Pentecost Week Twenty-Four - Day Two – Faith in the Shadow of Power

Day Two – Faith in the Shadow of Power

New Testament: Luke 19:13‑15
Old Testament: Psalm 72

So yesterday you got the background!  The disciples are hearing Jesus talk about Herad Archelaus the horrible ethnarch of Judea who was ruthless and so bad a leader the Romans even sent him into exile.

Jesus continues the story… Now we get into the nuance of this parable nobody repeats! And here is where we often stumble.  Most everyone knows the story from Matthew and assumes it is the same.  Trust me!  Luke is NOT telling the same story.  But what do we know.

The nobleman hands ten servants a single silver coin each—roughly three months’ pay—and gives the order: “Engage in business until I return.”  (We talked about the delegation in real life yesterday).

At first glance it sounds like a stewardship lesson. Listeners in pews two millennia later might picture neat spreadsheets or sermons about responsible investing.

I am so itching to jump ahead of myself, but I will discuss economics tomorrow – just consider this.  There was no capitalism in those days – in fact capitalism, believe it or not, started in the 20th century!

Back to the scripture.
The Galilean crowd beside Jesus didn’t hear opportunity; they heard exploitation. They know what Archelaus did  - when he did come back!

The people listening to Jesus had lived their whole lives under men who “did business.”
Rome did business. Herod did business. Archelaus built his amphitheater on the back of that business—the grain tax, the temple tribute, the endless flow of labor up the hierarchy.

“Engage in business until I return” was exactly what ruined villages and filled palaces.

And Jesus says it with a straight face. Think about this – he is telling a story –with the Pharisees and spies are all around him.

The subversion that Luke wants you to understand begins right there.  Readers in the 1st century know exactly what Luke is teaching – we don’t!!!
 
Historical Context
Ok – I can’t help myself…  In first‑century Palestine, wealth and land were locked in the hands of a few.

Roughly two percent of the population—Roman elites and their local clients—controlled most of the arable territory.

Peasant farmers leased back the land that once belonged to their own clans, paying rent in grain or oil while also tithing to priests and taxing for Rome.

A “mina,” worth about a hundred drachmas, equaled one‑third of a yearly wage for a day laborer.  It was not seed money for entrepreneurs; it was a leash—capital from a master that could never fully be repaid.

The command to “trade” was not about creativity; it was about compliance.
The brilliance of Jesus’ teaching lies in how He hid open criticism inside a safe narrative distance.

Telling this story along the Jericho road, within sight of Archelaus’s ruined estate, He could address oppressive economics without naming a single official.  

Remember – they were expecting a warrior messiah that would come and defeat the Romans…. This is the story Jesus tells about those kind of men!

His disciples—fishermen, tradesmen who knew the tax collectors by name—recognized every detail.  Roman ears heard a morality tale.

Kingdom ears heard a warning: this is the world you think you want to win; don’t be deceived by it.  (If you have ears to hear!  Heard that before?)

Luke adds a subtle phrase in 19:15: “When he returned, having received the kingdom…”
It confirms that nothing has changed. Corruption still crowns the wrong man.
The master is back; the system endures.  That delegation of 50 I mentioned yesterday – yikes – they ticked off the wrong King!

But here is what is important and what Jesus is doing - The subtext releases the disciples from the illusion that power can ever sanctify greed.

By talking in code - Jesus is inoculating His friends against future temptation.

In a few weeks, they will see Him arrested and may wonder whether the Kingdom failed. By retelling Archelaus’s story as an active parable, He re‑defines victory itself.

The true King will not “receive His kingdom” from Caesar, but from the Father—through suffering, not slaughter.
 
But – it will take his appearance at the upper room to convince them.
Right now, he is turning blue trying to let them know what is going to happen!

Remember – we are one chapter away from the passion of Christ!

Modern Context
Ok – I had to get here….  Look, we still breathe the same air. (think about that!)

Performance reviews, profit margins, social reach—all whisper the old order’s creed: produce or you’re replaceable.

Jesus still asks a radical question: Do you believe that’s the only economy available?
I coded that question on purpose – to see if you have ears to hear!

To have faith (and ears) in the “shadow of power” is to recognize the empire’s grammar and choose a different vocabulary. It’s to trade anxiety for trust, speed for Sabbath, rivalry for reverence.

I promise (hope), you will get this as the week continues…. For now, know – Luke is closing his story with an incredible act of Jesus knowing his audience and testing first century ears.

Reflection – Let me beat you up this morning… lol

• Whose approval drives your “business”?
• When do you confuse productivity with faithfulness?
• How can your work, however ordinary, resist the world’s promotion ladder and serve God’s quiet reign instead?
• Would you quit the world today – because you now recognize what Jesus is offering – but at the cost of himself and us with our cross we carry?
• Ouch questions!

Prayer
King of every labor,
teach me to work without being owned by my work.
Let diligence never become devotion to empire.
Remind me that Your kingdom grows by grace, not quotas.
Amen.