What Kind of King?

Luke 19:11-28.

I.

            Jesus is in Jericho.  He is still in the home of a tax collector named Zacchaeus, who famously repented of his very profitable oppression of his neighbors, and made restitution and reparations to them all, and is now presumably thoroughly broke and happily ready to follow Jesus.  Zacchaeus is praised because he actually does what Jesus recommends to other rich people in vain: he gives all his money to the poor and becomes a disciple.  He divests himself of his wealth.  He embraces a lifestyle of humility and simplicity, rejecting the acquisitive and competitive values of the dominant economy.

            Jesus is already ruminating on what he knows will happen in Jerusalem, where he is preparing to go next.  He is thinking about this final walk, up through several miles of incredibly rough, desert country.  He knows that the word is passing among his disciples that he will declare himself king in Jerusalem.  He knows some are expecting either a violent insurrection or some kind of spectacular miracle that will install Jesus in the palace and remove the Romans.  He knows that, in spite of everything people have seen him do and heard him say for 3 years, many are still salivating for retribution against their oppressors.  He has just given an example of what salvation means for an oppressor named Zacchaeus; which is not death but a transformed heart.  But it is hard to cut the tumor of hatred, fear, anger, and punitive violence from people’s souls.

            He has probably already decided that he will enter the city, not on a white stallion like a Roman general, but on a humble donkey.  This is not only scriptural but projects a non-violent, gentle image.

            But he wants to have his disciples thinking about what kind of king they really want, and what kind of a king he is going to be.  So he tells them this parable.  It is a parable which has the effect of separating his disciples according to how they interpret it.

            Now, parables have multiple meanings, and this one has usually been interpreted in certain ways, but that’s by mainly using Matthew’s more focused version.

            “A certain man who was born into royalty when to a distant land to receive his kingdom and then return,” he begins.  His listeners would immediately remember how King Archelaus had to go to see the Emperor in Rome for permission to take the throne of his father, Herod the Great.  They would also recall that the Jews sent a delegation along to plead with the Emperor that this not happen… a project that didn’t work out so well.

II.

            First of all, the nobleman has to go somewhere else to receive his power, indicating that he is an agent of a foreign, conquering power.  Archelaus was not a good king; he was a Roman stooge.  That’s why the Emperor appointed him.  The people hated him, probably because he ruled by ruthless violence.  He was so bad the Emperor removed him after few years, and ruled Judea from then on through appointed Roman governors.

            It would not occur to the people that Jesus is identifying himself with Archelaus.  That would have been ridiculous and offensive.  There is no way they would have understood him to be saying, “I’m just like Archelaus; I am going away to the Father to receive my real power.” 

            They know that he already has real power; they have watched him using it for 3 years.  He has exhibited power over illness, evil demons, and even the weather!  Does anyone doubt that if he wanted to use his power to defeat the Romans he could have?  That is part of what his disciples are expecting!  Surely he does not have to go someplace else to receive even more power.

            Neither is Jesus making an excuse in advance for his coming crucifixion, as if the plan were for him to be killed now but come back later to finish the job.  He is not saying that this time around he’s been a failure, but when he comes back he’ll have real power.  Some Christians may have decided to frame it this way; but Jesus could not have meant that here.  And it goes against everything Jesus has been saying and doing.  (And to apply the notion that he’s not God yet is contrary to what eventually became Christian doctrine.)   

            Jesus continues the parable talking about the departing nobleman.  He says, “He called together ten of his servants and gave them each money worth four months’ wages.  He said, ‘Do business with this until I return.’”  The prospective king is trying to discover which of his servants is worthy of a high position in his government when he returns.  He is trying to discover which is the most ruthless in his service.  So he gives to each of them a moderately large amount of money to “do business with”. 

            Jesus doesn’t tell us anything about what happened in what must have been at least a few months if not a year or more.  The nobleman returns having received royal power from the Emperor, which basically means that he is protected by the Emperor’s army.

            He calls the 10 slaves in to account for themselves.  The first one reports that he made a profit of 1000%.  Remember that they are still in the house of Zacchaeus!  A man who got very rich in just the way this new king wants his slaves to act.  The people listening would have instantly known how that kind of profit is made.  It is done through extortion, foreclosure, loan sharking, theft, graft, and insider trading. 

            This performance is so impressive that the king gives that slave 10 cities to rule over.  Lucky them.  The same thing happens with the second servant who is not quite so ruthless.  He makes a 500% profit so only gets 5 cities to rule.

III.

            Then Jesus says “another” of the ten servants comes forward.  This one comes before the king in simplicity and humility, saying, “Master, here is your money.  I wrapped it up in a scarf for safekeeping.  I was afraid of you because you are a stern man.  You withdraw what you haven’t deposited and you harvest what you haven’t planted.”

