Monday after the Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on November 20, 2023 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 19:11-27 (NKJV)
19:11 Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately. 12 Therefore He said: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. 13 So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’ 14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’
15 “And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. 16 Then came the first, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten minas.’ 17 And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’ 18 And the second came, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned five minas.’ 19 Likewise he said to him, ‘You also be over five cities.’
20 “Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief. 21 For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ 22 And he said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. 23 Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’
24 “And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.’ 25 (But they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas.’) 26 ‘For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 27 But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.’”
Devotion
Many of the disciples thought that Jesus was going to establish an earthly kingdom. They supposed (incorrectly) that He would overthrow the Roman government and reign in glory here on earth (Acts 1:6). Therefore, Jesus told the Parable of the Ten Minas to explain how the kingdom of God’s glory would appear. Jesus (the “certain nobleman” of the parable) ascended into heaven to the right hand of the Father to receive the kingdom for us. At the end of the age, He will return and say to all who believe in Him: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34).
We will not inherit the kingdom because of any work that we do. Everything is given to us by the grace of God. The salvation which we have through Jesus is God’s work. Even the good works which we do are not entirely our own. The minas which we produce by trading come from the original mina that God has given us. When Jesus asks what we have earned by trading, we should confess: “Your mina has earned ten/five minas.” “We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.” (Luke 17:10)
Collect: O God, so rule and govern our hearts and minds by Thy Holy Spirit, that being ever mindful of the end of all things, and the day of Thy just judgment, we may be stirred up to holiness of living here, and dwell with Thee forever hereafter; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
