Parable of the Minas

Text and Content

The Parable of the Minas is a parable of Jesus found in the Gospel of Luke 19:11-27. After Jesus met Zacchaeus in Jericho and drew near to Jerusalem, the people supposed that the kingdom of God would appear immediately. Luke records that Jesus told this parable at that time (Luke 19:11).

A nobleman, setting out for a far country to receive a kingdom for himself, gives one mina to each of ten servants and tells them to trade with it until he returns. His citizens hate him and send a delegation after him, declaring that they do not want him to reign over them. Having received the kingdom, the nobleman returns and calls his servants to give an account. The servant who gained ten minas from one mina receives authority over ten cities, and the one who gained five minas receives authority over five cities. Another servant says he was afraid because his master was "an austere man," and he hands back the mina, which he had kept laid up in a napkin. The master judges that servant by his own words, takes his mina from him, and gives it to the servant who has ten minas. The master declares, "That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him" (Luke 19:26), and then orders that his enemies, who did not want him to reign over them, be brought and slain. In Luke's Gospel, the Triumphal Entry follows immediately after this parable.

Background

The mina (Greek mna) was both a unit of weight and a unit of currency. One mina equaled 100 drachmas, and sixty minas made one talent. Since a drachma is generally regarded as roughly a laborer's daily wage, one mina corresponded to a little more than three months' wages.

The scenario of a nobleman traveling to a far country to receive a kingdom while his subjects send a delegation in opposition resembles actual history. According to Josephus, after the death of Herod the Great, his son Archelaus went to Rome to have his rule confirmed, and the Jews sent a delegation to oppose him. Many scholars believe that the audience would have recalled this event when hearing the parable.

Relationship to the Parable of the Talents

The plot is similar to that of the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30, but there are also differences.

• In the Parable of the Talents, three servants receive five, two, and one talent, each according to his ability. In the Parable of the Minas, ten servants each receive the same amount, one mina.
• The Parable of the Minas includes the added story of a nobleman who goes to receive a kingdom and of the citizens who reject him.
• The reward takes the form of authority to rule over cities.

Opinions differ on how to account for these differences. Some hold that a single parable reached each Gospel through different streams of tradition, while others hold that Jesus told similar parables on separate occasions (see Synoptic Problem).

Interpretation and Issues

• Traditional interpretation: The nobleman represents Jesus, his departure to a far country the Ascension, his return the Second Coming, and the settling of accounts the Last Judgment. On this reading, the parable corrects the expectation that the kingdom of God would appear immediately and teaches faithfulness in one's assigned work until the Lord returns. Some interpreters connect the punishment of the enemies with the prediction of Jerusalem's destruction that follows (Luke 19:41-44).
• What the mina represents: The text does not say. Many interpreters, noting that all the servants received the same amount, take it to be something given in common to all believers, such as the gospel or the Word. By contrast, the talents are commonly explained as gifts that differ from person to person. However, such contrasts, as well as readings of the mina as time or life, are not stated directly by the text but are applications made by interpreters.
• Degrees of reward: The distinction between ten cities and five cities is frequently cited in discussions of whether there are degrees of reward in heaven. Many interpreters hold that salvation is received equally by grace while rewards differ in degree. Others caution against overemphasizing differences in reward.
• Minority view: Some scholars regard the nobleman not as God or Jesus but as an exploitative ruler like Archelaus, and read the third servant as someone who refused to cooperate with that system. Most denominational traditions do not follow this interpretation.

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church, this parable, together with the Parable of the Talents, is frequently used as a sermon text on faithfulness in one's assigned work and on stewardship. The passage in which the servant who was faithful in a very little receives great authority (Luke 19:17) is especially often quoted.