Note: This is the first of a two-part series. You can read part two here.
[24] And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ [25] And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’ [26] ‘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. But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’
Luke 19:24–27
I recently finished going through Luke's gospel afresh for advent this year. And, upon this reading, the Holy Spirit was impressing on me the inescapable socioeconomic implications of the gospel as a thread that—more than any of the other three gospel accounts—Luke in particular highlights throughout the gospel account in his name.
A few passages in Luke's text opened up to me like never before. And what I'd like to do in this post is walk through Luke 19 in particular, offering a different interpretation of the parable of the ten minas than the popular one. To me, this interpretation harmonizes all of Luke 19 better than the traditional one, as well as fitting within the wider context of Luke's narrative.
In part two of this series, I want to show how the parallel passage in Matthew 25—the parable of the talents—should be interpreted through this same framework and how that makes best sense of what Matthew has recorded in chapter 25 of his gospel account.
Setting the Stage
[51] When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. [52] And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. [53] But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.Luke 9:51–53 (emphasis added)
[31] And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. [32] For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. [33] And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”Luke 18:31–33
Luke 19: Zacchaeus
[1] He entered Jericho and was passing through. [2] And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich...[8] And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” [9] And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. [10] For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Luke 19:1–2, 8-10
When Luke begins chapter 19 by telling us that there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector and was rich, we should hear echoes of this teaching of Jesus from Luke 16 a couple of chapters earlier:
[8] The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. [9] And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. [10] “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. [11] If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? [12] And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? [13] No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
Luke 16:8–13 (emphasis added)
Jesus draws a distinction between "the sons of this world" and "the sons of light." In other words, He's drawing a distinction between those who belong to the kingdoms of this world (sons of this world)—which has certain established priorities and pursuits—and those who belong to the kingdom of God (sons of light)—which has entirely different established priorities and pursuits. Jesus will end the segment by saying you cannot serve God and money because these are the competing altars at which citizens in each respective kingdom worship. Those who belong to the kingdoms of the world worship at the altar of money and therefore will do whatever it takes to accumulate and protect their money and possessions, including deceiving, manipulating, and sacrificing a neighbor. Those who belong to the kingdom of God worship at the altar of God and therefore do whatever it takes to love God and neighbor, including sacrificing money and possessions. These two kingdoms—their pursuits, priorities, goals, and sacrifices—are diametrically opposed to each other, which is why Jesus says you can't serve in both kingdoms.
Zacchaeus was rich as a chief tax collector precisely because he had been living up to that point in time deceiving and stealing from his fellow Jews, taking over and above the specified taxes he was authorized to collect in order to line his greedy pockets. In other words, he was living as a son of this world who was dealing shrewdly with his generation. But the whole point of the story is that he defects from the kingdoms of the world to the kingdom of God. He leaves behind sacrificing people to accumulate money in order to sacrifice money in order to love God and people. In other words, he becomes a son of light. This is why Jesus says that salvation has come to his house. He has saved himself from a crooked generation (Acts 2:40).
End of story, right? Zacchaeus has been saved so when he dies he goes to heaven, right? We now move into the parable of the minas, which at first glance looks like Jesus has changed the subject from Zacchaeus. But I'd like to suggest that Jesus isn't done talking about Zacchaeus and the likes of those who follow him in repentance. Defecting from one side (kingdoms of this world) to the other (kingdom of God) has consequences for this life.
Luke 19: Parable of the Minas
As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.
Luke 19:11
Don't miss the significance of this verse as Luke introduces the parable Jesus is about to tell. Luke tells us two reasons why Jesus tells this parable, both of which are essential for framing what Jesus is trying to teach His listeners through it:
- because He was near to Jerusalem — Remember the context of Luke's trajectory we established prior to getting into Luke 19? Near to Jerusalem means near to His death at the hands of the kingdoms of the world. Through this parable, Jesus is teaching His followers about the death that awaits Him and, by extension, is highly likely to meet many who follow Him. Precisely because a disciple isn't above his teacher (Luke 6:40). If the King of the kingdom of God is judged by the world with a punishment unto death, then those who identify with Him will receive similar treatment.
- because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately — Remember how James and John wanted to rain fire down from heaven when the Samaritans didn't receive their message (Luke 9:52-54)? Even by this point in Luke's gospel they still don't understand the nature of the kingdom of God (Luke 18:34). They still think that Jesus is getting ready at any minute to overthrow Rome and anyone who doesn't respond favorably to them, such as the Samaritans. When Luke tells us that they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately, this essentially means they think Jesus is going to take charge and do away with every unjust authority in the kingdoms of the world. But through this parable, Jesus is teaching His followers that those unjust earthly authorities aren't going away so soon and, even worse, just like Him, His followers will be judged by those unjust earthly authorities with a punishment even unto death.
