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We live in a world that cries out against oppression and injustice. It’s not hard to see them taking place around us. People are abused, mistreated, and condemned. The powerful build their fortunes and power bases on the backs of the poor. Those who work backbreaking jobs for inhumane hours barely make enough to scrape by and make it to their next paycheck.

Suffering is evident. If you disagree, spend a few minutes in conversation with a neighbor or a stranger at the coffee shop. You’ll learn otherwise pretty quickly.

That’s the way the world has always been, though. It’s nothing new. Ever since the first sin, pain and destitution have taken hold of the earth and refused to let go. Those who manage to claw their way to wealth, status, and power lord it over those who have less.

This was the case in Jesus’ day as well, and it was twofold: there was the physical and governmental oppression of the Roman Empire, and there was the spiritual oppression of the religious elite, like the Pharisees, who looked down upon all those who did not meet their rigorous list of standards for righteousness.

The common citizens of Judea faced seemingly insurmountable hurdles in their lives because religion and empire alike kept them down.

It’s in this climate that Jesus entered the scene.

Messianic expectation was at an all-time high. The Jews were eagerly anticipating the arrival of a hero who would overthrow Rome and restore them to national independence. In their understanding, he would establish a worldwide kingdom with them at the top of the totem pole. After centuries of oppression, they were ready to be on top for a change.

Following His conversation with Zacchaeus at the beginning of Luke 19, Jesus spoke into the expectations the surrounding crowd had concerning the coming Messianic kingdom.

He had noticed their anger at Him for going to the house of a tax collector. No doubt they were wondering why the Messiah would allow Himself to associate with someone who so publicly represented the oppressiveness of the Roman government.

They believed that, since He was on His way to Jerusalem, His kingdom would appear imminently. Naturally, this brief encounter with Zacchaeus must have raised questions about what that kingdom would look like.

Jesus’ response is recorded in Luke 19:11–27.

He told a parable about a nobleman who left his home region to receive a kingdom, entrusting his servants with ten pounds, or minas, to conduct business in his absence.

A pound, or “mina,” was worth about three months’ wages. In Matthew’s account of a similar parable, the nobleman entrusted his servants with a number of “talents” instead. This was a massive sum of money; a single talent was equivalent to approximately 75 pounds of silver, or about 20 years’ wages.

For the sake of Luke’s account, we’ll focus on the minas.

Each servant was given one mina. Three months’ pay. How much is that for you? No matter who you are, that’s not an insubstantial sum.

As the nobleman departed, the citizens of the country sent a delegation to those from whom he was seeking kingship, saying, “We don’t want this man to rule over us.”

They hated the nobleman and wanted nothing to do with him.

But the servants set to work.

When the nobleman returned, he had attained the royal power he sought. Freshly appointed, he summoned his servants to account for what they had done with his money.

One said, “Your pound has made ten more pounds.” In other words, the mina he had been given had multiplied tenfold. Imagine that: thirty months’ salary in profit.

The second servant had multiplied his mina fivefold.

The first and second servants were addressed with praise: “Well done, good slave!” And the nobleman gave each of them authority over a number of cities, ten for the man who had earned tenfold and five for the man who had earned fivefold.

Then a third servant arrived.

He told the lord he had kept his mina wrapped in a cloth because he knew the lord was harsh and unjust, taking what was not his own.

This angered the nobleman, and he judged the servant according to the servant’s own description of his harshness. He had the servant’s mina stripped away and given to the one who had earned ten.

Then he ordered all those who did not want him to be their ruler to be executed.

We often hear this parable explained in terms of using what God has given us to benefit the kingdom of God. At face value, it seems like a reasonable reading of the passage.

But there are cultural hints here that point in another direction entirely.

For starters, the servant’s description of the master’s harshness (Luke 19:20–21) and the master’s response (Luke 19:22–23) do not seem to line up with the character of God, let alone God’s character as Jesus described it in His teachings.

Similar to the story of the widow and the unjust judge, this master seems to be someone who contrasts with God, rather than someone who represents Him.

The reality was, this master was exploitative.

The kind of profit he expected his servants to turn would have been difficult to make through ordinary work. To make the kind of returns the first and second servants achieved, they may have resorted to illicit means, such as high-interest lending, which the law forbade in Exodus 22:25 and Leviticus 25:36.

In other words, the enormous profits raise questions about whether the servants multiplied the minas through immoral dealings.

But the details that most clearly suggest the master’s identity as someone wicked, rather than a stand-in for God, come from verses 12–14 and 27.

These details, concerning a nobleman who left his region to gain kingly power and returned to crush dissidents, are unique to Luke’s version of the parable.

And they aren’t random additions.

In Jesus’ day, Herod Archelaus, son of Herod the Great, was a power-hungry despot. Archelaus was unpopular in Judea, and his people petitioned the Roman government to refuse his bid for greater power.

Archelaus traveled to Rome seeking authority, and his opponents sent a delegation to protest his rule. His reign was associated with brutal violence, including the slaughter of approximately 3,000 people in Jerusalem during the unrest surrounding his rise to power.

When Jesus told this parable and included details about a nobleman departing to gain power and the violent suppression of those who opposed him, His audience may well have remembered what Archelaus had done within living memory.

This reframes the parable, then, as we consider the possibility that Jesus was not simply urging us to use what we have to benefit the kingdom of God. He was also revealing the cruelties and corruption of earthly empires.

From this perspective, the only “good” character in the parable was the one who refused to increase the nobleman’s wealth.

We usually write him off as lazy.

In reality, Jewish legal traditions recognized safeguarding entrusted money as a legitimate responsibility. Keeping money secure rather than investing it recklessly was not necessarily an act of laziness.

Perhaps this servant was not being lazy at all. Perhaps he was following his beliefs and convictions, and he was punished for it.

Not only that, but the servant had the boldness to call out his master’s corruption.

He told the nobleman he knew how wicked and unfair he was in his dealings. And the nobleman responded by judging him according to his own words. He took away the mina he had been given and handed it to another.

Then he ordered the slaughter of the dissidents who had petitioned against his reign, just as Archelaus had violently suppressed opposition.

What do we learn from this parable, then?

We learn that Jesus’ kingdom goes against the grain of what earthly empires have established.

The Jewish people believed their Messiah would come and replace the Roman Empire with His own. But Jesus would not establish an empire of conquering thrones, under-the-table financial dealings, and oppressive treatment of the common people.

The Judeans wanted retaliation.

Jesus instead brought His kingdom into the world as a foot-washing servant.

As He traveled to Jerusalem, they were looking for the coming of the kingdom and still hadn’t realized that it had already arrived.

Jesus’ kingdom wasn’t embodied in power, wealth, and jewel-adorned throne rooms. It was revealed in humility, service, and compassion.

Jesus did not assert dominance by taking the reins from the Roman Empire or even the Pharisees. Instead, He worked through love, forgiveness, and healing.

He spoke sharply against those who abused their power to trample the downtrodden because He would not do the same.

The hero of this interpretation of Jesus’ parable, the one we often mistakenly see as a coward, stood against a tyrannical nobleman and suffered the consequences of his refusal.

Jesus, too, was put to death after confronting the corruption and hypocrisy of those who held religious power.

There is a consequence to doing what is right.

**Are we ready to embody His kingdom by taking the same stand, regardless of the cost?**

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