The Minas (Pounds)
Read the parable
- Luke 19:11-27 Primary account
Context
Jesus was near Jericho, just after the salvation of Zacchaeus, and told this parable "because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear." A nobleman traveling to a far country to receive a kingdom and facing an embassy of citizens who hated him would recall recent history: Archelaus had journeyed to Rome to be confirmed as ruler of Judea while a Jewish delegation opposed him. A mina ("pound") was about three months' wages — a modest, equal trust given to each of ten servants.
Meaning
Against expectations of an immediate kingdom, the parable teaches an interval: the nobleman departs, is crowned, and returns — as Christ ascends and will come again — and the interval is for trading: "Occupy till I come." Unlike the talents, each servant receives the same single mina, so the reckoning measures diligence with a common trust, and the faithful are rewarded with authority in the kingdom ("have thou authority over ten cities"). The servant who hid his mina in a napkin, excusing himself by a harsh caricature of his master, loses even what he had; the citizens who refused the king's reign face judgment at his return.
Go deeper
Two free lessons walk through the parables as a whole: The Parables of Jesus and Interpreting the Parables.