[12] He said therefore, “A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. [13] Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come.’ [14] But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’Luke 19:12–14 (emphasis added)
As Jesus kicks off the parable describing a nobleman, our traditional interpretation quickly identifies this nobleman with Christ/God and the kingdom of God. But notice that the citizens hate this ruler and do not want his reign over them. Now, remember the context above regarding why Jesus is telling this parable. His listeners think that the kingdom of God will appear immediately and the implication seems to be that they are eager for it, too. Why? Like James and John, they think Jesus is coming to overthrow Rome. So if you are the disciples listening to Jesus telling this parable, who is the ruler that you do not want to reign over you? The answer is obvious: Caesar. You don't want Caesar reigning over you. You want Jesus reigning over you and that's why you want the kingdom of God to appear immediately so that Caesar is done away with immediately. This makes sense of the context and means that the nobleman is to be identified with the kings and kingdoms of the world, not the Christ and the kingdom of God.
In fact, Josephus describes how this played out with Herod Archelaus, an earthly ruler (emphasis added to show where this account of Archelaus parallels that of the nobleman as described by Jesus in the parable):
ARCHELAUS went down now to the sea-side, with his mother and his friends, Poplas, and Ptolemy, and Nicolaus, and left behind him Philip, to be his steward in the palace, and to take care of his domestic affairs... The inclinations also of all Archelaus's kindred, who hated him, were removed to Antipas, when they came to Rome; although in the first place every one rather desired to live under their own laws [without a king], and to be under a Roman governor; but if they should fail in that point, these desired that Antipas might be their king...And indeed the purport of his whole discourse was to aggravate Archelaus's crime in slaying such a multitude about the temple, which multitude came to the festival, but were barbarously slain in the midst of their own sacrifices; and he said there was such a vast number of dead bodies heaped together in the temple, as even a foreign war, that should come upon them [suddenly], before it was denounced, could not have heaped together.
[15] When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. [16] The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.’ [17] And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’ [18] And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made five minas.’ [19] And he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’
Luke 19:15–19
- The nobleman, upon his return, is interested in one thing: what the servants have gained by doing business with his money. His focus is on money and its accumulation. This seems strange for a figure who is to be associated with Jesus in light of Him just a couple of chapters teaching that you can't serve God and money (Luke 16:13). It seems more likely that a nobleman who is preoccupied with money is a person who serves money rather than God and is thus to be identified with the kings and kingdoms of the world.
- The first two servants, in their responses, only describe how much the money has multiplied. They don't mention anything regarding what they did with the money. There is no concern even with how the money multiplied and, for all we know, it could have multiplied through immoral means similar to how Zacchaeus earned his riches. This seems strange for servants who are to be associated with kingdom citizens who Jesus has told to make friends by means of unrighteous mammon (Luke 16:9), where the focus isn't on how much you have or give but on how you are using that money to love people. It seems more likely that the servants who are focused in their response with how much the money has multiplied are those who are shrewd in dealing with their generation to multiply said money.
- Jesus a couple chapters earlier used the term "faithful in little" to be contrasted with those who are "dishonest in little" (Luke 16:10). In this, He was contrasting the sons of light/citizens of the kingdom of God ("faithful in little, faithful in much") with the sons of this world/citizens of the kingdom of the world ("dishonest in little, dishonest in much). This shows us that in both the kingdoms of the world and the kingdom of God, we are judged by whether we are faithful or not. But faithful means completely different things in these two kingdoms. Zacchaeus was faithful to the kingdom of God in loving the poor and those he had defrauded regardless of the cost to him (Luke 19:8) while these first two servants in the parable were faithful to the kingdoms of the world in making a profit regardless of how shrewdly they might have had to deal with others in the process.
- Consider that each servant started with 1 mina. This means that the first made a 1000% return and the second made a 500% return! These are staggering profit margins! While the text doesn't tell us explicitly, it seems unlikely that such exorbitant returns were the result of honest and honorable practices and more likely that the extraordinarily high returns were the product of dealing shrewdly with their generation as sons of this world.
