The Gospel of Luke
The Parable of the Kingdom Lk 19,11-28
Luke and Matthew
In tradition, Matthew's parable of the talents would be the dominant version of this story. Comparing Luke's version with Matthew is therefore an important first step in our reading. We need to discover that Luke is not just re-writing Matthew but that the differences between the two versions are fundamental.
In Luke, this parable is told immediately before Jesus arrives in Jerusalem. As we will see shortly, it has an important place in the transition from Jesus' journey to Jesus' time in Jerusalem.
In Matthew by contrast, Jesus tells the parable of the talents in the Temple in chapter 25. There the emphasis is on the final coming (Mt 25,13) and the final judgement (Mt 25,30.46).
We may assume the evangelists took the basic story from the traditions available to them. As so often, we can see that the two apparently similar parables are used by the evangelists to deliver different messages.
This becomes even more clear when we make a comparison between the two versions. There is a clear similarity between the core story in Luke of the servants with the pounds and Matthew's story of the talents. The conclusions though are quite different. Matthew ends with the servant being cast into the outer darkness (Mt 25,30) while Luke ends with a comment about those who have more being given more (19,26). Matthew is speaking of judgment whilst Luke's theme is stewardship. 12,42 indicates the importance of stewardship for this evangelist.
Into this story of the pounds, Luke has woven another story, that of a king who goes away (19,12) and returns (19,15) and who has enemies (19,14 and 19,27). This outer story would recall how Herod went to Rome to be confirmed as king.
How the two stories fit together will be the purpose of our reading.
We can now return to the main page so as to read the parable as told by Luke.
The Parable
Verse 28 as we have seen is a transition verse which most readings include with the following section and does point forward to the procession. Jesus however has still not arrived in Jerusalem. Verses 11 and 28 can therefore be seen as a bracket around the parable, providing it with a setting: what will be about to happen in Jerusalem. The immediate question in verse 11 is
We therefore begin our reading of the parable with the outer story: the king going away can be seen Jesus and he will return after a long time. His enemies will be those, the Jewish leaders, who reject him and who will suffer their ultimate fate.
Thus in 19,38 Luke has uniquely added "king" to the quotation from Psalm 118. The comparison with Mark (Mk 11,9) shows this.
Added to this then is the story of the servants, those who await the return of the king, the Church itself. The clear message is that risks must be taken for the kingdom. Unlike Matthew, their reward is quite specific, ruling over cities.
Finally then we come to the context. Verse 11 is an immediate follow on from the meeting with Zaccheus where the proper use of wealth is an issue. To this is linked expectations of the coming of the kingdom when Jesus finally reaches Jerusalem. Jesus says the only manifestation will be the proclamation of him as king (19,38).
The message though is that of the rejection of the king who continues on his way to Jerusalem (19,28). Yet he will retun and his disciples must render an account of their activities during his absence. That may be reward, verse 26, but there is the possibility of punishment, verse 27.
We can now return to the main page.