What

Do Jesus’
Parables
Mean?

Crucial Questions

R. C. S P R O U L
What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?
 Crucial Questions booklets provide a quick
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P L E A S E V I S I T: R E F O R M AT I O N T R U S T. C O M / C Q
 CQ

What
Do Jesus’
Parables
Mean?
R. C. S P R O U L
What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?
© 2017 by R.C. Sproul
Published by Reformation Trust Publishing
A division of Ligonier Ministries
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Sproul, R.C. (Robert Charles), 1939-2017 author.
Title: What do Jesus’ Parables mean? / by R.C. Sproul.
Description: Orlando, FL : Reformation Trust Publishing, 2017. | Series:
Crucial questions ; No. 28
Identifiers: LCCN 2017027610 | ISBN 9781567698398
Subjects: LCSH: Jesus Christ--Parables.
Classification: LCC BT375.3 .S67 2017 | DDC 226.8/06--dc23
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 Contents

One Introduction to Jesus’ Parables . . . . . . . . 1

Two The Unjust Judge (Luke 18:1–8) . . . . . . . 9

Three The Rich Fool (Luke 12:13–31) . . . . . . . 15

Four Lazarus and the Rich Man

(Luke 16:19–31) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Five The Hidden Treasure and the Pearl

of Great Price (Matt. 13:44–45) . . . . . . . 27

Six The Workers in the Vineyard

(Matt. 20:1–6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Seven The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

(Luke 18:9–14) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Eight The Unforgiving Servant

(Matt. 18:21–35) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Nine The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37) . . 57

Ten The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–32) . . . . . 65

Eleven The Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids

(Matt. 25:1-13) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Twelve The Talents (Matt. 25:14–30) . . . . . . . . . 79

 Chapter One

Introduction to
Jesus’ Parables

O ur Lord Jesus Christ was the greatest teacher who

ever walked on the face of the earth. Not only was
He the very incarnation of truth—and so the content of
His teaching was impeccable and of divine origin—but He
was also a master pedagogue. That is, His style of teaching
was extraordinary.
His contemporaries said of Him, “No one ever spoke
like this man!” (John 7:46). Some even said that He spoke
as One who had authority, and not like the scribes and the

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 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

Pharisees. Jesus’ teaching was not frivolous. It wasn’t super-

ficial. Everything He said had substance to it. Everything
He said carried the very weight of His own authority. Jesus
uniquely taught from the standpoint of the authority of
God Himself. He said, “For I have not spoken on my own
authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me
a commandment—what to say and what to speak” (12:49).
In His unique proclamation of truth with authority,
Jesus is perhaps most noted for His use of parables. Of
course, Jesus did not invent the idea of the parable. The
Pharisees and rabbis of that time had a tradition of using
parables, but their use of parable was different. The Phari-
sees used parables to explain or illustrate the meaning of
the Mosaic law. Jesus used them to give new revelation.
Interestingly, you won’t find a parable anywhere in the
New Testament outside of the Gospels. And parables are
also infrequent in the Old Testament. Perhaps the most
famous parable of the Old Testament is the one delivered
by the prophet Nathan to David after David’s sin with
Bathsheba (2 Sam. 12:1–15). Nathan told the story of a
rich man who had many sheep, but he took one little lamb
from a poor man, who loved this one lamb dearly. When
David heard that story, he was outraged and said, “As the

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 Introduc tion to Jesus’ Parables

Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and
he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing,
and because he had no pity.” David didn’t understand until
Nathan clearly said, “You are the man!” (vv. 5–7).
In this parable, Nathan came to David with judgment.
He came in a moment of crisis. And this is one of the ways
in which parables function so richly in the New Testament.
The very word parable comes from two Greek words.
Para- is a prefix that refers to something that is alongside
something else. For instance, paralegals work alongside
lawyers as helpers. And ballō means “to throw or to hurl.”
So parable means something that is thrown alongside of
something else. In order to illustrate a truth He is teaching,
Jesus throws a parable alongside of it.
It has been said of preachers that the most important
part of their proclamation is illustration. We use illustra-
tions to simplify, to clarify, to heighten people’s ability
to understand what we are saying. But when Jesus uses
parables to illustrate a point, there is another, somewhat
mysterious, element, which sometimes gives us pause. After
Jesus preached the parable of the sower, He said, “He who
has ears, let him hear” (Matt. 13:9). Why would He say
that? We’re almost certain that everyone who was present

3
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

had two ears. But Jesus was talking about people who have
an ability to hear, to understand, and to embrace the truth.
In the Greek language, there’s hearing, and then there’s
obeying what you hear. Obeying what you hear means
really hearing it—a hyperhearing or superhearing. When
Jesus says, “He who has ears, let him hear,” He understands
that some people might audibly hear His teaching, but it
will not pierce their understanding or their hearts. So Jesus
makes a distinction between those who hear and those who
don’t hear.
Once when Jesus was alone with the Twelve, they asked
Him about a parable. He told them, “To you has been
given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those out-
side everything is in parables, so that ‘they may indeed see
but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven’” (Mark 4:11–12).
Jesus explained that for those who have ears to hear, the
parable provides a deeper understanding of Jesus’ teaching.
But for those who don’t have ears to hear, the parable is
actually an instrument of concealment. The parable was
not given simply to make everything clear to people; it was
also given to obscure meaning to those who are outside,
who are not given understanding. That sounds somewhat

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 Introduc tion to Jesus’ Parables

harsh. Jesus came not only to instruct and to help people

understand the kingdom of God, He came also as a judg-
ment on those who don’t want to hear the truth.
Scripture says that Jesus came for a rising and a falling
of many (Luke 2:34). Jesus said, “I have come not to bring
peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his
father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-
in-law against her mother-in-law” (Matt. 10:34–35). He’s
the rock of stumbling, the stone of offense, but to those
who love Him, He is the aroma of salvation. To those who
oppose Him, He’s the grounds for their condemnation.
And we see all of this in His use of parables. He would
take His disciples aside and say, “To you has been given the
secret of the kingdom of God” (Mark 4:11).
We find many different themes when we read the para-
bles. But one of the most common ones is the gospel of the
kingdom of God. The term gospel is used in three ways in
the Bible. One way is to describe a particular literary form,
the Gospels, the books that tell us about Jesus, His life, and
His ministry.
But the gospel that is defined and proclaimed by John
the Baptist, and then by Jesus, is the good news of the king-
dom of God; this is the second way that the word is used

5
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

in the New Testament. The third way can be seen in Paul’s

Epistles. There, Paul talks about the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ; the content of that gospel is Jesus—His per-
son and His work. So there is a transition in the meaning
of the word gospel toward the proclamation of Christ and
what He has done on our behalf, but that transition comes
after the initial announcement of the good news, which is
the announcement of the breakthrough of the kingdom
of God. And so over and over again in His parables, Jesus
says, “And the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven
is like this,” and He will throw alongside that announce-
ment a parable, so that we might understand the mystery
of this kingdom.
In the pages that follow, we are going to consider eleven
of Jesus’ parables. But before we do, we need to keep in
mind one important guideline for interpreting parables. In
the early centuries of Christianity, the church fathers often
engaged in what is called the “allegorical method” of inter-
preting the parables. The allegorical method aims to find
some hidden meaning in every element of the parable. For
instance, in the allegory of The Pilgrim’s Progress, each per-
son whom Christian meets along the way represents a type
of person we encounter in the world. The church fathers

6
 Introduc tion to Jesus’ Parables

tried to interpret the parables in this manner. But since

that time, it has become almost universally accepted that a
parable’s meaning consists of one central, decisive point. A
few parables might have two major points or possibly even
three, but we do not treat them as true allegories, finding
hidden significance for every single element.
And so the question we will ask as we consider these
eleven parables is, what is Jesus’ single, important, central
point? What lessons do these parables carry for believers?

7
 Chapter Two

The Unjust Judge

(Luke 18:1–8)

O f all of the great speeches Sir Winston Churchill gave

to the people of England during the crisis of World
War II, one of his shortest was also one of his most provoc-
ative. In an address at his alma mater on October 29, 1941,
he said in his inimitable fashion to the students, “Never
give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in noth-
ing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to
convictions of honour and good sense.”
Churchill was trying to instill in those students a spirit

9
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

of persevering in times of difficulty, persecution, and possi-

ble defeat. Similarly, he rallied his people after France fell to
the Germans, saying, “We shall go on to the end. We shall
fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we
shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength
in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may
be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the land-
ing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.” He was
calling people to persistent fidelity—in times of trouble,
they should not faint or surrender to despair.
But long before Churchill, Jesus called His people to be
faithful and not faint in times of difficulty. He does so in
the parable of the unjust judge in Luke 18:1–8.
At the very start of this parable, the text tells us its cen-
tral point: “They ought always to pray and not lose heart.”
This parable is about persistent prayer. It’s about persistent
prayer in the midst of trouble, even when it seems as if our
prayers go no higher than the ceiling. To communicate this
exhortation to constant prayer, Jesus tells the story of two
people, a judge and a widow. This widow has no one to
represent her, no one to defend her in the courts, and no
one to find vindication for her against her adversary.