[20] Then another came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief; [21] for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ [22] He said to him, ‘I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? [23] Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’
Luke 19:20–23
Notice first and foremost that the nobleman is described as severe (the Greek word is austeros, where we get the word "austere" from). Even though this seems like an inaccurate way to characterize God based on Scripture, it's possible that this last servant has a skewed perspective due to his own hardness of heart. But then the nobleman doesn't condemn him for lying but rather he seems to acknowledge that he's severe and exploitative. The only thing he condemns this last servant for is not at least gaining interest on his money! He isn't in any way bothered by the way the last servant has characterized him; he's only bothered by a lack of some form of profit. Again, his focus is entirely on money and its accumulation, which seems strange for a figure we tend to associate with Jesus in light of Jesus having earlier said explicitly that you can't serve God and money (Luke 16:13). Before we move on to the last few verses of this parable, consider this Old Testament passage in light of the nobleman's desire to make a profit by collecting interest from the bank:
[35] “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. [36] Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. [37] You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. [38] I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.
Leviticus 25:35–38
Notice that twice in this passage God commands the Israelites not to collect interest. Why? Taking interest is a way to capitalize on someone who is in need, using your neighbor's need to make a profit for yourself. This is precisely what the nobleman in the passage wants to do, which shows that his values are diametrically opposed to God's. God calls His kingdom citizens to sacrifice money in order to love people. This nobleman, representing the kingdoms of the world, expects his stewards to sacrifice people in order to accumulate more money.
[24] And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ [25] And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’ [26] ‘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.
Luke 19:24–26
When the nobleman tells those standing by to take the mina from the last servant and give it to the one with ten, those who are witnessing this are shocked! Why? They reflexively (and understandably so) know that the one with ten minas already has more than enough money. He doesn't need more (even if it's for doing business, it represents opportunity that someone else could be given). Now think for a moment about the context of Luke. When Jesus sat down in the synagogue in Luke 4 after reading Isaiah's prophecy to then proclaim that what He had just finished reading was fulfilled in His ministry (Luke 4:16-21), His listeners would have understood Him to be declaring that Jubilee had come. In Old Testament Israel, as people fell on hard times and had to sell their property, there were certain parties who found themselves accumulating more and more land as others lost their land. In other words, the gap was growing between the rich and the poor as the rich took what belonged to the poor. Every 50 years, Jubilee was appointed by God Himself to reset the imbalance that had begun to characterize the socioeconomic landscape of Israel. The land that had been sold could return to its original owners (Leviticus 25:8-13). And the goal was that he who had much would not have any left over and he who had little would have no lack (Exodus 16:18). So when the nobleman wants to give more to the one who already has alot rather than distributing to create balance, when he wants to make the rich richer while making the poor poorer, this is the very opposite of the Jubilee that Jesus came to effect. And this is why the hearers are shocked by and opposed to this move by the nobleman.
But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’”
Luke 19:27
Remember why Jesus is going to Jerusalem? He's going to Jerusalem to be judged by the kingdoms of the world with a punishment unto death. And remember that He told them this parable because He is going to Jerusalem to die. Now connect that to the fact that the nobleman in this parable punishes all of those who don't want him to reign (presumably including the last servant) unto death. And it naturally fits the context to see the nobleman as the kings and kingdoms of the world executing judgment and pronouncing a death sentence upon Jesus and His followers (including Zacchaeus) as those who do not want the nobleman to reign and thus end up being slaughtered. Rather than participate in the nobleman's agenda to maximally line his greedy pockets no matter the cost, the last servant refuses to play by the rules of that game and has to deal with the fallout for being a traitor to the nobleman's cause as far as the nobleman is concerned. This is exactly what Zacchaeus has done. Rather than participate in the Roman agenda of exploiting people as he got rich, Zacchaeus decided he was done playing by the rules of that game and has to deal with the fallout for being a traitor to Rome's cause as far as Rome is concerned. Just like Jesus bears the judgment of the kingdoms of the world in Jerusalem, this parable is teaching us, among other things, that Zacchaeus must bear the judgment of the kingdoms of the world, along with all who follow him as he follows Christ.
Luke 19: Finally Entering Jerusalem
The rest of chapter 19 details Jesus finally arriving in Jerusalem, a journey that started way back in Luke 9:51. And it's important that we pay attention to what's recorded for us because it's continuing to draw for us this contrast between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of the world. We must remember that the biblical authors aren't moving from one topic to the next but weaving a seamless message as they continue developing specific threads in different ways.
In verses 28-40, we have what has come to be known as the "triumphal entry." In fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9, Jesus enters Jerusalem as the rightful King of David that Israel has been waiting for. Here is the verse from Zechariah being fulfilled in this passage, along with the verse that follows to give us important context. As you read these two verses from Zechariah, think about how they relate to what we've read immediately prior to this in the parable of the minas:
[9] Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
[10] I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and he shall speak peace to the nations;
his rule shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Zechariah 9:9–10
Remember in the parable of the minas how the citizens didn't want the nobleman to reign over them (Luke 19:14). Notice that in fulfillment of this Zechariah prophecy the people are rejoicing because their rightful king, the king that they want to reign over them has finally come in the person of Jesus (Luke 19:37-38). Jesus' entry into Jerusalem in this scene is to be contrasted with the return of the nobleman from his distant journey in the preceding parable. It's a contrast between the King who presides over the kingdom of God and the kings who preside over the kingdoms of the world.
This contrast can be further seen in the two animals that are contrasted in Zechariah 9:9-10. Jesus, in fulfillment of the coming king in Zechariah, enters Jerusalem riding on a donkey and is characterized as humble. In the ancient context, a donkey (spoken of in Zechariah 9:9) was known as a "beast of burden", used among common peasants to bear the weight in transporting goods. In contrast, Zechariah 9:10 speaks of a horse. What is the horse characterized by? War. In Scripture, horses and chariots often went hand and hand as the necessary equipment to conquer an enemy nation in warfare. For example:
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD!
Isaiah 31:1
Violence and warfare throughout Scripture are generally portrayed as the wisdom of man and the way of the world in contrast to the wisdom of God and reliance on God. Jesus comes into Jerusalem in Luke 19 riding on a donkey to signify that He is the King whose kingdom, unlike any king who preceded him, would not be built on the blood of others spilled out in warfare and violent conquest. Rather, He would be a different kind of king whose kingdom is built on humility in bearing the burdens of others to the point of spilling His own blood in death to make peace.
While the text doesn't explicitly tell us, given the ancient context, it's almost certain that in contrast to Jesus, the nobleman returned from his journey to a far country riding on a horse. After all, the shock value of Jesus entering Jerusalem riding on a donkey in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9 is in the fact that kings didn't ride on donkeys; they rode on horses (not to mention that Jesus didn't even own the donkey He rode on but had to borrow it, in contrast to the wealthy nobleman). The fact that the parable of the minas ends with the nobleman spilling the blood of those who oppose his reign identifies him with the war horse of Zechariah 9:10, which was central to earthly kings spilling blood in conquest to establish their kingdoms in the accumulation and protection of wealth. In other words, violent warfare and serving money go hand-in-hand. The sword is the fuel in the service of money in the kingdoms of the world (Isaiah 2:7) while peacemaking is the fuel in the service of God in the kingdom of God (Isaiah 2:4, Zechariah 9:10).
Finally, when the third servant describes the nobleman as a severe man who takes what he did not deposit and reaps what he did not sow (Luke 19:21), we could translate this by saying that the nobleman builds his wealth and kingdom by loading burdens upon others so that he would have ease. Jesus, riding on a donkey, is represented as a king, on the other hand, who builds His kingdom by taking the burdens of others upon Himself so that they would have ease (Matthew 11:28-30).
If we're reading carefully, the Holy Spirit through Luke is highlighting for us in chapter 19 one contrast after another between the kings and kingdoms of the world on the one hand and the King and kingdom of God on the other.
Luke 19: The Final Collision
[45] And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, [46] saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”
Luke 19:45–46
Just before we read these verses, Luke tells us that Jesus weeps over Jerusalem and laments her coming judgment in Luke 19:41-44. This account of Jesus driving out the merchants from the temple is meant, I believe, to show us the heart of what Jerusalem's problem was and why she would be judged. We can see this more clearly if we look closely, in context, at the two related Old Testament passages—one from Isaiah 56 and the other from Jeremiah 7—Jesus quotes in Luke 19:46:
[7] these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.”
[8] The Lord GOD,
who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,
“I will gather yet others to him
besides those already gathered.”
[9] All you beasts of the field, come to devour—
all you beasts in the forest.
[10] His watchmen are blind;
they are all without knowledge;
they are all silent dogs;
they cannot bark,
dreaming, lying down,
loving to slumber.
[11] The dogs have a mighty appetite;
they never have enough.
But they are shepherds who have no understanding;
they have all turned to their own way,
each to his own gain, one and all.
Isaiah 56:7–11 (emphasis added)
The problem in Israel in this day when Isaiah was prophesying was that instead of Israel and its leaders being characterized by a love for God and a pursuit of God that drew in the nations to Israel and its God, the leaders were characterized by a covetousness that only sought to accumulate more and more material wealth and was never satisfied. Isaiah 56:11 cross references in the ESV Bible to the following verse in Jeremiah 6:
“For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.
