Second Presbyterian Church

"What Have We Done With God's Minas
Preaching From the Gospel of Luke"
August 21, 2005

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Sermons Homepage » Sermons for 2005 » Sermons for August 2005 » Sermons from the Series on Luke

#59 in the Series on Luke
The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.

• Deuteronomy 29: 10-15
• Luke 19: 11-27

Let's be clear what we are talking about here in this passage. First of all, the word, mina or minas, is NOT a tiny little fish swimming around in streams! Those are called minnows, m-i-n-n-o-w-s. These, in this text are called minas, m-i-n-a-s. Mina is money. It was worth about three months wages of a laborer. It's hard to estimate what it would be worth in today's terms, but $7,000 would be in the ball game.

So, when I ask, "What have we done with God's minas?" we are not referring to God's little fishy creatures in the water. I am referring to something else.

This is not an easy parable to hear, because it has judgments that seem harsh to us. Interestingly the Common Revised Lectionary includes the passage immediately before this one (the one about Zacchaeus) and it includes the immediately following passage. I suspect that this passage is omitted in the Common Lectionary because it seems harsh.

Let us listen to this passage and see what it might have to say to us. Jesus was almost in Jerusalem. The next passage is his Triumphal Entry. Jesus is very aware that he is going there to be crucified and to die. He is very aware that after he is resurrected, he will leave to go to heaven to be with God the Father until it is time for his return.

But the people expect something different. They expect Jesus to enter Jerusalem and establish the glory of the throne of David, because that is what the Messiah is "supposed to do."

So Jesus tells this parable about a nobleman going away to acquire his credentials to become king. When he returns he will be ruler over the territory. The nobleman calls ten servants to him and gives each of them a mina (more or less $7,000) and orders them to do business with them until he returns. Meanwhile a delegation from his area that hated the nobleman goes after him saying, "We do not want this man to rule over us." (This kind of event actually happened around that time. Archelaus went to Rome seeking his kingdom from the Emperor. And some of his subjects sent a delegation to ask that he not be made king over them.)

Back to the parable: when the nobleman returned, he called his servants to ask for an accounting of their activities with the minas. The first came forward and reported that the mina the nobleman had loaned him was now worth ten more minas. The nobleman was pleased and put that servant in charge of 10 cities. The Second servant came forward and reported that the mina the nobleman had "given" him was not worth five minas. The nobleman was pleased and put that servant in charge of 5 cities.

The third slave came forward. He had done nothing with the mina entrusted to him. And I believe it is noteworthy that he was the one who had the most to say; he knew he was in trouble and he tried to talk his way out of it! It didn't work. The nobleman had the mina taken from him and given to the servant who had ten.

Then Jesus made this very famous statement: "I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away."

Let me see if I have this right; you mean that those who have money will get more money, and the Lord will see to it that they receive even that which the poor have? At first this parable can be misunderstood in that manner, since it uses the example of money in the first place!

But this goes against everything that Jesus has said so far. It goes against everything Luke has said so far. Up to this point in Luke's Gospel, the rich had been placed on notice and the poor had received the love and compassion of our Messiah. It seems tremendously inconsistent that Jesus would suddenly, without warning, change the strategy and be partial to the rich and oppress the poor.

Again, it is a parable of Jesus going away. It signified that Jesus would be killed, resurrected, and then return with power. With that in mind the minas mean more than just money, they mean God-given talents entrusted to Christians to use for the purpose of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! We have all been given gifts that Jesus Christ has given us to serve His Church, those who claim to be the followers of Jesus.

We have a well-known phrase: "Use it, or lose it." This is more in line with what Jesus is saying. The gifts, the talents you have been given - on loan from God - are to be USED FOR THE PURPOSE OF GOD! And we are to use them until Jesus Christ returns for us.

You might ask, "What is my gift?" I ask you, "Do you consider yourself Christian?" If your answer is a genuine "yes" then the Holy Spirit has given you certain gifts to use to serve the Kingdom of God here on earth. How do you know this is true? I shall answer with another question, "Are you still living?" If you are still alive, then you have gifts from God to use. And they shall remain until you die.

In fact, we could discuss whether I am talking about spiritual death, or not. At first, I was meaning physical death. We live in Christ until we die, then we are dead in Christ. We have our God-given talents, which may change over the years, until we have finished this life and go to be with the Lord.

But I guess it is also true that we could spiritually die before we physically die. At that point we run the risk of allowing our God-given talents to atrophy - lack of use. We use it or lose it. In a sense that is what happened to the third servant. He had not used the mina entrusted to him by the nobleman. And in the end he was without; the mina had been taken from him and given to the servant with the ten minas.

So, what are we doing with the God's minas? Again, we remember that the talents that we have are from God; they belong to God; and we are to use them for the purpose of God's Kingdom. So, what are we doing with the minas that God has entrusted with us? That is the question of this sermon. What are we doing with the gifts/talents that the Lord has entrusted to us to use to build up the Kingdom of God? Amen.

The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.