10
 The Unjust Judge (Luke 18:1– 8)

We find throughout the Scriptures that there’s a spe-

cial place in the heart of God for widows, who seem to
be the most vulnerable people in the world. James tells
us that the essence of true religion is the care of widows
and orphans because, particularly in the ancient world,
the widow was helpless (James 1:27). And so Jesus tells
the story of such a person, who has been unjustly treated.
She has been wronged. She’s suffering, and her only hope
is to find justice at the hands of the courts. So she wants
to present her case to the judge.
Jesus tells us about this particular judge, saying that
he cared nothing for God or people. If you put those two
together, how much do you think he cared about justice?
Sometimes, in the midst of complex systems of trying
cases, the fundamental question of justice is lost.
The judge in this parable cared only for his own prestige.
But he was supposed to bring justice to this poor widow
who had no one to plead her case. And so she asked the
judge to hear her case: “Give me justice against my adver-
sary” (Luke 18:3). “For a while,” Jesus said, “he refused”
(v. 4). He brushed her off because he didn’t care about her
predicament, and he just wanted to be left alone.
But she would not faint. She would not give up. She

11
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

came again and again, saying, “Give me justice against my

adversary.” He again and again refused to hear her.
This woman would not take no for an answer. Eventu-
ally, the judge said to himself, “Though I neither fear God
nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering
me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me
down by her continual coming” (vv. 4–5).
This parable is sometimes called the parable of the
importunate widow. Importunate means overly persis-
tent. This woman would not give up; she kept beating
on the door of the unjust judge until finally, out of pure
expediency—not out of a conversion to the legitimacy
of justice—he gave her some attention. He said, “She’s
wearying me. I’ve gotten tired of it. I’ll hear her case. I’ll
vindicate her just so she’ll stop banging on the door.”
Many parables contrast how fallen creatures behave
with how God behaves. This parable talks about the unjust
judge as a contrast with God. In making this point, Jesus
says: “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not
God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night?
Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice
to them speedily” (vv. 7–8). The God we serve is a God
who vindicates and avenges His people.

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 The Unjust Judge (Luke 18:1– 8)

We know that when we are wronged or exploited, we

may not seek vengeance. Vengeance is not on the agenda
for the Christian. So does God say that vengeance itself is a
bad thing? No. He says, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay”
(Rom. 12:19). Our God is an avenging God. He will right
every wrong that His people have experienced. We see this
in the grand example of the exodus, where the people of
God cried out day after day, mixing their cries with their
groaning, until God said, “I have heard the groans coming
up to me from my people, therefore Pharaoh, who is an
unjust judge of Egypt, who regards neither God nor man,
will let my people go so that they may come and worship
me” (see Ex. 3:9).
And the exodus was a foretaste of a greater exodus that
comes to pass in the New Testament, when God delivers
His people from the world, the flesh, and the devil, and
from all of those who spitefully use us. And so we ought
not to faint, we ought not to lose faith, because we serve a
God who hears us and who cares.
Jesus ends the parable this way: “Nevertheless, when
the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke
18:8). Will Christ find faith in His church? Or will it all
disintegrate into unbelief, because people have stopped

13
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

praying and, in the midst of adversity, have fainted? Our

Lord obviously knew the answer to that question. He
knows that when He returns He will find faith on the
earth, not because we are so faithful, but because He is
faithful to keep those whom the Father has given Him.

14
 Chapter Three

The Rich Fool

(Luke 12:13–31)

S uppose the United States government fell and the

Constitution was destroyed and you had to write a
new constitution. But you had this restriction: you could
include only ten laws. These would be the bedrock of the
new constitution for the new nation. What ten laws would
you include?
Obviously, you would want to prohibit murder. And
you would do something to protect private property rights
and have a law against theft. But would you write a law

15
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

about honoring your father and your mother or keeping the

Sabbath day holy? And would your top ten include a law
against coveting? When God wrote a constitution for His
people, He included a law against coveting. I wonder why?
In Luke 12:13–31, Jesus addresses the danger of cov-
etousness in a brief parable. This hard-hitting parable was
occasioned by a young man who approached Jesus saying,
“Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with
me” (v. 13). According to the law of Deuteronomy, if there
was a dispute over the division of an inheritance, a rabbi,
serving as both teacher and attorney, could pronounce a
judgment on the matter.
This young man wanted Jesus to arbitrate his situation
and to act not as a teacher but as an attorney, representing
the interest of one brother against the other. Obviously,
Jesus was put off by this man’s request. This man’s interest
was not in what he could learn from Jesus but in what he
could gain financially by having Jesus side with him in a
particular case.
And so Jesus responded by saying, “Man, who made
me a judge or arbitrator over you?” (v. 14). Then He said
to everyone who was present, “Take care, and be on your
guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist

16
 The Rich Fool (Luke 12:13 –31)

in the abundance of his possessions” (v. 15). We don’t truly

understand how destructive the sin of covetousness is to a
community, a family, and a nation. Much damage is done
because of jealousy and resentment. People rise up in jeal-
ousy and hatred because they covet what others possess.
People lie. They steal. They cheat. They slander. They get
involved in all kinds of injurious practices, because their
hearts are covetous.
With this warning, Jesus moves into a story, a para-
ble, to teach His point. The ground of a certain rich man
yielded plentifully. Through the providence of God, he had
a bumper crop. The Scriptures tell us that every good and
perfect gift that we receive is from the hands of God (James
1:17). Scripture also tells us in Romans 1 that the two most
basic sins of the fallen human race are a refusal to honor
God as God and a refusal to be grateful.
Irreverence and ingratitude toward God are the most
fundamental sins that define fallen humanity. Paul tells us
that when we pray, we should make all of our prayers with
thanksgiving (Col. 3:16). When we come before God in the
spirit of thanksgiving, we’re acknowledging that we have
not produced the benefits that we have received, but rather
we are the recipients of His tender mercy and bountiful

17
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

grace. The man in Jesus’ parable thanked Mother Earth, if

he thanked anything. He had good soil and a good season
of rainfall. And his riches were magnified exponentially by
this tremendous crop.
He asked himself, “What do I do now?” He did not
ask, “How can I use this wealth that I’ve received to enrich
my neighbor, my community, or my church?” Instead, he
asked, “How can I find a place to store up all of this wealth
that I’ve just received? I’m going to tear down my barns
and build bigger barns.” The last thing in his mind was
gratitude toward God. He had no concern for following
the Old Testament law of giving to God the firstfruits of
what he had received from God.
To apply this to our contemporary culture, this man
never once even considered the possibility of tithing, of giv-
ing back to God one-tenth of what God had given to him,
as the law of God required. We know that the overwhelming
majority of professing Christians today do not tithe. They’re
just like this fellow. They’re absorbed with their riches. Their
possessions are so important to them that they hold back
God’s portion, thinking nothing of robbing God Himself.
Note that the man in Jesus’ parable is described in two
ways. First, he’s rich. Jesus does not say that being wealthy

18
 The Rich Fool (Luke 12:13 –31)

is inherently a bad thing. What is bad is when your heart

and your soul are tied up in your wealth and your material
possessions. The other thing that is said about this man is
far more significant.
The rich man is a fool. In Scripture, being a fool does
not mean that you’re unintelligent or uneducated. Even
Aristotle observed that in the brain of the most brilliant
man resides the corner of the fool. There’s a difference
between stupidity and foolishness. In biblical categories,
the judgment of being a fool is not a judgment of intel-
ligence. It is a moral judgment.
The Psalms tell us that the fool says in his heart that there
is no God (Ps. 14:1). Likewise, the rich man gets a bumper
crop and starts talking to himself. The last thing he’s con-
cerned about is God. He doesn’t have the slightest interest in
spiritual matters. He’s concerned only with his surplus. So
he’s going to tear down his barns and build bigger barns so
that he can store up all of his provisions for a rainy day. Then
he can take life easy, and eat, drink, and be merry.
This is a pagan formula. Paul mentions it, cynically, in
1 Corinthians 15, when he says, “If the dead are not raised,
‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die’” (v. 32). We might
as well have our party tonight, because it’s all over tomorrow.

19
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

But then we hear the next speaker in the parable: God.

God looks at this man and says, “You fool! Don’t you
understand that foolishness is the antithesis of wisdom,
and that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord?
It’s reverence for God.” But this man had no reverence for
God. And God said, “You fool, tonight—not next week,
not next month, not ten years, but tonight—your soul is
required of you.” And obviously, this man was not ready.
Jesus elsewhere said, “What can a man give in return
for his soul?” (Mark 8:37). This man said to God, “Oh,
God, don’t worry about my soul. I’ll tell you what. You can
have all that I’ve stored in these barns. I’ll give you all my
wealth now.” And God said, “Fool! This night your soul is
required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose
will they be?” (Luke 12:20). Jesus concludes, “So is the
one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward
God” (v. 21).
Remember that fellow who asked Jesus to settle his
inheritance question? I wonder what he was thinking after
he heard the parable. I think he sneaked away. I think he
chose to not push the point anymore, because Jesus, at just
that moment, identified him in front of the whole group
of people as a fool.

20
 Chapter Four

Lazarus and
the Rich Man
(Luke 16:19–31)

A professor once said to me that the sinner in hell would

give everything he had and do everything he could to
make the number of his sins in this life one less, just to get
one ounce less torment. That is more horrible than any of us
can ever contemplate. Jesus’ parable of Lazarus and the rich
man in Luke 16:19–31 gives us a glimpse of that horrifying
torment, and therefore it is a singularly terrifying parable.

