devotional post # 2036

Luke 19:20-27

Luk 19:20 Then another slave came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina that I put away for safekeeping in a piece of cloth.

Luk 19:21 Because I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You withdraw what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.’

Luk 19:22 The king replied to him, ‘OK, I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! So you knew, did you, that I was a severe man, withdrawing what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow?

Luk 19:23 Because of this, why didn’t you put my money in the bank, so that when I came back I could have collected it with interest?’

Luk 19:24 And he said to his attendants, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has ten.’

Luk 19:25 But they said to him, ‘Sir, he has ten minas!’

Luk 19:26 ‘I am telling you that everyone who has will be given more, but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.

Luk 19:27 But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and slaughter them in front of me!'”

the wrong option

The stories in this chapter do seem to circle around wealth, stewardship, and the responsibility of those who have been entrusted with much. But beneath the surface, Jesus is not merely talking about money. He is talking about the heart. He is talking about grace. And He is talking about what people do with what they have been given—whether that “mina” is wealth, opportunity, influence, time, or spiritual insight.

In the parable, each of the ten slaves receives the same amount. The playing field is level at the start. What differs is not the gift but the response. Nine servants take what they have been given and put it to work. One servant buries it. He lets fear dictate his choices. He convinces himself that doing nothing is safer than risking failure. But in the kingdom of God, inactivity is not neutrality—it is unfaithfulness. The master’s response is not about economics; it is about stewardship. The one who refused to act loses what he had, and it is given to the one who proved faithful.

Even within the story, the bystanders protest. “Lord, he already has ten minas!” It feels unfair. It feels like the rich get richer. It feels like the successful are rewarded while the fearful are punished. But Jesus is not endorsing social inequality. He is revealing a spiritual principle: grace unused is grace lost. Grace invested is grace multiplied.

We often look at people who seem spiritually prosperous—fruitful ministries, visible gifts, influential roles—and assume they started with more. But Jesus insists the difference is not in the amount given but in the willingness to invest it. The servant who hid his mina was not poor; he was passive. He had been entrusted with something valuable, but he chose the path of least resistance. He blamed the master’s severity instead of acknowledging his own fear. And in the end, he lost what he refused to use.

This parable is not about blaming the poor or excusing the wealthy. It is about responsibility. It is about recognizing that every believer—regardless of status—has been entrusted with something precious. The question is not how much we have, but what we are doing with it.

LORD, inspire us today to take inventory of all that we have been given, and invest it in your kingdom.