The Parable Of The Ten Minas, Luke 19:12-26

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley
Jesus was traveling through Jericho on His way to Jerusalem. It was early in the day on Palm Sunday. A rumor had sprung up among the crowds following Him that when He got there He was going to establish His Kingdom and defeat all their enemies. He told them this parable as a way of clarifying how things would happen.

By the way, you’ll notice some scholars saying that this is just another version of the Parable of the Talents.  But while the two stories are generally similar there are too many material differences to make them two versions of the same event. Let’s read it.
He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’ (Luke 19:12-13)
As will become clear, the man of noble birth represents Jesus who after His resurrection went to Heaven to be made King of the whole Earth. And the servants represent His followers.  In the monetary system of the day, a drachma was about one day’s wage. It took 100 drachmas to equal one mina, and 60 minas to equal one talent. Note that each servant was given an equal amount (one mina), a much smaller sum than even the least of the three servants in the Parable of the Talents. And remember, a parable is a heavenly truth put into an earthly context, so everything is symbolic of something else. Therefore, the mina represents something as valuable to the Lord as about three months wages would be to us.
When we reviewed the Parable of the Talents, we saw the money there represented His Word, the Lord’s most prized possession. Psalm 138:2 says He values His word even above His name. It&#821