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 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

This parable focuses on severe contrasts. The charac-

ters are a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus. The rich
man is described in the most opulent terms. He dresses like
royalty, in purple and fine linen, and he eats sumptuously
not once a year or once a month but every day. Lazarus, in
contrast, had some kind of incurable chronic skin disease
that left his body covered with sores. He could not even
move himself to the gate of the rich man but had to be car-
ried there, presumably by friends. He was willing to live on
the scraps of garbage, the leftovers that were thrown away
from the sumptuous feasts of the rich man. Moreover, dogs
came and licked his sores.
In first-century Israel, the dog was not man’s best friend.
Dogs were not a household pet. They were basically feral
and seen as the worst of the scavengers. People hated dogs,
and yet the dogs were kinder to this beggar than the rich
man was—they tried to give him the kind of healing treat-
ment they would give themselves.
Then the beggar died. And as soon as he died, he was
accompanied not by friends or by relatives, but by the
angels of God. So the first thing Lazarus saw after he died
was the refulgent glory of the heavenly host, who picked

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 Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16:19–31)

up this poor, sorrowful beggar in their arms and carried

him to paradise and placed him in the bosom of Abraham.
There’s probably no more tender portrait of the mercy of
heaven than this illustration of the death of Lazarus, who
was transported to heaven personally by angels.
Then we read that the rich man also died, and he was
buried—but he did not go to the bosom of Abraham. He
was not carried in glory by the angels of God but was
sent to be tormented in hell. And from there he lifted up
his eyes, and he could see into the heavens. He could see
the miserable beggar now being grasped in the arms of
Abraham, in glory. And he cried out. Notice, he doesn’t
cry out to God. There’s no cry of repentance. He cries to
Abraham and asks him to do something to ameliorate his
condition.
The rich man says, “Father Abraham, have mercy on
me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water
and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame” (v.
24). The man who fared sumptuously every day is now
begging for a drop of water. One drop of water on his
tongue. But Abraham replied, “Child, remember that you
in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus

23
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here,

and you are in anguish” (v. 25). The situation had reversed
itself. But it was too late. The rich man should have cared
about the suffering of Lazarus during his life, but now all
he could think about was wanting him to come and minis-
ter to him in the midst of his torment.
Then Abraham says what I think is the heaviest part of
the whole parable: “Besides all this, between us and you a
great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would
pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross
from there to us” (v. 26). There is no material in the world
strong enough to build a bridge over this chasm. There’s
no way to go from one side of the chasm to the other. On
the rich man’s side, there are no provisions for parole. The
sentence is forever.
The rich man understood, and then he became the beg-
gar. He said, “Then I beg you, father, to send him to my
father’s house—for I have five brothers—so that he may
warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment”
(vv. 27–28).
Abraham said, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let
them hear them” (v. 29). He refused to interrupt Lazarus’
blessedness in heaven to send him on a missions trip.

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 Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16:19–31)

The rich man said, “No, father Abraham, but if some-

one goes to them from the dead, they will repent” (v. 30).
The Scriptures were insufficient, the rich man thought. He
might have thought his brothers were worldly; they were
hard of heart. They were not tuned into spiritual things.
They were not inclined to think highly of or to be convinced
by the law of Moses or prophecies of the Old Testament.
But if someone came to them from the dead, then maybe
they would listen to him, and they would repent.
The rich man obviously understood that his brothers
needed to repent, and if they didn’t repent, they were going
to end up exactly where he was. Abraham answered him
and said, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets,
neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from
the dead” (v. 31).
Jesus was telling the people who were listening to His
parable that if they didn’t listen to Moses or the Prophets,
then when His Father raised Him from the dead, they still
wouldn’t listen. Unbelief is not an intellectual problem—
there is sufficient testimony to God and His goodness in
creation and in Scripture that everyone is without excuse
if they refuse to worship Him. Rather, unbelief is a moral
problem. Unbelievers don’t worship because they don’t

25
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

want to worship. They don’t listen because they don’t want

to listen. They don’t have ears to hear because they don’t
want to have ears to hear.
This is one of the most sober warnings that we ever
receive from our Lord. He warns us that now is the time
for us to seal our eternity, because once we die, it’s too late.

26
 Chapter Five

The Hidden
Treasure and the
Pearl of Great Price
(Matt. 13:44–45)

I magine the fire department called you and said that

your house was on fire. They tell you that they will not
be able to save your house and that you have five minutes
to go in and remove some of the contents of your house
before it’s too late. What would you get? Would you run
to the garage and get your car? To the dresser and get your

27
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

jewels? I know exactly what I would get if I had five min-

utes to save whatever I had in my house. I would get some
rare books, some paintings, and a box of letters my dad
wrote to me during World War II.
Why would I rush and get those things? Because they
can’t be replaced. I put a lot of value on things that could
never be replaced. But we all have different values. In two
short parables from Matthew 13:44–45, Jesus essentially
asks, “What’s your value system? How important to you
is your soul? What would you trade for your salvation?”
These two parables teach us something about the kingdom
of God, or as Matthew calls it, the kingdom of heaven, and
both of them are concerned with the idea of value.
In our modern world, we often hear politicians speak
about values. Candidates might refer to family values or
national values. But when people talk about values, they
are really talking about ethics. They are not the same thing.
Values have to do with subjective appraisals of what things
are worth to an individual. That is, values are what we hold
to be important, and they are often simply a matter of per-
sonal preference.
But ethics has to do not so much with what we esteem
or what we hold in high worth, but with what we ought to

28
 The Hidden Treasure and the Pearl of Great Price

do. Ethics is objective; value is subjective. Now, when we

relate these two ideas, we see that God has His value system
and we have our value systems, and our value systems don’t
always agree with the value system of God.
As Christians, we have an ethical imperative to bring
our personal values in line with the values that God Him-
self assigns to things in this world. Jesus, announcing the
breakthrough of the kingdom of God, declares something
of inestimable value to people who, for the most part, do
not place a high value upon it. And so He gives these two
brief parables to illustrate His point. The first one is of a
man who finds a great treasure in a field: “The kingdom of
heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found
and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he
has and buys that field” (v. 44).
We are familiar with movies and novels about pirates
who bury great hoards of treasure on a remote island, and
then they create a map so they can recover the treasure at a
later date. X marks the spot. But then their ship goes down
and no one knows what happened to the map. Sooner or
later, people find the map and they go on a treasure hunt,
hoping, somehow, to rediscover the buried treasure.
In the ancient world, it was not uncommon for vast

29
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

hoards of money and jewels to be hidden in fields. The

owners would know where they buried it and it would be
safe from others. They didn’t go down to the First National
Bank of Jericho and deposit their valuables in their safe
deposit box. They hid their money by digging a hole in
the ground. If a person died before recovering the treasure,
then years later a man could be working in the field and
unexpectedly uncover a treasure chest.
In Jesus’ parable, apparently the worker doesn’t know
the owner of the field. Jesus doesn’t provide great detail
other than to tell us that the man sells everything he has
because he has one burning passion: to raise enough capital
so that he can buy that field. Then, once he owns the field,
the treasure that is buried there becomes his possession. He
doesn’t steal the treasure; he simply tries to find a way to
earn enough money to buy the field.
There is nothing unethical about this man’s actions.
The point of Jesus’ parable is a simple one: This man found
something that was so valuable that he was willing to give
up everything he had for it.
Jesus then tells another parable of a jewelry merchant
who specializes in selling pearls: “Again, the kingdom of
heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on

30
 The Hidden Treasure and the Pearl of Great Price

finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he
had and bought it” (vv. 45–46). In this part of the ancient
Near East, pearls were more rare than they are today, and
they could have greater value than diamonds, rubies, gold,
or silver.
This merchant had a magnificent collection of pearls.
Then one day he came upon a pearl that was so lustrous, so
marvelous, and so exquisite that all the rest of the pearls in
his collection faded into insignificance. “I have to own that
pearl,” he said. He sold his whole collection of jewels, his
whole business, so that he could have that pearl of great price.
The main point in both of these parables is that if you
find something extremely valuable, then it is worth selling
everything you have so that you can possess it. Jesus is say-
ing, “This is how valuable the kingdom of God is. How
much value do you put on your soul? What will you give
in exchange for your soul?”
I can’t imagine a Christian being willing to trade any-
thing. First-century Christians would not exchange their
lives for their souls, because they had found that treasure
and they had found the pearl of great price. They were will-
ing to lay down their lives, because they realized that in
their whole lives there was nothing so precious, nothing

31
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

so valuable, as to possess Him. The pearl of great price

isn’t a jewel—it’s a person. And if you have Him, you have
everything.
We need to hear these parables today, because Jesus is
saying, “In the value system of God, the kingdom of God
that is brought through Jesus Christ is the one thing that
surpasses every other thing, anything that we can accumu-
late in this world.” We must have the pearl of great price.
We must have the treasure that’s hidden in the field.
We need to regularly audit our value systems to see
whether our values line up with the values of God. We’re
called to have the mind of Christ. That means we are to
love what Jesus loves and to hate what Jesus hates. We pur-
sue what Jesus pursues and flee from what Jesus flees from.
That’s what the life of the Christian is all about.

32
 Chapter Six

The Workers in
the Vineyard
(Matt. 20:1–6)

I magine that ten students attend a college class. Five of

the students diligently study the week before the final
exam. The other five party all week and don’t even glance
at their notes for the final exam. All ten students take the
exam, and the final grades are posted. The first five stu-
dents score well enough to earn an A, while the others score
a failing grade. Nevertheless, every student receives a C.

