Wednesday in the 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, November 16, 2022

Luke 19, 11-28

While people were listening to Jesus speak, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem and they thought that the Kingdom of God would appear there immediately. So he said, “A nobleman went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return. He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins and told them, ‘Engage in trade with these until I return.’ His fellow citizens, however, despised him and sent a delegation after him to announce, ‘We do not want this man to be our king.’ But when he returned after obtaining the kingship, he had the servants called, to whom he had given the money, to learn what they had gained by trading. The first came forward and said, ‘Sir, your gold coin has earned ten additional ones.’ He replied, ‘Well done, good servant! You have been faithful in this very small matter; take charge of ten cities.’ Then the second came and reported, ‘Your gold coin, sir, has earned five more.’ And to this servant too he said, ‘You, take charge of five cities.’ Then the other servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your gold coin; I kept it stored away in a handkerchief, for I was afraid of you, because you are a demanding man; you take up what you did not lay down and you harvest what you did not plant.’ He said to him, ‘With your own words I shall condemn you, you wicked servant. You knew I was a demanding man, taking up what I did not lay down and harvesting what I did not plant; why did you not put my money in a bank? Then on my return I would have collected it with interest.’ And to those standing by he said, ‘Take the gold coin from him and give it to the servant who has ten.’ But they said to him, ‘Sir, he has ten gold coins.’ He replied, ‘I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Now as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here and slay them before me.’” After he had said this, he proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem.

“He was near Jerusalem and they thought that the Kingdom of God would appear there immediately.”  The people who believed Jesus to be the long-awaited Messiah expected the Lord to march into Jerusalem and proclaim himself king, thus ushering in the Kingdom of God.  They were convinced that the Kingdom would come in a matter of days.  We can try to imagine their excitement.  He would throw out the Romans, banish corruption in the Temple, and rule the people in justice.  Throughout the three years of his Public Life he taught the people that this vision of the Messiah, contrived by the Pharisees, was a false one.  Many people clung to this idea, though, even after his Resurrection, as we see at the time of the Ascension: “They therefore who were come together, asked him, saying: Lord, will you at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel?” (Acts 1, 6).  

He tells the Parable of the Ten Gold Coins in order to teach these folks that he was not going to do this.  “A nobleman went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return.”  Of course, he is the nobleman.  The “far country” here is heaven.  The time between his departure and the time of his return is the present time.  The ten servants in the parable signify the faithful throughout the world and down through the ages.  Each of us is entrusted with gold coins.  These signify our vocations as believers.  Our mission is to increase the gold coins we have, to work for the conversion of the world.  We each do this in our own way and according to our vocations and the circumstances of our lives.  Just so in the financial world: no two independent investors are going to invest money in the same way, but our basic tools are fasting, praying, and alms-giving.  When the nobleman has returned after receiving the kingdom, that is, when the Lord returns in glory, he will call for an accounting.  Those who profited with the coins allotted to them will be rewarded while those who did not — who did nothing at all to save souls — will suffer eternally.  This does not penalize people with little talent for this work because anyone can make money by putting it in the bank.  To not save souls means to refuse to try.  It amounts to a rejection of the King.

There were and are those who actively work against the King: “His fellow citizens, however, despised him and sent a delegation after him to announce, ‘We do not want this man to be our king.’ ”  These were those Jews who rejected him during his lifetime as well as all those who have rejected him since.  They are the Lord’s “fellow citizens” in that the Lord Jesus assumed our humanity in order to live among us.  Their endeavor to prevent his becoming king was foolish to begin with since the decision to raise him to the head of the kingdom had already been made.  All that remained was formality.  They were blinded by their hatred and acted against their own best interests.  After the accounting of those who had been given coins, these enemies are brought forward.  To their guards, he said, “Now as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here and slay them before me.”  We see here two levels of opposition to the Lord.  Those who made no profit with their coins signify believers who fail in their responsibilities.  Those who worked against him becoming king are the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin, and all those who actively reject the Lord’s teachings and even in belief in his existence.

Those who heard the Lord’s parable would have understood that he was speaking of himself as the nobleman who went on a long journey to a far country.  They would have understood that he would come back as their King.  But they did not accept that the Messiah could be or do anything other than what the Pharisees had told them, not even if the Messiah himself laid out what he was going to do.