Parables of Jesus
Teachers
Lesson Summary
The class began by revisiting the previous week’s conversation about the dangers of over‑allegorizing Jesus’ parables, using St. Augustine’s detailed interpretation of the Good Samaritan as a contrast to a more context‑driven approach. Zach emphasized that each parable should be read within the narrative and authorial context, asking whether scholars honor the original meaning and purpose. He then introduced Tim Mackey’s three “parable goalposts”: pay attention to the gospel author’s context, focus on the main characters and Jesus’ comments about them, and consider how the parable applies (or does not apply) to contemporary listeners. Applying these goalposts, the class examined Luke 19:11‑27, the parable of the minas, identifying the king as Jesus and the servants as believers who are entrusted with the Gospel. The discussion connected the parable to the upcoming triumphal entry (Luke 19:28‑40) and to Old Testament expectations of a political Messiah, concluding that the true gift Jesus offers is the good news, which we are called to actively invest rather than hide away.
Key Scriptures
As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near to Jerusalem and because they were supposed, they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. So he said, A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas and said to them, Engage in business until I come. But his citizens hated him. And he sent a delegation after him saying, We do not want this man to reign over us. When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called that they might know what they had, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. The first came before him saying, Lord, your mina has made ten minas more. And he said to them, Well done, good servant, because you have been faithful with very little. You shall have authority over ten cities. And the second came saying, Lord, your mina has made five minas. And he said to him, And you are to be over five cities. Then another came saying, Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief, for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit and you reap what you did not sow. He said to him, I will condemn you with your own words. You are a wicked servant. You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. Why then did you not put my money in the bank and at my coming, I might have collected it with interest? And he said to him, to those who stood by, Take the mina from him and give it to the one who has ten. And they said to him, Lord, he has ten. I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them to me and slaughter them before me.