Doing The King’s Business

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Who do you represent as you live your life, do your work, and conduct yourself in the world? On whose behalf do you live and do business?

We all represent someone and some worldview, purpose, or belief in how we conduct ourselves in this life. We do not live and work and do the business of life in isolation, or without influence.

In Luke’s Gospel account, in chapter nineteen, as Jesus was passing through Jericho on the way up to Jerusalem, Jesus pursued a tax collector named Zacchaeus. Jesus went to his home and Zacchaeus came to know Jesus as the messiah and became a child of God, repenting and giving half of all he had to the poor and restoring anyone he defrauded four fold—twice what was required by the law.

It was in this setting that Jesus spoke a parable to set the stage for his coming kingdom, the timing of his return, and his expectations of his servants to do his business on his behalf—representing him until his return.

Luke tells us “As they heard these things, [the testimony of Zacchaeus] Jesus proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.” (Luke 19:11, ESV).

Jesus began his parable, often referred to as The Parable of the Minas, saying, “A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return.” (Luke 19:12, ESV).

In the shadow of King Herod the Great’s winter palace, Jesus begins this parable, telling the well known history of King Herod going to Rome around 40 BC to receive his kingdom, and reigning over Israel as a client king. Herod’s son, Herod Archelaus, a most hated ruler, would also follow the same pattern of requesting to receive his kingdom from Rome.

Jesus continues the parable, saying, “Calling ten of his servants, [the nobleman] gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come.’ But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business.” (Luke 19:13-15, ESV).

In the parable, the nobleman, representing Jesus who would receive his kingdom at the ascension, called together ten of his servants to represent him and his coming kingdom by doing his business in the marketplace.

The people in the parable, like many surrounding Jesus in his last days, hated the nobleman and did not want him to rule over them. However, the nobleman returned, having received his kingdom and was ready for his servants to give an account of their faithfulness, “that he might know what they had gained by doing business.”

Like these servants, our coming king—King Jesus, expects us to be good stewards of what he has entrusted to us. We are to represent Jesus well in the marketplace, to conduct business on his behalf, and to prepare the way for his return and for his coming kingdom.

Like the servants in this parable, we are servants of our King-Jesus and we will one day give an account for how we have invested and spent what our master has entrusted to us.

As servants and stewards of Jesus, we are participators in his coming kingdom. This is a responsibility each of us have as representatives of the king. There are no spectators in God’s kingdom economy. We are participators in the kingdom of God.

Unfortunately, however, many people are like the citizens in the parable of the minas and ‘do not want this man to reign over them’—they do not want Jesus as their king.

It is also the true that some of the king’s servants are unfaithful with what the king has entrusted to them. They are not living in trust and obedience. These servants are weak in faith, are playing it safe, and are driven by fear. They wrap up the resources given to them and do not do the king’s business. As the saying goes, “Fear and the lack of faith and trust is at the heart of disobedience.”

When King Jesus returns, we are to be found as faithful servants of our present and coming king, and we are to do business on the king’s behalf, representing him well, so that Jesus will entrust us with even greater responsibilities and opportunities in his kingdom.

May we be found doing kingdom business and representing our king well as faithful servants when our king returns with his kingdom.

In Christ alone, Robbie

A Prayer For Endurance: “Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the Cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash