International Sunday School Lesson, Sunday, May 10, 1931
THE PARABLE OF THE POUNDS
Printed Verses ? Luke 19:11-26.
Golden Text ? It Is Required in Stewards, That a Man Be
Found faithful. ? 1st Corinthians, 4:2.
The Lesson
And as they heard these things, He
added and spake a parable, because
He was nigh to Jerusalem, and be
cause they supposed that the King
dom of Qod was immediately to ap
pear. He said therefore: A certain
noblem.ui went into a far country, to
receive for himself a kingdom, and to
return. And he called ten servants
?f his, and gave them ten pounds, and
f'd unto them: "Trade ye herewith
til I return." But his citizens hat
him, and sent an ambassage after
n. saying: "We will not that this
man reign over us." And it came to
ass, when he wa3 come back again,
aving received the kingdom, that ho
commanded these servants unto whom
hi' had given the money, to be called
to him. that he might know what they
had gained by trading. And vyhen
the first came before him. saying:
"Lord, thy pound hath made ten
pounds more." And he said unto him,
"Well done, thou good servant: be
I ause thou wast found faithful in a
- very little, have thou authority over
ten cities." And the -second came, say
ing, "Thy pound, Lord, hath made
Ave pounds." And he said unto him:
"Be thou also over five cities." And
another came, saying, "Lord, behold,
here is thy pound, which I kept laid
ii p in a napkin; for I feared thee, be
cause thou art an austere man: thou
takest up that which thou layest no
down, and reapest that which thov
didst not sow." He saith unto him
"Out of thine own mouth will I judK<
thee, thou wicked servant. Thoi
knewest that I am ah austere man
taking up that which I laid not d9wn
and reaping that which I did nol
sow; the wherefore gavest thou not
my money into the bank, and I at my
coming should have required it with
interest?" And he said unto them that
stood by: "Take away from him the
pound, and give it unto him that hath
tori pounds." And they said unto him,
"Lord, he hath ten pounds." "I say
unto you, that unto every one that
hath shall bo given; but from him
that hath not, even that which he
hath shall be taken away from him."
Comments on The Le*son
As this- lesson opens, Jesus is still
in the house of the publican who had
gained eternal life, as we learned in
lait Sunday's lesson. The crowds had
followed and were about the home of
Zaccheus. Jesus had, immediately
preceding the opening verse in thi*
lesson, said that the Son of Man came
to seek arid to save that which was
lost. And because he wa3 nigh unto
Jerusalem, that is, just about fifteen
miles from his destination, and be
cause the people supposed the king
dom of God was immediately to ap
pear. He spake a parable. He knew
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that the people believed the kingdom
?as to be established in Jerusalem,
and that the Jews would then be
freed from the Roman rule. They be
lieved that it was to be an earthly
kingdom, a temporal power, with the
king enthroned as in the days of old.
This parable was necessary in giving
further light to those who had fol- (
lowed Him and heard Him. They were
not as yet recovered from the shock
which came to them when Jesus went
k into the house of Zacchaeus, the
1 hated publican ,to dine with him.
: They were asking themselves and one
1 another : "Is this Jesus, the King, to
1 have such riffraff as this despised
? tax collector in the kingdom? Is this
' kingdom to be made up of such trash
' as this?"
| Hence the parable which Jesus
spake. This is the parable of the
! pounds, and is, in most part, parallel
| with the parable of the talents as
recorded in the. 25th Chapter of
Matthew. In the parable of the tal
ents, all those connected with it were ?
men with qualifications. In this para
ble of the pounds, the average man is ?
brought into play. A nobleman was ,
going into a far country, to receive .
for himself a kingdom, and he soon
was tn return. And he cnllcd ser- |
vanta to him, and gave cach one a ]
pound, ordering them to use it and :
make the most of it until the noble- ]
mnn's return. Upon his return, the <
nobleman called the ten servants be- |
fore Him to give account of their
stewardship. The first came, and i
said: Master, the pound which you j
left with me has made you ten j
pounds. The nobleman praised the ,
servant, because of his fidelity to his .
trust, and made him ruler over ten j
cities. t
The second came, and he had done
I only half as much as the first. The ;
nobleman gave him no words of i
praise for making five pounds from '
I he one left in his charge, but re- i
warded him by making him ruler over t
cities. Then came the third, and made '
report. He told the nobleman that he t
had kept the pound intact, by keeping i
it carefully wrapped up in a napkin. \
which, to us, would be a handkor- 1
chief. To excuse himself for the fail- I
lire to make good with the pound, the 1
fellow continued by saying: "I was i
tfraid to do anything with the pound, t
I know you, Master, and I know that
you are an austere man, and that c
you take up where you did not lay c
down, that you reaped where you do I
not sow." The nobleman was .incensed t
not only because of the failure of the *
man to make anything for him, but t
for the further reason that the fel- i
low tried to blame the master for i
this failure. In other words, the man t
made a great mistake in offerings ex- i
cuscs for his lack of achievements. i
> The nobleman displayed his dis- J
pleasure, and asserted that the ex- '
ieusemaker had damned himself by
'liis own words. "Why didn't you s
place the money with the money- ?'
hangers, so that there would be an c
increase for me upon my return? r
1'liat is what 1 told you to do, and 1
i n have done nothing." Turning to s
1'itlifT servants standing nearby, the I
I nobleman said: "Take away from him ?'