33
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

This might appear to be gracious, but the problem is

that the students who made A’s got neither grace nor jus-
tice. They suffered an injustice at the hand of the professor,
who took from their merit and gave it to those who had
none. This simple illustration shows that such a system in
a classroom is not just but unjust.
Jesus tells a parable in Matthew 20:1–6 that has to
do with the weighty matters of justice and grace, as well
as questions of merit. It is often called the parable of the
workers in the vineyard, but I refer to it as the parable of
the owner of the vineyard.
Owning a vineyard is a risky enterprise even today.
Imagine the risk in the ancient world. When grapes reach
their optimal point of ripening, it’s imperative that they be
harvested as quickly as possible. To wait one extra day in
the sun could diminish the value of the wine that will come
from the grapes.
In Jesus’ parable, it is time for the grapes to be picked.
So the vineyard owner goes into the town to find day
laborers. He says, “If you’ll come pick my grapes, I’ll pay
you a denarius”—which is a full day’s wage—“for your
labor. Would you like to do that?” “Yes, that’s why we’re
here,” they say. And so they go to work. But the owner

34
 The Workers in the Vineyard (Mat t. 20:1– 6)

soon realizes that he’s going to need more laborers in his

vineyard. So he goes back to town at the third hour, and he
hires more workers. And then again at the ninth hour. And
then at the eleventh hour. And as late as he comes, men are
still waiting for work. The vineyard owner doesn’t specify a
wage to this last group of men, but they go to work. And
at the end of the day, all the grapes have been harvested.
The owner then tells his steward, “Go to the different
groups that we selected during the day and pay the last
group first, and then down to the first group that we hired,
and I want you to give all of them a denarius for their
day’s labor.” The steward pays the men, and those who had
been working all day become angry. They say, “What do
you mean paying those guys a denarius? They only worked
half an hour. We’ve been here in the heat of the sun all day
long, sweating from our brows, picking your grapes, and
now you’re going to pay us just one denarius? And you’re
giving the same amount to those who worked less than we
did?” The owner says, “Wait a minute. Didn’t we make an
agreement when I hired you this morning in the market-
place? I offered you this job, and I told you I’d pay you one
denarius. Every one of you jumped at the opportunity to
get that denarius. Isn’t that right?”

35
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

So how does this parable relate to the doctrine of elec-

tion? When the workers were protesting against the owner,
he said to them, “This is my vineyard. Don’t I have the
right to do with my possessions whatever I want to? If I
want to be generous to these people over here and give
them the same pay that I offered you, why should you
complain? I gave you what I promised I would give you.”
I often ask people if they believe in the sovereignty of
God, and I’ve never heard a Christian say no. And if I say
that God sovereignly orders the creation that He made,
Christians will say they believe that. And when I ask, “And
does God have the right, sovereignly, to impose moral obli-
gations upon you?” Christians answer yes.
But when you start discussing God’s distribution of
His grace, people start to object. They ask, “Are you saying
that God gives grace to some people that He doesn’t give to
others?” Yes. Did God call Abraham out of paganism and
not do the same thing for Hammurabi? Did Paul receive a
vision of Jesus while Pontius Pilate or Caiaphas did not? Yes.
Paul speaks of this in his epistle to the Romans: “It
is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all
who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not
all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring,

36
 The Workers in the Vineyard (Mat t. 20:1– 6)

but ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named’” (Rom.

9:6–7). And he goes on to say, “Not only so, but also when
Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefa-
ther Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done
nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose
of election might continue” (v. 10).
For God’s sovereign purpose and pleasure, Rebekah was
told, “‘The older will serve the younger.’ As it is written,
‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated’” (vv. 12–13). Paul then
says, “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s
part?” (v. 14). God, sovereignly, for the purposes of His
election and to show forth His mercy, chooses one and
rejects the other.
Picture a circle. Everything in the circle represents jus-
tice. Everything outside this circle represents nonjustice.
We tend to think of all acts of nonjustice, everything out-
side the circle, as unrighteous or evil. But this is not true.
Some nonjustice is evil, but there is another kind of non-
justice that is not evil: grace. Is there anything evil about
grace? Of course not. Is there anything wicked about God’s
being merciful? No. When God is gracious, He does not
commit an injustice. But He does commit a nonjustice. So,
those whom He elects and saves, sovereignly, receive His

37
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

grace. Those who do not receive His grace receive justice.

They receive exactly what they deserve.
Paul asks, “Is there injustice on God’s part? By no
means! For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom
I have mercy’” (vv. 14–15). God, sovereignly, has the right
to be generous in His mercy to one without being required
to give it to the other. In this parable, the workers who
worked all day long got justice. They received what they
were promised. The owner of the vineyard committed no
crime against them. He was perfectly just. The other work-
ers, however, received more than they bargained for. They
received grace. They received mercy.
No one in the parable received injustice—except the
landowner. He was slandered by the workers who were
angry at him for being gracious to others. We need to
understand that God, who is the owner, has, in His owner-
ship, the sovereign authority to be gracious to whom He
will be gracious.

38
 Chapter Seven

The Pharisee and

the Tax Collector
(Luke 18:9–14)

M y favorite line from Augustus Toplady’s hymn

“Rock of Ages” is “Nothing in my hand I bring,
/ simply to thy cross I cling.” This is the main point of
Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke
18:9–14—that nothing we have or do can avail us before
God’s throne.
Jesus repeatedly warns those who make professions of

39
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

faith but who do not possess what they profess. He uses

this parable to issue such a warning. Jesus knows that the
church is a body of people made up of both wheat and
tares. That is, the church here on earth is a mixed body. It
includes both true believers and those who make profes-
sions of faith but who have no authentic faith.
In this parable, Jesus illustrates this truth by contrast-
ing two people. One is a Pharisee. The Pharisees were a
group of men among the Jews who began their ministry in
the intertestamental period. They banded together because
they were profoundly concerned about the decline in reli-
gion and the neglect of God’s law among the Jewish people
at that time.
These Pharisees devoted themselves to keeping the law
of God in an effort to restore righteousness to the land and
godliness to the people. But in a short period of time, they
became so caught up with their desire to be righteous that
they soon had confidence in their own obedience to the
law rather than learning from the law what it was designed
to teach them.
The Apostle Paul teaches that the primary function of
the law of God is to act as a mirror. When we look at that
mirror, it reveals the holiness of God in contrast to our

40
 The Pharisee and the Tax Collec tor (Luke 18:9–14)

unholiness (Rom. 3:20). The law is to be a schoolmaster to

drive us to Christ, as we realize that we are not capable of
keeping the law.
But the Pharisees looked in a mirror that showed them
their own righteousness, and they became smug and over-
confident in their own moral achievement. Soon they had
a spirit of being aloof from everyone else in the land. The
Pharisees held to the idea of justification by segregation.
That is, a person would become justified in the sight of
God as long as he kept himself from any contact with any-
one who was in any way polluted.
The Pharisee in the parable has the audacity to thank
God for his superiority. He’s actually quoting a portion of a
prayer from the Talmud where the leaders were instructed
to thank God for their station in life and their status as
being one of the set-apart ones. So this man thanked God,
but not with any sincerity. He prayed, “God, I thank you
that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulter-
ers, or even like this tax collector” (v. 11). He’s saying in a
sense, “There but for Your grace, go I,” but he was arrogant
about his station.
Tax collectors were despised by the Jews. They were
despised because they were considered traitors. They made

41
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

their money by collecting taxes for the oppressive Roman

government, and they would often add to their collections
and skim some off the top for themselves as they bled the
people dry. They were the most hated group of people in
the nation.
The Pharisee sees a tax collector in the temple and
thanks God that he is not like him. He goes on to say, “I
fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get” (v. 12). This
man took pains to note how he went above and beyond
in his scrupulous observance of the law (which required
fasting only once a year) and his sacrificial giving. He por-
trayed himself as the quintessential true religious man.
This Pharisee had a distorted understanding of what
justification requires. He thought that justification in the
sight of God could be accomplished by one’s own achieve-
ment of righteousness. He added his own merit to grace,
his own works to faith, and his own performance to the
work of Christ. And he is not alone in this view—there
are many Christians in the world today who believe that
in order to be redeemed, in order to be justified, you must
have faith, grace, and Christ, but you must add something
else to the mix.
Such Christians say, “I must have faith plus works. I

42
 The Pharisee and the Tax Collec tor (Luke 18:9–14)

must have grace plus merit. I must have Christ plus my own
righteousness.” Some teach that God will never pronounce
a person justified until or unless inherent righteousness
resides within that person. In other words, one must be
sanctified before he may be justified, which is the opposite
of what the New Testament teaches and what is taught in
this parable. We should note that in this parable Jesus was
addressing all who were standing there who thought they
could be justified by their own righteousness (v. 9). And
by extension, this parable addresses all people—then and
now—who still trust in their own achievements and good
works to make them right with God. People assume that
God grades on a curve. As long as my sin is not as per-
nicious as my neighbor’s, I can be happy about my own
performance.
The Apostle Paul warned that those who judge them-
selves by themselves and among themselves are not wise
(2 Cor. 10:12). We look around, and as long as we can find
someone more corrupt than we seem to be, we are at ease,
assuming that our superiority and our achievements will
get us past the throne of God’s judgment. Other religions
say that God has scales of justice, and if our good deeds
outweigh our bad deeds, that will get us into heaven. But

43
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

God requires perfection. His law is holy, and we are not.

