Jesus had just declared Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector in Jericho, and his household saved and Zacchaeus is a child of Abraham (9). He said that was why he came (10). His statement drew the attention of everyone who heard it, so he used the attention to tell a parable called “The Parable of the Ten Minas” (11).
Luke tells two reasons why Jesus told this parable. First, they were “near Jerusalem”. Jerusalem was around fifteen miles away, approximately a five-hour walk. He would start the journey once he and his disciples finished eating. Upon arrival, the people with him and within Jerusalem would praise God and wave palm branches. It is now called “The Triumphal Entry”. However, in less than a week, they would reject him and crucify him.
The second reason is, “the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once”. J. Dwight Pentecost in his book “Things to Come” distinguishes between four Biblical uses of the term Kingdom of God (Heaven according to Matthew): 1) God’s universal kingdom, 2) a spiritual kingdom, 3) the millennial Davidic kingdom, and 4) the mystery form of the kingdom (Matthew 13 and other places). Jesus’s parable here concerns the mystery form of the kingdom.
J. Dwight Pentecost writes, “The mystery was the fact that when the One in whom this program was to be realized was publicly presented, He would be rejected and an age would fall between His rejection and the fulfillment of God’s purpose of sovereignty at His second advent. The mystery form of the kingdom, then, has reference to the age between the two advents of Christ. The mysteries of the Kingdom of God describe the conditions that prevail on the earth in that interim while the king is absent. These mysteries thus relate this present age to the eternal purpose of God in regard to His kingdom… this mystery form of the kingdom is composed of saved and unsaved alike (profitable servants and unprofitable servants, wheat and tares, good and bad fish).”
At the end of this age, Jesus will come as King and judge his servants according to what they did while he was away.
Tomorrow’s BDBD will look at the details of this parable.
