Commentators are split on whether or not this Parable in Matthew is the same as the Parable of the Minas in Luke 19 and they are often taught together. However, they are similar, but not the same story and are not set at the same time. Luke’s account actually takes place before Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, and Matthew’s came after Jesus left Jerusalem for the Mount of Olives. I will give the easy explanation of Matthew’s account now, and then Luke’s account next time.
Matthew 25:14-30
“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
“The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
The master is leaving on a long trip and before his departure he gave a certain number of bags of gold to three servants, each according to the servant’s ability. By doing this, the master entrusted gold to each servant with the expectation that they will use it wisely to generate an increase in his money. Upon his return, each of the first two servants had doubled the master’s money, but the third one had simply buried the gold, and when he returned it to his master without an increase the master gave that gold to the first two as a reward, and the lazy servant was tossed out on his ear.
The master’s return was a great day for the first two, but not a happy day for the third servant.
A new section begins in the Book of Proverbs, signaled by the last verse in Chapter 15:
Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the Lord, and humility comes before honor. (15:33)
The first 9 verses of Chapter 16 set out the principle that God reigns over human activity. The section has this theme emphasized in verses 1 and 9 and developed in 2-8. If we look at these verses, they can seem at first to be rather disjointed, each standing entirely on its own. Yet, if we think of them as bullet points for an outline, they come together in a structure that is almost the structure of an essay: Thesis, supporting points, conclusion. First, the 9 verses:
1 To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue.
2 All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord.
3 Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.
4The Lord works out everything to its proper end— even the wicked for a day of disaster.
5 The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.
6Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided.
7 When the Lord takes pleasure in anyone’s way, he causes their enemies to make peace with them.
8 Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice.
9 In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.
Proverbs 16:1-9
Let’s take the first three verses as an example, Proverbs 16:1-3:
To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue.
All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord.
Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.
Now, let’s make this into the beginning of a narrative (paraphrased):
Humans hold within their hearts the ability to conceive ideas and to plan great things in this life, but only God can give humans the ability to explain their hearts’ plans to the world (cf. Matt. 10:19). Each person with grand designs believes that he or she is acting in everyone’s best interests, yet the final judge of our motives will be made by God alone. To stay on the right track, we must commit our plans to God, so that He may guide us to bring our plans to fruition.
I will freely admit that my paraphrase isn’t perfect and can probably be written better, but that really isn’t the point of the exercise here. The point is that in certain cases, such as this one, there is more in the Proverbs than we might notice if we just look at the proverbs on the page as standing all alone.
With that said, why not take a few minutes and look at these verses carefully and continue the paraphrase into narrative form, being careful to choose words that retain the message of the original and see how everything comes together. You’re welcome to share… see you next time!
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
“‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
Matthew 25 contains three parables, and they all have the same meaning: The Lord may return at any moment: make sure you are ready if He comes today!
My plan for these three parables is to take them one at a time, along with the parallel passages from Luke for the second two and then give a more detailed explanation at the end, rather than repeating it three times.
Here we go with the simple part:
There were ten virgins waiting for the bridegroom to arrive; five had oil for their lamps and five did not, which is to say that half were ready for his coming and half were not prepared for it. When the bridegroom came the five who were ready were able to find their way to the banquet while the other five had to rush off in search of lamp oil. When they finally arrived at the banquet the doors were closed and they were left out: A wonderful day for the first five, but a sad coming for those who were unprepared, for they were left on the outside looking in.
The bridegroom is Jesus, the virgins were His bride, the Church. Five followed Jesus and let the Holy Spirit grow withing them and shine through them into a dark world. The other five neglected their faith and their relationship with God, and when the Great Day arrived, they were not ready to go into the wedding banquet, which is the Culmination of the Church at His Coming.