The psalmist asked, “If you, O Lord, should mark
iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” (Ps. 130:3). That’s a
rhetorical question. The answer is clear: no one. We cannot
pass the bar of God’s justice based upon our performance.
We dare not assume that we are going to enter heaven
because we’ve lived a good life or tried to live a good life or
lived a better life than others around us, for this would be
a fool’s errand and would be the most fatal mistake of all.
We say, “Wait a minute. It can’t be that dire.” But it’s
important to understand that when God considers our
acts, He considers not only the act itself, whether it cor-
responds to His law, but also the motivation for it. Did we
do this particular work out of a heart that is 100 percent
dedicated to God? We’re called to love Him with all of our
hearts, all of our minds, and all of our strength. No one has
ever done that, not for an hour or even a minute. So every
deed we do is marred by the imperfection of our hearts.
Many people today, like the Pharisee, have not wrestled
with this fact, and how it makes all our righteous deeds as
filthy rags before God.
The tax collector presents a sharp contrast to the Phari-
see: “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even

44
 The Pharisee and the Tax Collec tor (Luke 18:9–14)

lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God,
be merciful to me, a sinner!’” (Luke 18:13). This tax collec-
tor had nothing to contribute to his own salvation. All he
had was a plea for mercy. He knew what he was. He wasn’t
suffering under the delusion of a phony righteousness. He
had an understanding of the only hope and ground for jus-
tification, which is found in perhaps the most important
theological concept in history, the concept of imputation.
Imputation means that our justification in the pres-
ence of God is grounded in a righteousness that is not our
own. It’s what Luther called an “alien” righteousness, a
righteousness outside of ourselves, a righteousness accom-
plished only by Christ, the only One who ever kept the law
perfectly throughout His life.
Sometimes we ask a child in Sunday school, “What did
Jesus do for you?” And the child will say, “He died on the
cross for my sin,” and that’s true. But had Jesus just come
down from heaven on Good Friday, gone to Golgotha,
taken your sin upon Himself, and paid the price before
a holy God, would that have been enough to redeem
you? The answer is no. That would have been enough to
take away your guilt and remove your punishment, but
it wouldn’t supply you with the righteousness that God

45
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

requires from every human being. That’s why Jesus had to

be born. He had to live under the law. He had to live a life
of perfect active obedience. In His obedience, He accrued
for Himself perfect righteousness, and it’s that righteous-
ness that is then transferred to the account of every person
who puts his trust in Him alone.
As long as that Pharisee trusted in his own righteous-
ness, he couldn’t be redeemed. If you’re trusting in your
accomplishments and your goodness and your works,
you’re no different from this Pharisee, who went home to
his house unjustified. The one who went home justified
was the one who rested on grace alone (see v. 14).
What exactly was the tax collector looking for? The very
essence of justification is forgiveness. God pronounces a
person just who in and of himself is not just, but with that
pronouncement He grants the remission of sin. That per-
son’s sin is removed. It’s taken away. It’s sent into the outer
darkness. It’s buried in the sea of forgetfulness, as far as the
east is from the west. When the tax collector went to his
house justified, he went there forgiven.
After Paul explains this doctrine of justification in
Romans, he says, “Therefore, since we have been justi-
fied by faith, we have peace with God” (Rom. 5:1). The

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 The Pharisee and the Tax Collec tor (Luke 18:9–14)

Pharisee had status, but he was still at war with God. He

was still an unforgiven person. As long as a person trusts in
his own righteousness, he can never experience that grace
of sin removed and forgiveness received. Jesus said that the
tax collector went home an adopted son of God. He went
home forgiven. He went to his house justified.

47
 Chapter Eight

The Unforgiving
Servant
(Matt. 18:21–35)

Y ears ago, I offended a lady in our congregation, and

she was very angry. I apologized to her in tears, but
she would not forgive me. I went to her a second time and
said, “Please forgive me,” but she would not.
So I sought the counsel of a godly, elderly man in
our church. He said, “You made two mistakes. First, you
offended her, and you shouldn’t have done that. Your

49
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

second mistake was apologizing twice. When you repented

and she refused to forgive you, then the coals of fire were
on her head, not on yours.”
When we offend someone, we are called to repent and to
apologize. And likewise, if they offend us and they come and
apologize, we have to stand ready with the same compassion
and forgive not seven times, but seventy times seven.
In the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew
18:21–35, Jesus addresses the difficult concept of for-
giveness. It’s important to understand the context of this
parable. Matthew 18 is the classic text for instructions on
church discipline. Verses 15–20 provide the context for
what comes later, culminating in Jesus’ promise: “For where
two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among
them” (v. 20). This is one of the most misunderstood verses
in the Bible. When we get together for a Bible study or for a
church service, we plead this verse. But that promise is given
in the context of church discipline, and one of the most
difficult things that ever befalls the church is to confront
people in the congregation who refuse to repent of their sin.
The first step of Matthew 18 is to go to your brother
who has sinned against you privately. Tell him about it. If
he repents, you’ve won your brother. If he refuses to repent,

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 The Unforgiving Ser vant (Mat t. 18:21–35)

then you go with one or two other witnesses. If he still

refuses to repent, then you bring the proceedings to the
church. And if he still refuses to repent, then he is to be to
you as a heathen. This is the recipe for excommunication.
There’s only one sin for which anyone is ever excommu-
nicated in the body of Christ, and that is contumacy, or
persistent impenitence—refusing to repent of the sin that
brought you under discipline in the first place.
This is the context in which Peter raises the question,
“How many times do I have to forgive someone? Seven
times?” Jesus essentially says, “As many as it takes.” When
God forgives you, He holds that sin against you no more.
And if you sin against Him again and He forgives you
again, He doesn’t say, “That’s two,” because the first sin has
already been wiped away. If we give forgiveness to someone
who sins against us and asks our forgiveness and he does it
again, we can’t say, “That’s two.” That would reveal that we
didn’t forgive him the first time. If we grant forgiveness, we
are saying, “I remember this against you no more.” That’s
what “I forgive you” really means.
But Peter has a scorecard, and he wants to know how
many times he has to go through this process. Seven? Jesus
says, “Seventy times seven.” And to illustrate His point, He

51
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

tells a parable: “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be

compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his
servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him
who owed him ten thousand talents” (vv. 23–24).
Feel the enormity of the weight of this debt. The high-
est monetary unit of that day was the talent. One talent
was an extraordinary sum of money. The annual revenue
in Herod’s whole kingdom was nine hundred talents. This
servant owed the king more than ten times the annual rev-
enue of King Herod. It was the equivalent of millions and
millions of dollars in today’s money.
It was a debt that no servant of any king in the ancient
world would ever be able to pay. Jesus compares us to debtors
like that, saying that we are debtors who can’t possibly pay our
debts. Every time I break God’s law, I become a debtor. My
debt to Him is infinite. That’s why it’s foolish to think that we
can work our way into heaven, because perfection is required
of us. And if we sin just once, there’s nothing we can do to
make up for that sin, because we were already required to be
perfect. So we are debtors who can’t possibly pay our debts.
This man, like the tax collector in the last parable, had
nothing with which to barter. He had no collateral. He had
no currency. In light of his debt, the only thing he could do

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 The Unforgiving Ser vant (Mat t. 18:21–35)

was beg, hoping against hope that the king would give him
more time and be so patient that he might have a second
chance to make up for what he owed. But how foolish was
that? Because even if the king had infinite patience, infin-
ity would not have been long enough for the man to work
off his debt. He was a debtor who couldn’t possibly pay,
and he didn’t even realize the enormity of his debt. But he
knew enough of it to realize that his only hope was in the
compassion of the king.
At first, the king commanded that the servant be sold:
“And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be
sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and
payment to be made” (v. 25). The servant fell down before
him saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you
everything” (v. 26). And the master was moved with pro-
found compassion. His pity was so great that he released
the debtor from the obligation altogether.
Can you imagine what that servant felt as he walked out
of the king’s presence that day? I’m free! What a king! How
great is his compassion! His mercy is incalculable. But as he
walked out the door, he saw a fellow servant who owed him
one hundred denarii—a pittance, a couple of days’ wages.
The first servant demanded payment and laid hands on the

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 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

other, grabbed him by the throat, and started to choke him,

saying, “Pay what you owe” (v. 28). So his fellow servant fell
to his knees in a posture of pitiful begging, and said, “Have
patience with me, and I will pay you” (v. 29).
Isn’t it interesting that Jesus has this second servant
using exactly the same words that the first servant used
with the king? But the first debtor threw his fellow ser-
vant into prison until he paid the debt. This radical act of
ingratitude, this failure to pass along even a tiny portion of
the compassion that the first servant had experienced at the
hands of the king, was not overlooked by his friends. They
saw him grab the man by the throat. They saw him throw
his fellow servant into prison, and they grieved. So they
told their master all that happened.
The master called the first servant back and said to him,
“You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because
you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy
on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” (v. 33).
The master was angry and delivered him to the jailers until
he paid all that he owed.
First the servant was threatened with justice. Then he
received mercy. But he despised the grace of the king, and
in despising that mercy, he got justice. That’s enough lesson

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 The Unforgiving Ser vant (Mat t. 18:21–35)

right there to keep us thinking of the grace of God every

day in our lives, because the minute we take it for granted,
the minute we refuse to be a conduit for the very grace that
has saved us, then we can expect to receive nothing less
than God’s justice.
Jesus applies the parable by saying, “So also my heavenly
Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your
brother from your heart” (v. 35). There’s a lot of confusion
and misunderstanding about the idea of forgiveness among
Christians. I often hear the idea that the New Testament
requires Christians to forgive people who sin against them
regardless of whether the offending party repents. I’m not sure
where that idea comes from. It may come, in part, from the
spirit that was displayed by our Lord Himself. When He was
in the midst of being executed by those who despised Him,
He prayed for their forgiveness from the Father: “Father, for-
give them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
Now, certainly, based on Jesus’ example, we have the right to
forgive people unilaterally and not require repentance.
We can be that gracious if we choose, but that doesn’t mean
it’s required. If we were required to give unilateral forgiveness
to everyone who has sinned against us, then the whole previ-
ous section of Matthew 18 would make no sense at all. There

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 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

would be no provision for church discipline. There would be

no provision for going to someone and confronting him for
sinning against you. So, for example, if a Christian in your
church steals your wallet, you are not obligated to say, “Well,
I forgive you, brother.” You have every right to go to him and
say, “You’ve wronged me. Give me back my wallet,” and ask
him to repent. And if he will not repent, then you follow the
rest of the instructions in Matthew 18.
But here’s what is obligated. If you confront your
brother who has sinned against you and he repents, then
you must forgive him. We must stand willing to forgive
any insult, any offense that anyone has given to us at any
time, should the person repent of that sin.
Christians must have a forgiving spirit. Holding
grudges and allowing bitterness to grow is one of the most
destructive things that we can ever do. And the application
Jesus gives comes straight from the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive
us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matt.
6:12). That’s a scary prayer to pray. If we’re not willing to
forgive those who have sinned against us, we should never
expect God to forgive us when we sin against Him. But
since forgiveness is at the very heart of the Christian faith,
we of all people should be known as forgiving people.

