onthly MeditationMeditation for September 2010
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Judith reads:
The seventeenth and the last Parable of Jesus unique to the Gospel of St. Luke is variously known as the Parable of the Ten Servants or the Parable of the Ten Pounds. It is found in Luke 19: 12 - 27. Though this parable is counted as peculiar to St. Luke, it is very similar to the Parable of the Three Servants or the parable of the Talents recorded in the Gospel of St. Matthew, chapter 25.
Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and is telling this parable to the crowd following him, in order to correct the impression that the Kingdom of God would begin right away. Christ speaks in the parable, of a nobleman who is called away to a distant place in order to be crowned king and then to return; he speaks of many who hated the nobleman and didn't want him as king. The nobleman, of course, is a reference to Christ.
In the parable, we are told that the nobleman called together ten of his servants and gave them ten pounds of silver to be divided among them. He asked them to invest the silver for him while he was away.
When he returns as king he calls his servants to account for the results of their investments. Two of them had made good profits for their master while another servant said that he was so afraid of making a mistake that he hid his share not daring to risk his master's wrath should he fail at his task. The king was angry at this and took away his one pound of silver and gave it to the one who, through his wise investment, now had ten pounds.
"Decisions about our allegiance to the ruler," says Joel B. Green, "are manifest in terms of our practices regarding possessions."
While we wait for the return of Jesus to Earth and the coming of the Kingdom of God, what we do with the possessions and talents we have been given is crucial in showing our allegiance and faithfulness to God and to Christ. We show our faithfulness by making good use of all we have for the furthering of God's Kingdom.
If we think that because Christ's return to Earth is not imminent we don't have to use what we have been given in a responsible manner, we are being unfaithful to God. Our gifts will be wasted and become barren, and no good thing will be produced. The gifts that we have been given by the Creator should be invested for him; otherwise they will shrivel up and be of no use to God, humanity in general, or to oneself in particular.
The proper investment of our gifts and possessions helps to bring about God's Kingdom on Earth and the healing of the world.
© Judith Lawrence September 2010
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