I have mentioned “Yahweh” verses a couple of times already in our study of Proverbs- there are 9 of them in Chapter 15. A Yahweh verse is simply a verse that is provided as a direct insight into God’s thinking on a subject. It is not a direct quote from God Himself, but rather an instance where the Holy Spirit, in guiding the author, has revealed God’s view directly, as opposed to advice from a father to a son, or genetically from “the wise”. These 9 verses in chapter 15 are verses 3, 8, 9, 11, 16, 25, 26, 29, and 33. Let’s have a look at vv. 25-26:
The Lord tears down the house of the proud, but he sets the widow’s boundary stones in place.
The Lord detests the thoughts of the wicked, but gracious words are pure in his sight.
We can see in these two examples that they are not direct statements from God; it doesn’t say “I will…” but rather it says “the Lord will…” Next thing to note is that these statements are not necessarily intended to be taken literally. There are plenty of houses of the proud that stand for centuries without being literally torn down, but in the end, the proud will find themselves in a place where they must either repent or be destroyed, either in this life or at the Judgement of all. The same would be true for the widow’s house; the foundation God provides may very well be something far more precious than mere brick and mortar.
As far as the second verse, I have a story for you: Last summer, I came across a video called Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will). This film, from 1934, was an award-winning film all across Europe, and its production and cinematography were ground-breaking. This was the complete film, in the original German.
From time-to-time I watch videos in German to try and remember that language that I learned 50+ years ago and almost never have an opportunity to use. It took me 20 or 30 minutes to get my brain tuned in, but when it all started coming back to me and I was getting about 80-90% of what was being said, I had to turn it off because the message is sick and twisted in the extreme.
Triumph des Willens is a Nazi propaganda film, made at the Nuremburg Party rally in 1934 and the main speaker is Hitler himself: Sick. This was only my reaction; I can only imagine what God thinks of such pure evil. Even so, for me it was a good language exercise trying to follow Hitler’s low-class theatrical Germon accent but… as Paul Harvey used to say, “Wesh your ears out with this:” gracious words are pure in his sight.
Our relationship with Jesus is an empowering relationship. This relationship provides us with all that we need to walk with Him through this life, and no matter what may happen to us along the way, no matter how many trials we might endure, to go through this life victoriously.
Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.
Psalm 25:8-10
Our Lord empowers us by giving us comfort in rough times. Our Lord leads us in His ways, He is merciful and quick to forgive when we ask, and all of this is incredibly empowering. It empowers us to live as God would have us to live. It empowers us to live free from sin and shame, and it sets us free from the traditions and ways of this world. Finally, it changes our entire outlook on life and our priority systems.
There is no greater blessing in all the universe than to live in relationship with Jesus Christ and living according to His leading will surely improve all of our human relationships.
Why would we ever wish to neglect this relationship?
Does the truth really count for anything anymore? Does anybody really care, or is the truth just whatever it seems like to me?
Does government tell us the truth about anything? Do politicians tell the truth about anything? How about the news media, are they telling the truth about the stories they report?
Well, I can’t say, for there is clearly enough falsehood flying around out there that when people do tell the truth you really have to wonder…
So, what is truth?
We aren’t the first people to ask this question; in fact, it’s as old as the Scriptures. It’s a question that Pilate asked Jesus two thousand years ago. (John 18:38) Jesus told Pilate that He “came into the world to testify to the truth.” He also taught us that He is “The way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6).
As Christians there is one thing that we can be certain of: Jesus is Truth; His words are true. We need to keep this in mind as we see and hear the world around us proclaim “alternate” truths. If these “truths” conflict with the teachings and person of Christ, they are falsehoods. As we listen to newscasts talk about things that conflict with what Jesus taught… we know what to conclude.
The truth is that very little in this world is what it appears to be! This is the lesson of Scripture, and it is the lesson of history, and it is the first rule of understanding our world.
We can place our faith and our trust in Jesus− all else is questionable.
This is a continuation of our discussion of the Parable of the Wedding Feast that was started last time. I would recommend that if you haven’t done so, you should read that post before reading this one for best results.