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 Chapter Nine

The Good
Samaritan
(Luke 10:25–37)

I ’ve always said that it is not by accident that the two

greatest magisterial Reformers of the sixteenth-century
Reformation, Martin Luther and John Calvin, had both
been diligent students of the law. As Luther and Calvin
studied the law of God, they were driven to the gospel,
because the law left them in despair.
The place of the law is an important consideration in

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 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

the life of Christians, and Jesus often spoke about the law
during His earthly ministry. The law provides the context
for one of Jesus’ best-known parables, the parable of the
good Samaritan in Luke 10:25–37.
The parable of the good Samaritan is prompted by a
lawyer’s brief interrogation of Jesus. Luke writes that the
lawyer asked Jesus questions not because he was genuinely
seeking wisdom from the Lord, but rather to put Jesus to
the test. So he asked, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life?” (v. 25). As a lawyer in Israel, he was supposed
to be a master of the Old Testament law. So Jesus said,
“What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” (v. 26).
The lawyer answered by reciting the Great Command-
ment, drawn from the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4–5. He
said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your strength and with
all your mind,” and then he added this postscript: “and your
neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). He had memorized the
Shema, just as every student of the law had done, and so it
was not difficult to answer this question. Jesus told him, “You
have answered correctly; do this, and you will live” (v. 28).
Jesus offers the promise of eternal life to this man—all
he had to do was keep the Great Commandment, which

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meant keeping the law of God perfectly. Jesus knew that

people such as the Pharisees and this lawyer thought they
did a superb job of keeping the law, and in keeping the law
they would merit entrance into the kingdom of God. We
also know that Jesus tried to get people to see that if they
really understood the law, they would see how it exposes
our sin and our neediness.
This lawyer assumed that he was keeping the Great
Commandment, and so Jesus said, “You keep it, and you’ll
live. You don’t have anything to worry about.” But the law-
yer wasn’t finished with Jesus. He wanted to probe a little
deeper.
Perhaps you have noticed that when you’re in discus-
sions of theology or debating certain issues with others,
you often hear them say, “What do you mean by this?”
They want you to define your terms. That’s often an escape
mechanism from dealing with the matter that is on the
table. This lawyer was quick to do that. He said, “And who
is my neighbor?” (v. 29). He was asking, “What does the
law mean when it says I’m supposed to love my neighbor
as myself? I understand what it means to love God with all
my strength and all my heart and all my mind, but what
do you mean by ‘love your neighbor as you love yourself ’?”

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 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

The Jews at that time, particularly the Pharisees, had a

narrow definition of who one’s neighbor was. For them, it
would be a fellow Jew—a fellow righteous Jew, presumably
like one of the Pharisees. Certainly, people who were out-
side of the nation of Israel were considered outside of the
neighborhood of God. And of all those outside the Jew-
ish neighborhood, the most despised were the Samaritans.
After the Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom of
Israel in 722 BC, some of the Jews who remained in Israel
intermarried with pagans and produced what the Jews con-
sidered a race of semi-Jews. The Samaritans had their own
Scriptures—an abbreviated version of the Pentateuch—
and their own temple on Mount Gerizim that they favored
over the temple in Jerusalem. So there was very bad blood
between the Jews and the Samaritans.
Jesus answers the lawyer’s question about the neighbor
by telling a story. He tells the story of a man, presumably
a Jew, who went from Jerusalem down to Jericho. This was
not Old Testament Jericho, where the walls came tumbling
down. This was New Testament Jericho, about seventeen
miles away from Jerusalem, and those seventeen miles were
desolate countryside. New Testament Jericho was built
around a large oasis. Merchants would frequently travel

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 The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25 –37)

from Jerusalem down to Jericho to sell their wares. It was

also a favorite place for thieves to lie in wait for merchants
who were traveling alone or in unprotected small groups.
They would hide in the rocks, and when evening came,
they would fall upon unsuspecting travelers and rob them.
In Jesus’ story, a man was going down to Jericho. On
the way, he fell among thieves who stripped him of his
clothing, wounded him, stole everything of value that he
had, beat him severely, and left him half-dead. This man
was left in such a situation that if no one came to his res-
cue, he would surely die.
A certain priest came down that road, and he passed by
on the other side. It’s not that he failed to see the injured man.
He saw him lying there in a heap. From the priest’s vantage
point, he couldn’t tell for sure whether this man was dead
or alive, and so he gave the man a wide berth. At that time,
the priests, Pharisees, and Levites had many laws regarding
defilement and cleansing rituals, and one of those laws said
that you were not allowed to touch a corpse. If you touched
a corpse, then you would have to go through all kinds of
cleansing rituals in order to resume your priestly activities.
Fearing that the fellow who had fallen among the
thieves was dead, this priest went as far around as he could.

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 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

He didn’t want to have to go through the rituals of cleans-

ing that would interrupt the normal course of his priestly
activities, and so he went to the other side of the road.
Next, a Levite arrived at this place, and he too passed
by on the other side. A Levite was consecrated to do the
works of God and to teach. So these two members of the
clergy who were set apart for performing works of mercy,
among other things, offered no help. As far as they were
concerned, if the man was not dead already, he certainly
would be soon.
But then a third man comes along, and Jesus identifies
him as a Samaritan. To the Jews, a “good Samaritan” would
have been an oxymoron. They believed that there were no
good Samaritans. But Jesus says that the Samaritan came
along, “and when he saw him, he had compassion” (v. 33).
Compassion was exactly what the priest and the Levite did
not have. They felt nothing for this miserable wretch who
was lying naked in the road, but when the Samaritan saw
this brutally beaten man, he had compassion.
And his compassion led him to action. He didn’t just say,
“I’ll say a prayer for you, fellow. I feel your pain,” and go on.
He did everything in his power to show mercy to this man,
who would likely have seen him as an enemy. He bandaged

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his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and after he anointed

him, he picked him up. The man obviously couldn’t walk.
The Samaritan put him on his own animal, giving up his
seat for the injured man, and brought him to an inn.
Then he made sure that the man got all the food and
care he needed. When the Samaritan departed, he gave two
denarii to the innkeeper and said to him, “Take care of
him. Whatever it costs.” The Samaritan may have made the
trip regularly, so the innkeeper may have known him. He
promised to pay back the innkeeper for whatever expenses
he incurred.
After the story, Jesus said to the lawyer, “Which of these
three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man
who fell among the robbers?” (v. 36). This was the easi-
est question that this lawyer had ever been asked. He said,
“The one who showed him mercy” (v. 37). The Samaritan
didn’t just feel compassion—he showed compassion.
In this story, Jesus is not simply telling us to treat people
who are harmed or in need with mercy and compassion.
The whole point of the story is to answer the question,
“Who is my neighbor?” Jesus says there are no limits. There
are no ethnic or geographic limits to the neighborhood of
God’s kingdom.

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 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

We sometimes hear that God is the Father of us all,

and that we are part of a universal brotherhood. In the
New Testament, however, the brotherhood is made up of
all those who are in Christ. Christ is the only begotten Son
of the Father, and He is our elder brother. The only way
we enter this brotherhood is through adoption, and peo-
ple who don’t believe in Jesus are not in this brotherhood.
There’s no universal brotherhood. But there is a universal
neighborhood. That is, every human being created in the
image of God is my neighbor, which means I am called to
love every human being on the face of this earth as much
as I love myself—even if he’s not a part of the brother-
hood, even if he’s not in the household of faith. He’s still
my neighbor.
Our job is not to condemn the person who has fallen
into the gutter and say, “How did you get there?” If they’re
in the gutter, it’s our job to help them out of the gutter.
Why? Because we would want to be helped, and that person
is my neighbor, and I’m supposed to love my neighbor as
I love myself. Jesus said, “You go, and do likewise” (v. 37).

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 Chapter Ten

The Prodigal Son

(Luke 15:11–32)

E very year, spring break transforms Central Florida.

College students descend and engage in riotous behav-
ior involving drugs, alcohol, and sex. When I see images of
these young people on TV, I wonder how their parents would
feel if they saw their son or daughter on the evening news.
Why do the students carry on this way? They’re away from
home. No one knows them. They have left their inhibitions,
family ties, and cultural taboos back where they came from,
and now they’re free to live as outrageously as they choose.

