URC Daily Devotion Friday 21 March 2025

 St Luke 19: 11 – 27

As they were listening to this, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. So he said, ‘A nobleman went to a distant country to get royal power for himself and then return. He summoned ten of his slaves, and gave them ten pounds, and said to them, “Do business with these until I come back.” But the citizens of his country hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, “We do not want this man to rule over us.”  When he returned, having received royal power, he ordered these slaves, to whom he had given the money, to be summoned so that he might find out what they had gained by trading. The first came forward and said, “Lord, your pound has made ten more pounds.” He said to him, “Well done, good slave! Because you have been trustworthy in a very small thing, take charge of ten cities.”  Then the second came, saying, “Lord, your pound has made five pounds.”  He said to him, “And you, rule over five cities.”  Then the other came, saying, “Lord, here is your pound. I wrapped it up in a piece of cloth,  for I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man; you take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.”  He said to him, “I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! You knew, did you, that I was a harsh man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow?  Why then did you not put my money into the bank? Then when I returned, I could have collected it with interest.”  He said to the bystanders, “Take the pound from him and give it to the one who has ten pounds.” 2(And they said to him, “Lord, he has ten pounds!”)  “I tell you, to all those who have, more will be given; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.  But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and slaughter them in my presence.”’

Reflection

Everyone hated Archelaus – but if he cared, he didn’t show it, anyway, he had things to do. In the year 4BCE, as the eldest son and primary heir of the now late king Herod the Great, he set out for Rome to get legal approval for his claim over his father’s throne.

Following rapidly in Archelaus’ wake was ‘that fox’ Antipas and the rest of the Herodian clan, all eager to press their own claims, as well as an embassy of fifty Jews who went to Rome to make sure that everyone knew that Archelaus was a wrong’un. Archelaus was half Samaritan after all, and basically a nasty piece of work. When the matter had been decided, and the kingdom split up – the vindictive Archelaus returned home and, living up to his reputation, made sure to ‘settle the score’ as bloodily as possible.

This story, one of the many scandals surrounding the Herodians at the time of Jesus, forms the starting point of the structure to the parable we’ve read today. “But why,” some ask, perplexed, “would Luke have Jesus use a true story about this horrible Archelaus to talk about himself?” The common assumption is that the parable of the minas, (‘pounds’ in this translation) in Luke, similarly to the parable of the Talents in Matthew, puts the royal figure in the place of ‘the goodie’.

But the parables are more subversive than that. They are stories about the real world and the realities of life, about slavery and oppression. Here we learn that the elite rulers, the despots and puppet kings like the Herods, aren’t about to disappear, and as long as they’re around bad things are going to happen to the people who stand up and speak out. After all the third slave was right, the master really was a harsh man who took what he did not deposit and reaped what he did not sow.

‘It’s not going to suddenly be sunshine and unicorns, you know, there are penalties for doing the right thing,’ Jesus warned the disciples. This remains true today.

Prayer

God of freedom and truth, 
we stand in solidarity 
with all who stand up to oppression:
journalists and opposition politicians, 
comedians and satirists, 
ordinary people who dare speak against 
the rule of tyrants and despots.
Just as others are paying with their lives 
for truth telling, 
so may we be willing to make 
the sort of sacrifices necessary 
to expose the reality of the rotten philosophies
that our way of life is based upon. Amen.