Jeremiah 6:13 (emphasis added)
In other words, everyone in Israel served money rather than God, in the language of Jesus in Luke 16:13. It wasn't just the leaders but the entire nation. By quoting Isaiah 56:7, Jesus is saying that the indictment Isaiah in his day had against Israel is the very same indictment Jesus in His day has against Jerusalem. This then leads into the other verse Jesus quotes in Luke 19:46 to help us see why Jerusalem would be judged:
[5] “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, [6] if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, [7] then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever. [8] “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. [9] Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, [10] and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? [11] Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 7:5–11 (emphasis added)
[47] And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, [48] but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.
Luke 19:47–48
After driving out the cancerous growth in the temple, we find Jesus teaching in the temple, seeking to return the temple to its original intent of giving to and building up people rather than stealing from and exploiting them, which it had become characterized by, thanks especially to the Jerusalem elite.
And we read in the very next verse that the "chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him." This goes hand in hand with the last line from the parable of the minas where the nobleman wants to slaughter (destroy) all those who don't want him to reign over them. The lesson not to be missed is this: anyone who refuses to play by the rules of the kingdoms of the world and/or gets in the way of its elite continuing to dominate in their game of selfish accumulation of power and wealth will be faced with the fallout for being a traitor to that kingdom and its rules, with the greatest cost being death.
The nobleman in the parable of the minas and the chief priests and the scribes and the principal men all represent the kingdoms of the world in their love of money and opposition to and intent to destroy the kingdom of God. There's one verse in Luke 19 that we didn't touch on but is very instructive in relation to this:
And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.
Luke 19:39
When the crowds are rejoicing at Jesus entering Jerusalem as the long-awaited Davidic king, this is to be contrasted with the citizens in the parable of the minas who don't want the nobleman to reign over them. In the parable, the crowds represent the citizens of the kingdom of God whereas the nobleman represents the kings in the kingdoms of the world. Now consider the implications from the fact that the Pharisees want the crowds to stop praising Jesus as the rightful king. In effect, the Pharisees are conveying that they don't want Jesus to reign over them! Why? Because they represent the kingdoms of the world! The two kingdoms are in conflict! The subjects of the one kingdom don't want the king of the other to reign over them. The Pharisees feel toward Jesus the same sentiment that the citizens feel toward the nobleman in the parable.
Which is all to say that the chief priests and scribes and principal men and Pharisees are all on the same team: the kingdoms of the world serving money. We typically think of the Pharisees as those who were zealous students of Scripture and sought to defend God's truth but just got off track and weren't able to connect the dots in seeing how all of Scripture was finding its fulfillment in Jesus. But I think this is a mistake that has disastrous implications for how we interpret the New Testament. Luke tells us clearly that the Pharisees were lovers of money (Luke 16:14). The parable of the wicked tenants will shortly after this show us that they know perfectly well that Jesus is the rightful heir (Luke 20:9-19). John tells us that the Pharisees and chief priests (and presumably the scribes and the principle men) knew exactly who Jesus was and because they did they knew that they stood to lose their power and wealth if He wasn't eliminated. Read John 11:45-53 slowly and carefully. The chief priests and scribes and principal men and Pharisees at their core were fundamentally full of pride and the love of the world as sons of the devil (John 8:44). They simply used God and His word as a means to that end and thus came to be "respectable" in doing so.
Throughout the New Testament, the chief priests and scribes and principal men and Pharisees never represent the kingdom of God; they represent the kingdoms of the world. What Luke 19 reveals to us as woven seamlessly from start to finish in the chapter is that the kings and kingdoms of the world reject and trample underfoot anyone who hinders their pursuit of serving money, climactically in their rejection and execution of King Jesus but also in their rejection and marginalization of His followers. In other words, the kings and kingdoms of the world are ruthless in the judgment they render toward those who defect from/refuse to participate in that kingdom.
In the next post, we'll see in Matthew 25 that, just like the kings and kingdoms of the world render judgment toward those who defect from/refuse to participate in that kingdom, so King Jesus and His kingdom will one day render judgment toward those who refuse to enter into and participate in His kingdom.
And the takeaway for us all is this: There are two kingdoms and two judgments, one judgment of condemnation rendered by each kingdom for those who refuse to give allegiance to it. Since these two kingdoms are mutually exclusive (we can't give allegiance to both), it's impossible to avoid a judgment of condemnation altogether. In choosing to identify with one kingdom rather than the other, we must expect and in a sense embrace the judgment of condemnation that will be rendered to us by the other.
And the good news of the gospel is that the judgment of condemnation rendered by the kingdom of God toward those who oppose God will one day triumph finally and completely over the judgment of condemnation rendered by the kingdoms of this world in this life toward those who love and serve God.
[15] Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” [16] And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, [17] saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. [18] The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”
Revelation 11:15–18
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