But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me. – Luke 19:27

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 7, 2017): Luke 19

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.” The words define the civil rights movement that continues today. Sometimes things are not politically expedient; they are just right. After all of the speeches, after all of the comments and commands, sometimes our politics cannot define what is right.

There are also circumstances where politics does not possess the answer. Again, if the history of the civil rights movement in the United States is the norm, politics cannot fix the problem. We can write all of the laws and even try to force racial integration, but it doesn’t fix our racial problem because the problem resides in our hearts. And we are notoriously hard to convince of what is right through political arguments alone.

Jesus parable of “The Ten Minas” is similar to his parable of the talents except that it seems to have a decidedly political application. Instead of increasing the money of the ones who have wisely invested for their king, the successful investors are given control over cities. And then Jesus adds an ending that is decidedly violent as the enemies of the king are executed in his presence.

But the intention of the violent parable is possibly more about the political reality that existed in Judea than about anything else. The religious leaders were searching for a political answer to their problems. Some, like the Herodians and Sadducees, were playing a political game with the political powers that were at work in the nation. Maybe they believed that they were making inroads. But the reality that they missed was that there was no political solution to their problem. This was not about taking control of the country; it was about submitting their hearts to the will of God.

The meaning of the parable changes with its violent conclusion. Looking at Jesus words from our vantage point in history, we see an uncanny resemblance between the violent ending of the parable and the fall of Jerusalem at the hands of Rome. In spite of all their efforts, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as they pursued a political answer to the problem, remained the enemies of the King. And until they dealt with the problem of their hearts, they could only stay enemies of the King – and maybe more importantly, they remained enemies of God. It was not that if they took care of their hearts they would cease to be dangerous, but rather the danger would be different. Once their hearts had been set straight, the threat would stop being about who was in control and begin to be about this idea that we are all equal. And it would result in the decidedly non-political notion that love was truly the answer that we needed because only love can be truly right.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: John 12