Luke 19 : 11-27  Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem for the last time.  He is surrounded by great crowds who think that He is going to make the kingdom of God "appear immediately".  So, He tells them another parable.

In this story the nobleman goes away to receive another kingdom for himself.  He assigns 10 slaves to do business for him and gives them each a mina - a 100 days wages.  He goes and comes back and asks the slaves to give account of their progress.  The first does great!  He doubles the amount of money.  The second also does well, but only adds half again to the amount.  The third man does nothing.  In fear, he hides the mina and only has that amount to give back to the master. We are not told about the other 7 slaves.

The master rewards the first two slaves with great authority.  But, the third man loses what he had and receives nothing.  Also, there were some citizens who did not want the nobleman to reign at all.  These people were brought in and slayed in front of the nobleman.

There is no explanation given about this parable. We can speculate that the slaves are the followers of Jesus and that He will reward those who do well with what He gives them in this life.  We reckon that the third slave remains in the kingdom but without reward.  And, it is quite apparent that the citizens that rejected the ruler are those who reject Jesus and end up in hell.

So why this parable at this time? What does He want to say to us? to me?

One obvious conclusion is that those who refuse the reign of Jesus will be removed from His presence.. forever.  The kingdom belongs to Him and we either accept that or we are removed from it.

The other thing we can say for sure is that He will reward those who serve Him faithfully.  There is a variety of rewards; it will be fair to every individual according to their service.  It will be more than we could ask or imagine.

It is the third slave that is difficult for me..  He had the same opportunity as the others.  But, his understanding of who the master was is different - he sees the master as "an exacting man" who takes "up what [he] did not lay down, and reap what [he] did not sow."  The master calls him "worthless". 
He could have done something... at least put it in the bank and get some interest.  That would have been better than wrapping it up in a handkerchief.

If we see that Jesus is the Master in this parable... then we must examine our perspective of Him - Is He exacting and unrealistic in His expectations for us?  Exacting here comes from the greek word - austeros - rough, austere, severe.. mean.  Is this true about Jesus?  Absolutely not!  We must learn to not be afraid but to trust Him with all that He gives us and all that He calls us to do.

All that we are and all that we have comes from our Lord.  We have a responsibility to be good and faithful servants, stewards of His gifts.

Father in heaven,  I want to be a good and faithful.. and fruitful servant.  Fill my life with Your Spirit so that I will be like a fruitful branch which is abiding in the True Vine, Jesus Christ.  Do what You desire and help me to trust and obey.  Bless my brothers and sisters in Christ, to recognize the gifts that You have provided and to serve You whole-heartedly also.. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.