This morning I have been reflecting upon the story of Zacchaeus found in Luke's Gospel, chapter 19. As I was reflecting on that I kept reading and immediately following the interaction with Zacchaeus, Jesus tells the parable of the Ten Minas and that started me wondering why those two events seemed to be linked? Here are the basics of the parable of the Ten Minas in Jesus' words - Luke 19:12-13,15-17,26 NIV:
[12] He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. [13] So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. 'Put this money to work,' he said, 'until I come back.'
[15] “He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.
[16] “The first one came and said, 'Sir, your mina has earned ten more.'
[17] “ 'Well done, my good servant!' his master replied. 'Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.'
[26] “He replied, 'I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away. [27] But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them---bring them here and kill them in front of me.' ”
My first thought on reading these passages was to wonder why Jesus had followed the events with Zacchaeus with such a story. I think there might be several explanations, one of which Luke provides at the start of the parable, describing how Jesus was telling this story in response to people wondering about when He was going to establish His kingdom. While that clearly makes sense, as I was reflecting on it, my thoughts were turned more to reflecting on the economics of the God's Kingdom. Since God's Kingdom is real, and like all Kingdoms has policies and principles and His Kingdom is an extension of His sovereignty and rule, the economic policies of His Kingdom come directly from Him and His nature. As I was reading these verses, I was thinking about what Jesus and the Father demonstrated about their nature in the story of Zacchaeus, and then in this parable.
As I see it, they were demonstrating some of the following characteristics and economic principles:
1) The value of each person to them (God the Trinity) personally. Regardless of how a person is viewed by society, God sees each one's unique value and desires intimacy with each and every one of us. He sees the "worth" of the individual and the "value" of investing time (we are going to have dinner at your house tonight) in the individual. It is interesting that value and worth are both economic descriptors. I believe that more than anything the underlying economics of the Kingdom are based on relationships and individuals (human uniqueness).
2) The Lost are not forgotten, nor really lost. Jesus knew exactly where Zacchaeus was and one could argue that Zacchaeus was responding to God's stirring his heart to inquire about Jesus. God knew exactly where Zacchaeus was emotionally and spiritually and knew what he was thinking, and what He was doing in his life. God was completely aware of Zacchaeus' situation and he wasn't worried about how long Zacchaeus had been lost. In other words, economically speaking, God is not afraid of really long payback on His investments in our lives, as demonstrated here in Zacchaeus' life, and no investment is ever lost. He has placed in each of us an investment of His image and nature and in some of us that investment takes a long time to mature.
3) The Lord cares about our identity - for Zacchaeus' identity radically changed that day! He went from being an enemy of the people and really the people of Israel, to being blessed as a son of Abraham, and ultimately a son of the Father. Jesus, and again Paul in his later writings, were very focused on establishing the truth of our identity as God's sons and daughters. This identity and relationship brings with it access to the family fortune, if you will. God cares about us understanding our relationship with Him, because He wants us to live in the reality of His Kingdom, and His wealth.
4) I think that this story might also have been an excellent first teaching for Zacchaeus on how to live the rest of His life - taking that which He had been given and investing it in the King's purposes. We are all called to bear fruit, and God loves to extend favor to those that are fruitful and good stewards of what they have been given. Once we are members of God's family, adopted daughters and sons, our perspective should change to one of stewardship of all that He has gifted us with in our lives, for all good things come from Him (James 1:17). Prior to knowing God, we think we have earned the good things, or maybe wonder why we have good things, and when our true identity is revealed, then the source of all the good things should become clear! God has been blessing us all along, we just didn't know that. In this case, the minas were given to the servants by the King, the servants understood they were stewarding those gifts for the King, and that is such an important life lesson.
5) God is looking for those who faithfully represent Him and His character and nature, and rewards those who do with more opportunities to do so. If we think about the reality of what the servants actually invested in with the minas, it would have likely been in other people and their ability to produce things that earned profits. The servants were servants of the King, and as such they had responsibilities over certain of the Kings affairs, so the investment they were making in this story were likely outside the King's affairs, otherwise they were just doing their normal servant jobs. Maybe they had experience in certain things like purchasing and selling grain. In the King's service they would do this normally and any profits they earned were part of their normal job, and while beneficial to the King, not likely worthy of special note. I believe that in this case the King gave them minas to invest on their own, and they would have invested this in people or situations they knew of personally and any profits earned were above and beyond their normal job. So in the case of grain, maybe they provided a neighboring farmer some of the money so he could purchase additional land and seed so that He could produce a more abundant crop and derive a greater profit. My point is that investment that brings profit always benefits those that have been invested in, and if the basic unit of value in the Kingdom is the individual, than this parable is really about investing in relationships that bear fruit for the Kingdom, and betters both ourselves, those invested in, and the Kingdom!
Well that reflection certainly went down a different path than I had originally anticipated, and has provided plenty of additional fodder for reflection. I am encouraged this morning to see the value I have to the Lord, to recognize the worth of others as well, and to invest accordingly!
Amen!
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