Luke’s account of this parable takes place shortly after his account of the reaction of one of the guests at the Pharisee’s house. Jesus had been speaking to them about the Sabbath and the Kingdom after He had healed a man right in front of them on that Sabbath day. As you will recall, none of these great men had much to say that day until after Jesus gave them some social advice in 14:7-14:
When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” (14:15)
As you can see, verse 15 is the transition between the last part and the Great Banquet parable. In this parable, a man puts on a large banquet for many guests. When the banquet is about ready, he sends his servant to let the invited participants know the time has come, but in the three examples we have in the parable, each guest has a lame excuse. The first must rush out to see some property he has just purchased; it would seem he bought real estate sight unseen. The second invitee needed to try out a new team of oxen he has recently purchased, and the third says he must stay home because he’s a newlywed.
Seriously?
The host is not at all pleased, and sends his servant out to invite the poor in the town; they come gladly, but there is still room, so he sends the servant back out to the highways and byways to invite all comers, for he is determined that none who have rejected his generosity will taste of his banquet.
Consider the scene in which this parable was given: Jesus is dining in the home of a Pharisee on the Sabbath. The other guests are Pharisees and teachers of the law, and they have set Him up by having a man present who was in need of healing; they wanted an excuse to accuse Jesus of a violation and Jesus obliged them. Then He gave His explanation asking if they would not save their ox or child if either had fallen into a well on the Sabbath and they had nothing to say to that. Then He told two brief parables about banquets, one dealing with the place of honor, humility and the first being last and the last being first, and then about the blessings of inviting people to their tables who could not repay them with a return invitation, and now this one.
When we look at it in context, we can easily see that the ones Jesus was speaking to were the ones who gave lame excuses at the last minute to the Great Banquet, and that the Great Banquet is the Kingdom of God, and that God is the host. Jesus was in their midst proclaiming that the Kingdom was at hand; they were the ones with the lame excuses like “let’s see if He will heal someone on the Sabbath so we can accuse Him!”
Such great men of high position would never taste God’s banquet, but those who were poor and outcast, even Gentiles, would receive God’s invitation with gladness.
Mockers resent correction, so they avoid the wise.
A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.
The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.
All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.
Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil.
Better a small serving of vegetables with love than a fattened calf with hatred.
Proverbs 15:12-17
These are some interesting proverbs as they link wisdom to cheerfulness and/or lack of wisdom with unease. The first one, verse 12 shows those who resent correction avoiding the wise, so great is their resentment. Verse 13 shows cheerfulness as the result of a happy heart, and heartache crushing the spirit. A discerning heart seeks knowledge and a fool feeds on folly is the contrast in verse 14. Each of these 3 verses offers a way to be happy and cheerful, and a way to be unhappy.
In the last three verses, notice that we are seeing the results of the conditions of the heart mentioned in the first three verses. Verse 16 is a “Yahweh” verse (translated ‘the LORD’ in English).
Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil.
Norice that the fear of the Lord is contrasted with turmoil. This continues with the overall notion that life without the Lord is the source of a great many of life’s difficulties. This is not to suggest that walking with God provides a problem-free existence, being in His presence makes dealing with the realities of life a great deal easier. Next time we will look at some of the other Yahweh texts in this section.
Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
“Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
“But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.
“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
“For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
Luke 14:16-24
Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
“But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’
“Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’
“Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
“The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’
“‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
“Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”
With these two accounts, we have an interesting situation. These two versions of the Parable of the Wedding Feast are basically the same, at least they end up in the same place. Yet they are set in different settings at different times. Matthew’s account takes place the day after the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, right after the previous parable. Luke sets it in the home of a Pharisee who has invited Jesus and a group of his big shot friends to try to trap Jesus into an admission that He had healed a guy on the Sabbath. Many commentators believe that Jesus told this same parable more than once, while others look past the different settings and treat them as having been exactly the same, which they are not.
I am happy to let each reader decide for him or her self, regarding settings and the rest. I will discuss the Matthew version in this post and the Luke version in the next. Personally, I think Jesus told the parable two or more times, as teachers tend to do.
