn’t like it, so they began the plot against him. The Subjects did not want him to be their King. They didn’t want him as King, Prophet, or Priest.

The story, in the beginning, Jesus told, anticipates the drama that unfolds. A King will leave, but someday return, and will there be faithful followers? Yes, but also some who are not. Jesus was the Messiah, God’s King...he was the Prophet who spoke the truth of what happens when people reject the King...he was the Priest who will offer himself as the sacrifice to cleanse his people - us - from our Sin, and who now intercedes for us...but one day, will come back to be King and restore God’s Kingdom upon the earth. Courageously, Jesus had “set his face” to go to Jerusalem, and they couldn’t see who he was when he came.

For us, now, serving the King courageously, faithfully, even in the face of those who reject him, and rebel against him is our “minas” given. We will also give an account to the Lord for our own service someday. What kind of servant shall we be? He rode in on a donkey which demonstrated his humility. He came to a city that would reject him, yet he came to die for them. He spoke the truth and began his last week on earth in the magnificent temple that would soon be destroyed. Serving, not in pompous fanfare, but in quiet humility. Our lives are not to be lived for power, wealth, earthly favors...and so should our lives be lived with Jesus as our King always on our minds...the King who one day will return and ask us to give an account of our stewardship.

Peace

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