they thought that the Kingdom of God
The people misunderstood the fact that the Kingdom of God was among them to mean that its final and complete realization was imminent. But before Jesus would reign on earth he would first depart, as it would seem, to a distant country. He would ascend to right hand of the Father with his resurrected human nature and take his seat on the heavenly throne.
He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins
and told them, ‘Engage in trade with these until I return.’
The context of the parable about the gold coins was to serve as instructions for how those who awaited the second coming of Jesus were to live in the interim. It was not only a matter of waiting and looking up at the sky after him. There was work to be done. However, it was not work that the Church did primarily with its own resources. Rather it was the coins entrusted to it by Jesus himself that chiefly defined the principal task of the followers of Jesus. This task would indeed be carried out in a world in which they would be surrounded by people who did not want Jesus to be their king. No doubt this made such antagonistic individuals skeptical of any investments that smelled of originating from Jesus's gifts or which were apparently motivated by his purposes.
Then the second came and reported,
‘Your gold coin, sir, has earned five more.
The only real failure when it came to the gifts with which Jesus has entrusted his people was a failure to use them. Even doing next to nothing, putting the money in a bank to gain interest, would still have produced a pleasing result. As it was, the cities that the stewards received did not represent their own skills or abilities so much as the level of trust they were able to place in Jesus himself. Their own reign resulted from their willingness to listen and to obey rather than from any profound investment strategy they devised on their own. By contrast the one who failed to invest seemed to take an opinion of the nobleman that was shaped by the surrounding culture that did not wish him to become king. Choosing not to trust the nobleman proved to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. His fear was not a helpful fear but rather projected a negative image on the nobleman which only became true because of he the degree that he continued to insist on seeing him that way.
I tell you,
to everyone who has, more will be given,
but from the one who has not,
even what he has will be taken away.
We are among those to whom much have been given. But if we don't take Jesus at his word and trust him we may render ourselves among those who have not. We have as much as we could ever need precisely to the degree that we trust Jesus. But if we fall back on ourselves or let our view of ourselves be shaped by people who do not want Jesus to be king we will quickly encounter our own insufficiency. It is not too late to believe in the abundance with which Jesus has gifted us, to take him at his word and set about putting it to work.
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work (see Second Corinthians 9:8)
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