In both cases, the parable is full of apocalyptic elements, so recall that these are bits of text that reveal something that is not expressly stated…
This is the third of the three parables that Jesus delivers to the Jewish religious elite in the scene that began in 21:23…
In this parable, unlike the previous two, Jesus begins with ”The Kingdom of heaven is like…” This time, He will put His parabolic meaning into the context of the Kingdom of heaven, which has been His general theme ever since He began His public ministry some three years earlier. In the parable, God is the King, Jesus, although He has been mentioned as king many times in Matthew’s narrative, is the son of the king, and the banquet is the messianic banquet we have seen earlier in Matthew’s account (cf. 8:11; 25:1 ff.). The king (God) wishes to honor his son (Jesus) and has arranged this banquet. Invitations have been sent out. Everything is ready, and the king sends his servants to let the invitees know that it is time to come to the banquet hall of the king… and they refuse.
By refusing, they have given a gross insult to the king, for they have refused to join him in honoring his son. Surprisingly, the king sends his messengers again, but the invitees are too busy with their own affairs; some even attack the messengers; the king is not amused, and demonstrates his wrath.
The king then tells his servants to invite people off the street to attend, and soon the hall is full of guests. When the king enters the room, he notices a man who is not appropriately dressed for a wedding banquet and asks him the reason; the man says nothing and the king has him tossed out of the hall, to a dark place where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth”. The phrase “weeping and gnashing of teeth” has serious apocalyptic significance, for it denotes the judgment of God upon a person or a people.
In the final verse, Jesus sums up what has happened when He says: “For many are invited, but few are chosen.” The hall was full of people, but those who were first invited refused to attend; they were invited, but since they didn’t show up to honor the son, they weren’t chosen. The second group of invites showed up, but one of them didn’t take his invitation very seriously, and was thrown out; he was also invited, but his lack of caring about that invitation resulted in his also not being chosen.
You might ask, “Chosen for what?”
The answer is a simple one: Chosen to remain in the presence of the king.
This parable demonstrates the messianic mission of Jesus in that when Israel, represented by their leaders, refused to honor Him, they rejected not only Jesus, but His Father as well; surely this sounds familiar to you for Jesus said this several times. Israel was the very first to be invited into God’s presence, but they were too busy, too hardened of heart to show up; some even attacked His messengers. The invitation then went out to the Gentiles, and many took advantage of the invitation, but even then, there are those (of us) who really don’t take the whole thing very seriously, and who will come to judgment in the end.
This might be a point for reflection for all of us…
I really doubt that the Jewish leaders who heard this really comprehended the scope of what Jesus was telling them here, for as we have already seen, their eyes had been blinded by their stubborn hardness of heart; they were now doing Satan’s bidding, whether they understood it or not.
From here on, their secret plotting will consume them…
We begin a new section of Proverbs in 15:5 which continues through verse 19. In this section we are dealing primarily with matters of temper and speech. It is interesting to note that in the totality of chapter 15, there is an increasing theological tone, with nine out of the 33 verses in the chapter being “Yahweh” proverbs.
A fool spurns a parent’s discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.
The house of the righteous contains great treasure, but the income of the wicked brings ruin.
The lips of the wise spread knowledge, but the hearts of fools are not upright.
Proverbs 15:5-7
These verses are the introduction to the new section. Notice that we go from the discipline of parents to the house of the righteous, to what passes a person’s lips. It almost seems like a compression of a person’s growth to maturity.
A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel.
Proverbs 15:18
This example is a classic dealing as it does, with temper and the tongue. If you pay attention to the news, you can probably think of examples of people who constantly stir up conflict, and sadly, no matter which side you might find yourself on, you can accuse the other side with ample justification, for being the one who stirs up the trouble. This is because neither side is the one who calms a quarrel.
I’m sorry to have to be the one that points this out, but if you are the patient one in this proverb, it is brutally obvious that both sides of our present divisions in America are infantile, thinking that getting in the others’ faces is a sign of impressive strength, and missing entirely the fact that it is actually a sign of pathetic weakness.
We would all be wise to learn from these Proverbs of old.
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