            This servant is not going to play this game.  This servant refuses to participate in a system where he is rewarded not just according to his work, but according to his ruthlessness.  This servant is already where Zacchaeus had finally come to. 

            This servant says to the Master, “I am afraid of you, like everyone else.  But I am not going to let my fear determine my actions.  I am certainly not going to let my fear make me exploit and steal from my neighbors so you can get richer.  I am not going to let my fear turn me into a nasty and violent person, however many cities you promise me; even if it costs me my life.  I will not be ruled by fear.  I will not be ruled by you.  I will not make myself the enemy of my people.  Here is your money.  I kept it safe.”

            The Master is, as they say, not amused.  He is used to controlling people through fear and intimidation.  He is used to people exhausting themselves to make him happy at all costs.  He is used to his servants choosing their own comfort and success over the safety and security of their neighbors.  He thunders that the servant could at least have put the money in the bank so he would accrue some interest.

            But the servant no doubt knows that banks make a profit in the same ways as other enterprises, and he wanted no part of that either.

            In the context of what Zacchaeus has just done, and where Jesus is headed after he leaves Jericho, Jesus’ listeners got the point.  The third servant is a hero, standing up to an unjust system at the risk of his life.  He was sorely tempted to become what Zacchaeus had been.  Instead he maintains his integrity and becomes what Zacchaeus is now.

            The Master commands that the money be taken from the third servant and given to the one who made the most profit.  Even the attendants see this as unfair.  But the Master darkly snarls the motto of his new regime: “Everyone who has will be given more, but from those who have nothing even what they have will be taken away.”

            There is the new order.  If you think things were hard before, just wait.  This king is even more ruthless an oppressor of the people.  It is not about the equality advocated in the Torah, but just the opposite.  This king is about more inequality, more violence, more injustice, and harsher oppression.

IV.

            Then he proves his point by calling for his enemies, the people who told the Emperor that they did not want him for a king, and having his soldiers take their swords and slaughter them right there in front of him so he may sadistically enjoy it.

            But the third servant receives no further punishment.  Jesus doesn’t even say he gets fired!  And the other 7 servants?  They don’t appear to have to make an accounting to the Master at all!  It’s almost like the one who refused to produce a profit for the Master was so incomprehensible that the Master didn’t know what to do with him.  And the Master was so distracted, and his bloodlust so satisfied, that he forgot about the other 7.

            Or maybe now the Master is the one who is afraid.  Maybe he’s worrying that if fear didn’t work on this one man, maybe it wasn’t going to work on the other 7 either.  Maybe he doesn’t want to find out.  Maybe he’s afraid that these other servants, having refused to exploit and throttle the people, have the people’s support and gratitude.  Tyrants always fear the people.

            The parable is over.  Jesus and his disciples, and Zacchaeus and his guests, all sit in silence, reflecting on this story.  Jesus doesn’t explain.  He gets up, and begins immediately to get his things together to head for Jerusalem.

            Jesus is forcing them too ask what kind of a king they want, anyway?  What kind of a king do they think Jesus is?  After 3 years are they all still hoping for a king like the one in the parable?  He only rewards people for what they do for him.  But Jesus bring grace, forgiveness, and healing into the world for whomever needs it.  The king in the story demands ruthless obedience based on fear.  But Jesus looks for willing followers based on love.  The first 2 servants sell their souls for money and power.  But the third one stands fast in his faith, and stands with the people.  Do they really want to live in a world where those who have get more and those who have nothing lose what little they have?  Do they really think that’s what Jesus is about?

            Earlier we read what the prophet Samuel thinks of kings, as he warns the people not to insist upon having one.  The people say they want a king anyway in spite of the abuses that are inherent to the institution of monarchy.  I forget who said that power corrupts.  But it’s true.  (I even use the Samuel passage to warn presbyteries about having an Executive!)

V.

            Jesus comes to be a different kind of king.  By human standards he’s kind of an anti-king.  He rejects coercive power.  He rejects the use of violence.  He rejects threats and the manipulation of people’s fear and anger.  He rejects turning people against each other. 

            His power will be manifested conclusively in the cross and empty tomb.  His power will be realized by absorbing the violence and hostility of human powers and authorities, and revealing them to ultimately be empty.  His power will be more like the subtle and sacrificial courage of the third servant in the parable, who calmly and quietly refuses to be bought, or compelled to do evil.

            Jesus’ parable may be taken as a warning and a plea to his disciples not to fall into the trap of wanting earthly power or an ordinary kind of king.  What Jesus calls us to is extraordinary.  It is exemplified in Zacchaeus who changed his life by rejecting a system in which he had profited greatly at the expense of his neighbors, and embracing a different kind of life with Jesus. 

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