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 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

Jesus was familiar with this mind-set. He even talks about

it in a familiar parable. The parable of the prodigal son in
Luke 15:11–32 is linked with two other smaller parables,
the parable of the lost coin and the parable of the lost sheep.
These three parables are introduced like this: “Now the tax
collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.
And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, ‘This
man receives sinners and eats with them.’ So he told them
this parable” (vv. 1–3). The parable of the prodigal son was
part of Jesus’ response to the complaint from the scribes and
the Pharisees that Jesus dealt with sinners and tax collectors.
The story concerns a man and his two sons. The
younger son decides that he wants to have his inheritance
now. Deferred gratification was not in his vocabulary. He
wanted to get his hands on that money as soon as he pos-
sibly could. Remarkably, his father allowed him to have it.
The son took his treasure and went off to a far country.
Why didn’t he stay where he was? Why didn’t he spend the
money on riotous living every night and then come home
to his father’s house? Because that’s not the way sin works.
Children of darkness do not like to be in the light.
In this far country, he wasted his possessions with prod-
igal living. Prodigal means “wasteful” or “lavish.” He went

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 The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–32)

through his inheritance, wasting everything his father had

given him. Few things in this world are more futile than
waste—to take a good, beautiful gift, and waste it. Think
of the ways we have wasted gifts that God has given to us.
This young man was the epitome of that kind of living.
That’s why he’s called the prodigal.
But after he’d spent all of his money, a severe famine
came to the land. This man had nothing to eat, and he
began to be in want. So he worked for a citizen of that
country, feeding swine. Pigs were a detestable animal to
the Jewish people, and now this Jewish young man had to
serve pigs. He not only had to care for the pigs, but he had
to live with them. He was living in a pigpen and he was so
hungry that he yearned to take the food that was meant for
the pigs. But no one gave him anything.
Then we see a turning point in Jesus’ story: “But when
he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s
hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish
here with hunger!’” The Prodigal Son woke up—but he
didn’t wake up by himself. Nobody comes to himself by
himself. Only God can awaken torpid sinners from their
slumber. And so part of Jesus’ message concerns how God
saves people who are living in pigpens.

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 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

The young man came to himself, and said, “I will arise

and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have
sinned against heaven and before you’” (v. 18). This is what
happens when a sinner is awakened by grace. Every sinner
who’s ever been awakened by grace has said, “I will arise
and go to my father, and I will say, ‘Father, I have sinned
against heaven and I’ve sinned against you. Make me one
of your servants. Father, I was a son in your house, and
I left, but now all I want is to be a slave in your house.’”
That’s the heart of a converted person.
And so the Prodigal Son arose, and he came to his
father. At this point in the story, the focus changes from
the Prodigal Son to his father: “While he was still a long
way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran
and embraced him and kissed him” (v. 20). No rebuke. No
scolding. No admonishment. Just fatherly love, expressed
with an embrace and a kiss. And the son said, “Father, I
have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer
worthy to be called your son” (v. 21).
The father cut him off. He told his servants, “Bring
quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring
on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened
calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son

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 The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–32)

was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found” (vv.
22–24). So they began to celebrate and be merry.
Here the focus of the story changes again. We meet
the other son, who represents the Pharisees in this par-
able. “Now his older son was in the field, and as he drew
near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he
called one of the servants and asked what these things
meant” (vv. 25–26). The servant told him that his father
had killed the fattened calf because his brother had come
home. The older brother was angry: “What? My no-good,
useless brother who ran off with that inheritance and left
me back here to do all the work is back? And we’re having
a party?”
The older brother would not go in, and the father
noticed that he was missing. So the father came out and
pleaded with him, but the older son said, “Look, these
many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your
command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I
might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of
yours came, who has devoured your property with pros-
titutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!” (vv. 29–30).
The father said, “Son, you are always with me, and all
that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad,

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 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and
is found” (vv. 31–32).
The Pharisees hated sinners. They couldn’t stand to see
a sinner receive a blessing from almighty God. That’s the
heart of an unconverted person. It’s the heart of a person
who doesn’t understand grace at all. If someone under-
stands the graciousness of grace, how can he do anything
but rejoice when someone else receives that grace from
God—even if it’s his worst enemy?
This is a story of the gospel. A person is converted to
Christ. One who was dead in sin and trespasses has been
made alive.

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 Chapter Eleven

The Wise and

Foolish Bridesmaids
(Matt. 25:1-13)

L amps in biblical days were about the size of the palm

of your hand. They were fairly flat, with room for a
bit of oil, and the wick floated on top. There was nothing
more useless, however, than a lamp with no oil in it—as we
see in Jesus’ parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids in
Matthew 25:1–13.
Jesus tells this parable of ten women—five wise and five

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 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

foolish—who were invited to a wedding. The bride herself

would have invited these virgins to be her ladies-in-waiting.
They would have helped the bride prepare for the glorious
moment when she would be united in marriage with her
bridegroom. It was a joyous occasion, and it would have
been an honor to have received such an invitation.
This parable is about the coming of the bridegroom—
who is the Master, the Son of Man, Christ—to celebrate
His wedding with His church. But the problem is that half
of these women, who are in the inner circle of attendees,
are deemed to be foolish. And the reason they are foolish is
that they came to this wedding unprepared.
These foolish bridesmaids represent people in the
church, those who are part of the congregation of the peo-
ple of God. In order to be a member of the church as an
adult, a person has to make a profession of faith in Christ.
So I think it’s safe to assume that all ten of these women
had made their profession of faith in Christ. We’re not talk-
ing about pagans out on the street, people who were trying
to crash the wedding party, or people from other nations.
These are friends of the bride, and they expect to participate
in the joyous wedding feast when the bridegroom comes.
All ten virgins brought lamps to the wedding, but the

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 The Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids (Mat t. 25:1-13)

wise virgins also brought oil. And as it turned out, the

wedding was delayed because the groom did not arrive
at the expected time. While they were waiting for the
arrival of the bridegroom, they fell asleep. At midnight,
they were roused by the public announcement, “Here is
the bridegroom!” And the story says that the five wise vir-
gins immediately trimmed their lamps. They were ready to
move to wherever the ceremony was about to take place.
But the foolish virgins realized that they did not have
oil for their lamps. Throughout church history, people have
attempted to interpret this parable as an allegory. Some-
times Jesus Himself gave an allegorical interpretation to a
parable, such as the parable of the sower (Matt. 13:1–15;
Mark 4:1–12; Luke 8:4–10). But for the most part, the saf-
est way to interpret the parables is to look for one poignant
meaning and not get lost in trying to assign a particular
significance to every detail in the story. If you do that, you
will usually end in serious confusion.
Nevertheless, because it’s obvious that a focus of this
story is that one group significantly lacks something that
the other group has—the oil—then people ask, “What is
the significance of the oil?” Historically, the Roman Cath-
olic Church has identified the oil with good works that

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 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

must be added to faith in order for a person to be saved.

Protestants on many occasions have looked at the oil as a
symbol of the Holy Spirit, because in biblical literature, oil
is frequently used as a symbol for the Holy Spirit—and the
idea here is that these foolish virgins were missing the Holy
Spirit. Whether there is an allegorical point there or not,
one thing is absolutely clear: whatever they were missing
excluded them from the wedding feast.
The wise virgins trimmed their lamps and went to meet
the bridegroom, whereas the foolish virgins, lacking what
was needed, tried to negotiate with the wise virgins, saying,
“Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out” (v.
8). The wise virgins said, “Since there will not be enough
for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for
yourselves” (v. 9). The foolish followed the advice of the
wise at that point, which is an extraordinary thing, because
that doesn’t usually happen. And they went their way to
purchase oil.
Then the bridegroom came. He went into the wedding.
And as was the custom, the doors to the outside were closed
and locked. When the foolish virgins came back and real-
ized that the wedding had started, they tugged at the door.
They tried to get in. The door was locked. They shouted

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 The Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids (Mat t. 25:1-13)

through the door, interrupting the marriage ceremony, say-

ing, “Lord, lord, open to us” (v. 11).
This is an instance of what I call the double knocks.
There are about fifteen instances in Scripture where some-
one is addressed by the repetition of their name. “Abram,
Abram.” “Jacob, Jacob.” “My father, my father.” “Martha,
Martha.” “Saul, Saul.” “Absalom, Absalom.” Repeating a
name in Scripture is a way to express personal intimacy.
So the foolish virgins don’t just cry in the night, “Lord!”
They say, “Lord, Lord! You’re my Lord! I wanted to be here,
I expected to be here for your wedding. And you’re my
Lord, Lord. You know me. I have an intimate knowledge
of you. A close, personal relationship with You. I’m not a
gate-crasher, alien, or a foreigner trying to come into this
wedding.” But the groom says, “Truly, I say to you, I do
not know you. You may have invitations. You may have
lamps without oil. And you call me ‘Lord, Lord.’ But I
don’t know who you are.”
Earlier in Matthew’s gospel, the Sermon on the Mount
ends in a similar manner. Jesus says, “Not everyone who
says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but the one who does the will of my Father who is in
heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord,

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 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

did we not prophesy in your name?’” (7:21–22). I was a

preacher. I was a Sunday school teacher. I was an elder. I
was a deacon. I did all these things. I cast out demons and
did many wonders in your name. “And then will I declare
to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers
of lawlessness’” (v. 23).
We see the parallel here. At the wedding, the bride-
groom says, “I don’t know you.” A year earlier, at the end of
the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “I never knew you.”
The bridegroom, who represents Christ, is not talking
about absence of cognitive information. It’s not as if Jesus
is saying, “I never was acquainted with you. I never saw
your name on the list of the church or on the roll.” He’s
using the word know in the personal sense—the redemp-
tive sense. He may know their names. He may know where
they live. He may be aware of their preaching, their ser-
vice, and all the rest. But Jesus is saying, “I never knew you
savingly.”
What was missing in the lives of the foolish virgins?
Salvation. Saving faith. They obviously didn’t have the
regenerative power of the Holy Spirit. If they had saving
faith, even if they were late or delayed, the Lord might have
rebuked them for forgetting their oil. But He wouldn’t

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 The Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids (Mat t. 25:1-13)

say, “I don’t know who you are.” This parable is not about
pagans. It’s about those who have made a profession of
faith but who do not possess what they profess. And if we
tie this to Matthew 7, Jesus says that this is not going to
be a handful of exceptional people who have made false
professions. Their number will be many.
Which group do you identify with? If you’re a church
member and if you’ve made a profession of faith, it would
be natural for you to identify with the wise virgins and
maybe even look in disdain at the fools who didn’t bring
any oil in their lamps. But what if you’re one of the foolish
ones? Jesus gives this warning only when the door is shut,
when it’s too late. So, when I close my eyes in death and
breathe my last breath on this earth, the next face I will
see will be that of Jesus. And He may say, “Who are you?”
So my plea is that we will examine ourselves to make sure
that we have saving faith. Do we manifest the fruit of that
saving faith and not just rely upon church membership or
being in a Bible class or participating in Christian service?
Everyone who makes a profession of faith is invited to the
wedding feast of the Lamb, but not everyone will enjoy
it. May this parable wake us up if we have a false sense of
security.

