20 November Lk 19:11-28 As they were listening to this, he went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. So he said, A nobleman went to a distant country to get royal power for himself and then return. He summoned ten of his slaves, and gave them ten pounds, and said to them, Do business with these until I come back. But the citizens of his country hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, We do not want this man to rule over us. When he returned, having received royal power, he ordered these slaves, to whom he had given the money, to be summoned so that he might find out what they had gained by trading. The first came forward and said, Lord, your pound has made ten more pounds. He said to him, Well done, good slave! Because you have been trustworthy in a very small thing, take charge of ten cities. Then the second came, saying, Lord, your pound has made five pounds. He said to him, And you, rule over five cities. Then the other came, saying, Lord, here is your pound. I wrapped it up in a piece of cloth, for I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man; you take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow. He said to him, I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! You knew, did you, that I was a harsh man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not put my money into the bank? Then when I returned, I could have collected it with interest. He said to the bystanders, Take the pound from him and give it to the one who has ten pounds. (And they said to him, Lord, he has ten pounds!) I tell you, to all those who have, more will be given; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them – bring them here and slaughter them in my presence. After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. They are still on the road to Jerusalem, a journey whose significance Luke has built up carefully. Jesus is giving a teaching for the times to come, when he will no longer be with them. He tells the parable of the ruler who went abroad, leaving his servants to look after things. Its bearing is all too obvious. The point of the story was: “To all those who have, more will be given.” It sounds very unjust; it is just like the way the business world operates. Was he just setting up a company? How could spiritual practice be just like business practice? The business world deals with things, property, money. How could the same rules apply to inner realities: mind, heart, spirit? The blunt fact is that they do, but the significance is quite different. For the one who loves (for example), more love will become possible; to the one who uses the intelligence he or she has, more will be given; to the one who prays, more prayer will be possible. It is by using what is given to us that we become capable of more. (See Nov. 16) In its negative form Luke gives two slightly different versions of this moral: “From those who do not have, even what they seem to have will be taken away” (8:18); and the present text: “From those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.” The second version is the paradox at full strength (as in Matthew 13:12; 25:29 and Mark 4:25). This is repeated so often that we could see it as a basic axiom of the Gospel. What does it mean? How can something be taken from me if I don’t have it in the first place? The answer I think is this: even if I don’t have something I have the capacity for it; and the terrible truth is that I can lose this too. It is a more drastic loss than the other: if I lose the capacity for something then I cant receive it even if the whole world were to thrust it into my lap.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 02:55:13 +0000
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