Reflective Bible Study

In many of Jesus’ parables, we can learn things when we focus in on a specific character or group that is described. In today’s journal entry, I want to focus on the two servants who increased the money given to them, and uncover some insights about what they were involved in.

Some might challenge us taking this angle on the passage, saying that Jesus doesn’t really say what these exceptional investments were, but while this is true, there are ample clues to give us direction on where these servants placed their portion of the master’s money.

The first clue comes from the third (lazy) servant’s response, which is confirmed by the master/king. In verse 22, we read the master saying, “So you knew that I am a hard man? You knew that I take out what I did not put in? You knew that I harvest what I did not plant?” Our first clue for how the servants used their money is by looking at how their master used his – strategically, in ways that allowed the money to grow with the least amount of effort.

The next clue, if we build upon the idea that these servants would do similar things with their money that the master would, is the master’s instructions in verse 13, “Put this money to work until I come back.” The second clue is that the master is not asking the servants to work for the money, but to make the money work for them. This would be like saying, “invest” the money, not gamble or squander it away.

Our third clue relates to timing. In Luke’s telling of this parable, we don’t have much in the way of clues about timing, except that the servants were given three-months pay, however, if we place this parable alongside the similar parable in Matthew, we get the picture that a long time (or perhaps a “lifetime”) passes. Matthew 25:19 tells us, “After a long time the master of those servants returned.” The third clue is that a great deal of time passes while the master is gone. These investments would need to stand the test of time.

It is possible that more than two of the servants started off well, but the others lost their money in bad investments. The two servants who are rewarded learned how to leverage what they had been given, and make it grow in a sustainable fashion. Speaking from a business sense, these two servants would have found ways to best use the money in service to others, and in ways that benefitted all involved. Looking closer at Luke 19:22 (the verse for clue 1), I could speculate that these two servants bought land or businesses that were then leased out to the former owners to manage. They were then able to collect an owner’s share while still giving fair wages and shares to the managers.

Business, in God’s eyes, benefits all the people involved. Business God’s way blends God’s way with the highest level of ethics imaginable. It is the only way to stay in business for a very long time, and it is the only way that the Master/King, when He returns, will approve of. Had the servants had dishonestly gained their money, not only would it have not lasted the whole time the master was gone, it also wouldn’t have made the master happy.

With God, the results are as important as the methods; the journey is as important as the destination.

Often times, when we think of Jesus healing someone, we think that the person being healed must be the one who has faith in order to receive the healing. However, after a closer reading at a number of the miraculous healings that are included in the gospels, it would seem that the necessary faith may be able to come from other sources.

In the passage for this post, we have such an event. Little if any evidence is given that prompt us to see the crippled man as the one who has faith. However, all three gospels that include this event point us to the fact that the crippled man’s friends were the ones who had faith: “When Jesus saw how much faith they had . . .” (v. 20a)

The “they” that Luke is referring to is this man’s friends, who have just carried the man up to the roof, removed ceiling tiles, and lowered the crippled man down to Jesus because there was no way to get the man through the crowd.

While Jesus focuses His message on the subject of forgiveness, we must not minimize the faith these four men had that Jesus could—and would—heal their friend. Had the friends not had any faith, or if their faith wasn’t strong enough to have made them be persistent in their mission, the crippled man would have finished his life as a cripple, and we would have missed learning the key lesson Jesus wanted to teach that day – the lesson of forgiveness and His role in the process.

This leads me to the theme I see in this passage: My faith is important, not just for the benefit of my own relationship with God, but for the benefit of those I spend time with as well. For faith to be effective, it must inspire the one who has it to act in a way that shows it is present.

The faith of these men showed, and because of it, their friend was healed.

One thing that has fascinated me about the resurrection story is who Jesus appears to first, before appearing to the group of disciples. The passage in this post is one of these early appearances, but it is one that also summarizes many of the first people who Jesus appears to.

This passage’s event happens on the road between Jerusalem and Emmaus. Jesus appears to two of the lesser known disciples, one named Cleopas and the other one is not given a name. It would seem that these two disciples were followers, but were not listed among the twelve.

However, these two disciples were not the first ones Jesus appeared to. In verses 22-24, we read a summary of what happened that morning: “But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see.”

John’s gospel (John 20:11-18) describes Mary Magdalene as being the first to see Jesus. Luke’s gospel shares the message that the angels share through the first women visitors to the tomb. However, after they deliver the message, and then return with some of the twelve to see the evidence but no angels, everyone but Mary leaves. It is then that Mary encounters Jesus, and she is regarded as the first person to see Jesus following the resurrection.

The next appearance is either the one in this passage, or one that is directly referenced in this passage when it concludes by saying, “And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, saying, ‘The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon.’” (Luke 24:33-34)

Now Simon could be the other disciple with Cleopas, but with the way the passage is worded, it is less clear whether these two disciples arrive while the others are talking about how Jesus had appeared to Simon, or these two disciples arrive with the message that Jesus had appeared to Simon.

I am inclined to think that these two disciples were not carrying the message of an appearance to a single disciple, which means that at this point, there were three appearances on the day of the Resurrection.

Now for a question: Did Jesus appear first to those traveling on the road, or to Simon?

Emmaus was seven miles away from Jerusalem, so at the very least, if these disciples sprinted all the way back, it would have taken at least 30 minutes, if not 1-2 hours to make the return trip. If these disciples arrive just after the news of Jesus appearing to Simon, then it would seem that immediately upon disappearing from the house in Emmaus, Jesus reappears somewhere in Jerusalem, at the place where Simon is.

Now which Simon is it? There were two disciples who were known as Simon: Simon Peter, and Simon the Zealot.

Since we have a clear record of Jesus appearing to the fishermen a few days later, this most likely was Simon the Zealot, who is one of the twelve Jesus called, but not really known for much else except his past life.

This means that Jesus appeared first to a woman (the lowest position in that culture), and an not reputable one at that considering Mary’s past; He then appears to two of the least significant disciple followers, since one is unnamed and the other is not one of the twelve; and only then does Jesus appears to one of the least disciples of the twelve: Simon the Zealot. In a typical fashion for Jesus, He reverses the order of importance and begins showing Himself to the lowest, working His way up from there. If one was creating a legend, they probably would go from the top down, or name-drop themselves in the mix of people who were first, but none of the gospel writers do this, which makes their gospels all the more credible in the eyes of those throughout history.

If you feel too small or insignificant for Jesus to be interested in you, pay attention, because He may just surprise you! Jesus often likes working from the bottom upward.