77
 Chapter Twelve

The Talents
(Matt. 25:14–30)

Y ears ago I gave an exam to a college class. At least five

students said, “Professor, I’m sorry, I’m not very well
prepared for this examination. But I hope you won’t hold
it against me, because I want you to know that my heart
is filled with love for the Lord Jesus, and I try to do what
I can. In fact, last week, instead of studying, I was busily
involved in outreach, and as a result, I didn’t do so well
on this test.” I said, “You seem to have a good grasp of the
doctrine of justification by faith, and I want you to know

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 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

that as far as the kingdom of God is concerned, the only

way you’ll ever be justified is by faith alone. But in this
classroom it’s justification by works alone. I’m glad that
you love Jesus, but I hope that you love Him enough to
be more diligent stewards of your time here in college and
start studying for your tests and using the abilities that He’s
given you.”
There was this idea—and I’ve found it to be widespread
throughout evangelical Christianity—that all you need is
a loving and warm heart, and since justification is not by
works, as Christians we don’t have to work. But how can
anyone read the Gospels and not see the emphasis that
our Lord put on productivity, or fruits? A tree that doesn’t
bring forth fruit is worthy only to be cut down and cast
into the fire. By their fruits, you shall know them, not by
their words, but by their stewardship of the faith that they
profess to have (Matt. 7:19–20).
The parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14–30 is one
of three that Jesus gave to warn people of the suddenness
of His coming. His coming can be seen as eschatologically
at the end of the age, or in our personal eschatology, which
could occur in the next hour. Jesus wants us to be prepared
for His coming.

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 The Talents (Mat t. 25:14 –30)

This is not a parable about various talents and gifts of

abilities that God gives to us in this world. Here, the use
of the word talent does not refer to a particular skill. It
refers to the highest unit of currency among the Jews at
this time. A talent was a considerable amount of money.
One talent was equivalent to about twenty years’ wages for
a laborer. And so this man who goes on this journey to a
far country is wealthy enough to have servants, and he is
leaving a substantial amount of money in their care during
his absence. He gives one of these servants five talents of
money—a considerable sum. And then he gives the second
servant two talents of money, and the third, a single tal-
ent. He distributes these monetary substances according to
his perception of their ability to be productive and fruitful
with the money that he entrusts to their care.
Some people see a strong case for capitalism in this par-
able. Though it certainly doesn’t oppose capitalism, I don’t
think that the primary point of the parable is to support
a particular economic system. But what capitalism has
in common with the wisdom of this parable is the whole
principle of deferred gratification and the principle of
investing your capital in such a way that your capital works
for you and increases your prosperity. Capitalism frowns

81
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

upon wasteful consumption, frivolous spending, and the

idea of immediate gratification. The idea is to grow your
resources by wise investment.
Here, the master is asking his servants to be prudent
and wise investors so that they will be fruitful with what
they have received. The talents are on loan from their mas-
ter; the servants are not the owners of this money that
has been entrusted to them. This fact also speaks to the
Christian principle of stewardship. In the ancient world, a
steward was not the owner of the house, but he managed
the finances of the house.
The word economics or economy comes from that Greek
word oikonomia, which means “house law” or “house rule.”
It is the word from which we get the concept of steward-
ship—a steward manages the affairs of the house, but he
is not the owner. By extension, Christians view everything
we have, including our skills and abilities, as gifts from
God, and we are called to be stewards of everything that
we receive from the hand of God.
One of the principles during the time of the Reforma-
tion was Luther’s concept of the priesthood of all believers.
Luther was not trying to get rid of the idea of the clergy.
He knew that there was a specific function the clergy were

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 The Talents (Mat t. 25:14 –30)

called to perform; they were to equip the saints for minis-

try. Every Christian must participate in the mission of the
church. You may not be an evangelist. You may not have
that particular gift. But it’s still your responsibility to make
sure that evangelism is taking place. There is no room for
slackers in the kingdom of God.
As the president of a Christian organization, I would
sometimes have to let people go. Some say that you should
never fire anyone in a Christian organization. It’s just not
Christian. I’ll tell you what’s not Christian: not working!
I’ve had people say, “You’re harder to get a hold of than
the president of the United States.” And I’ve replied, “I’m
glad to hear that. There’s a reason for it. I have a far more
important job than he does. My job is to care for the peo-
ple of God and for their spiritual needs.” I will be held
accountable. We are all gifted by the Holy Spirit for minis-
try. And at the time of the coming of Jesus, He will have an
accounting with us. Jesus will say, “I gave you this ability.
I gave you this opportunity. I gave you this mission. What
did you do with it?”
In Jesus’ parable, the owner eventually comes back. He
says to the man whom he gave five talents, “Well, what’s
the story?” The fellow said, “Here are your five talents, and

83
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

five more. I’ve doubled your money. I’ve been trading,

being careful and productive.”
Listen to what the master says, and think about how
you would like to hear these words from Jesus: “Well done,
good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a
little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your
master” (v. 21). Can you imagine what it would be like to
hear that from Jesus? If Jesus looked you in the eye at the
end and said, “I know you. The door’s not shut to you.
So happy you’re here. Well done, you good and faithful
servant. I trusted you with five talents, and you turned
them into ten, and because you were so resourceful, such
a good steward over these little things, I’m going to make
you ruler over many things. Now, come on, enter into the
joy of your Lord.”
The master then turned to the second servant, who
said, “Lord, you gave me two, here’s four.” And the master
said the same thing to him: “Well done, good and faithful
servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you
over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (v. 23).
Then we come to the climax of this parable, involving
the servant who had received the single talent. He comes
with excuses. And he comes with accusations against his

84
 The Talents (Mat t. 25:14 –30)

master: “Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping

where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered
no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in
the ground. Here, you have what is yours” (vv. 24–25).
The master was indignant. He said:

You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that

I reap where I have not sown and gather where I
scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested
my money with the bankers, and at my coming I
should have received what was my own with interest.
So take the talent from him and give it to him who
has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will
more be given, and he will have an abundance. But
from the one who has not, even what he has will be
taken away. (vv. 26–29)

The servant had been entrusted with the master’s

resources but had been afraid to take a risk. The trust placed
in him entailed the expectation to grow what he had been
given—and that means taking risks. They had to be wise,
calculated risks, but nevertheless, the master faulted the ser-
vant for failing to take risks and instead succumbing to fear.

85
 What Do Jesus’ Parables Mean?

At least in a bank, the money would have been safe and

would have earned interest. As it was, the servant squan-
dered the trust that had been placed in him, so the master
took the talent from him and gave it to one who had shown
himself to be more deserving—the one with ten talents.
You know, we’re all unprofitable servants. Without the
grace of God, we couldn’t produce anything. But we are
called to be faithful that with which we are entrusted. The
lazy servant was evil. He lost what the master had given
to him, and then heard the awful instructions: “Cast the
worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place
there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (v. 30). You
know what that means. Send him to hell. Send him where
there will not be the joy of the Lord. What a horrible
scenario Jesus describes for the unproductive one who pro-
fesses faith but who shows no fruit of that faith. The plight
of the unprofitable servant is the same as the plight of the
foolish virgins.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be where
the only sound I hear is weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
I want to be where I hear the voice that says, “Well done,
good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.”

86
 About the Author

Dr. R.C. Sproul was founder of Ligonier Ministries,

founding pastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Fla.,
first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive
editor of Tabletalk magazine. His radio program, Renewing
Your Mind, is still broadcast daily on hundreds of radio sta-
tions around the world and can also be heard online. He
was author of more than one hundred books, including The
Holiness of God, Chosen by God, and Everyone’s a Theologian.
He was recognized throughout the world for his articulate
defense of the inerrancy of Scripture and the need for God’s
people to stand with conviction upon His Word.
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 Do we have
ASK LIGONIER free will?

Why did God

kill Uzzah?
Is it true that God
controls everything?

A Place to Find Answers

Maybe you’re leading a Bible study tomorrow. Maybe you’re just beginning
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Why did Jesus tell so many
short stories?
The Good Samaritan. The Prodigal Son. The Pearl of Great Price. Jesus was
well known for using parables to illustrate a point. These short stories can
be simple enough for a child to understand, yet they are also profound and
have left many puzzled about their meaning.

In this booklet, Dr. R.C. Sproul walks through eleven of Jesus’ parables and
the rich lessons they carry for us today. Dr. Sproul also explains how parables
worked to clarify Jesus’ message for some—and to conceal it from others.

The Crucial Questions booklet series by Dr. R.C. Sproul offers succinct
answers to important questions often asked by Christians and thoughtful
inquirers.

Dr. R.C. Sproul was founder of Ligonier Ministries, founding

pastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Fla., and first
president of Reformation Bible College. He was author of more
than one hundred books, including The Holiness of God.

RELIGION / Biblical Studies / Jesus, the Gospels & Acts