THE GOSPEL OF LUKE: - Vital Christianity

215“ So He called ten of His servants and gave them ten minas. 'Put this money towork,' he said, 'until I come back'” (v. 13).A mina was three months wages for a common laborer.Some gifts are distributed differently by God, according to His own pleasure; others areuniversally given to believers such as the Gospel, which is given to each Christian in equalmeasure.It isn't that each servant received ten minas, but that ten were distributed to the groupas a whole, one to each of the ten servants.While the master was away, receiving his kingdom, the servants were expected to dobusiness—to use the resources that the master gave, and to use them to the utmost.THE REBELLION OF THE CITIZENS (19:14)The reaction of the citizens was one of rebellion:"But his subjects hated Him and sent a delegation after Him to say, 'We don'twant this man to be our king'” (v. 14).These are the citizens of the nobleman, who lived in the area he ruled. These are not theservants who received the minas.In this sense, every person is a citizen of God's earth. We are all under His ultimate ruleand have to answer to Him.These citizens hated Him, and they made it clear to the nobleman that they refusedto have this man to reign over us. In Jesus' parable, the nobleman did nothing to deserve thisrejection; it was only because the citizens have heart full of hate.They would not submit to Jesus’ government and, a short time after this, they preferredeven a murderer to Him. No wonder that those who murdered the Lord of glory should prefer amurderer, one of their own kind of people, to the Redeemer of their souls.They despised Him for His humble birth, His crucifixion to the world and for the holinessof His doctrine. Neither self-denial nor holiness suits the dispositions of the carnal mind.