[ lie pound, and give it to the man who E
[has ten pounds." Then it was that
tin' grOUp standing about said: "But,
i. Nobleman, that man already has ten
pounds." The nobleman once again <
?iddressed the servants and said: "I |
I say unto you, that unto every one that |
| hath, more shall be given, but from I
| Wiiii that hath not, even that which .
he hath shall be taken away from
him." . . :|
j There is a beautiful lesson here i"
connection with the nobleman as u*< ?' ;
I by Jesus in speaking this parable. Hi; ,
! was the nobleman, and his mission ,
I was the establishment of a kingdom. ;
'Hut we are more concerned with the
I problem of our stewardship than in
my other phase of the lesson, Jesus ' ,
Christ, the Nobleman, has given each
of us certain capital with which to j 1
increase the wealth of His kingdom. ;
I'd some lie has given talents, .is
told in tli - Matthew version of the
parable on talents; to other, to tliej
.treat masses, to you and to me. he ! 1
has given the capital represented by (
the pound' in this parable. Our eon- j
corn ought to be the manner in which ^
we are working that capital for the
time when Jesus shall call upon us
for an accounting. ,
In other words, what kind of ;
stewards are we, anyway? We have
been given a great land of freedom
in which to live our lives, a freedom .
i hat was purchased for us by others!
who paid dearly that we might live |
in a land like this. What are we doing j
to keep it a fit place in which to I
live? What kind of stewards are we,
when it comes to our citizenship'.
Let's think it over.
We have certain possessions, lands
houses, business, necessities of life
und luxuries to enjoy. Are we being
honest with the nobleman, with the'
Master, in our stewardship of these
in -sessions? There is no such n
thing as a Christian spirit unless it
is' also a missionary spirit. To be a
Christian, is to be Christ-like, and
Christ was a missionary in every
sense of the word, and He left strict,
injunctions- to all wlv? would fellow*
Him to become missionaries, and go
out into the highways and byways
and preach the gospel to every crea
ure in every nation. Are we return1
ing to Him tenfold for the posessions
left with us, or five-fold, or even re
turning the one pound that He en
trusted to us? He will bless thoso of
us who make good returns on His
investment in our hands; He will re
ward those who, like man in the
parable returning the five pounds,
make a fair return on the investment.
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THE PRAYER COMER \
JEUSUS' J0Y0U8NESS _
At first, this representation of the
Master may seem to deny one of the
most Fundamental Truthfs about Him,
that "He was a Man of Sorrows and
acquainted with grief." The inter
pretation of Jesus' character in art
and in ordinary thought has depend
ed largely on His cries of agony,
"Now is my soul troubled, and what
shall I say" (John 12:27. "My soul is
exceedingly sorrowful even unto
death" (Mark 14:34). There is, how
ever no conflict between Jesus the
Man of Sorrows and Jesus the Man
i
He will take from us what little we
have, if we fail Him completely, as
did the third man in parable.*
We say we are not able to give to
the church. Give what? What have we
to give? What do wc possess? All that
we have belongs to God every pos
session. Then, can we not, like the
first men of the parable, make some
return on His investment in us? Wc
say that we are not able to spare any
more to the poor, the sick, the un
fortunate. Spare what? If we have
health with which to work for and
wait upon others, from whence did
that health come? Direct from God as
llis b/essing, and whatever we fail
to give to others who need it, just
in that far are we failing and re
fusing to give back to God the pounds
intrusted to our oare and steward
ship. Ik it, then, any stretch of the
magination for us to see that God
Vill take from us that little which
ve have, and give to those who have
lerved Him well, and already an
ibundancc of his blessings?
This .section of the State has wit
nessed in recent months many illust
rations of the unfaithful steward. :
iVe have seen banks go down, one af- i
ev another, and it is directly tface
ible to the unfaithful steward some
vhere ilong the line. Some banks i
lave failed, when the men in those ;
>onks are not at fault in the least, i
>ut these were banks so dependent ]
ipon larger institutions that when ]
he bigger places fell; the smaller ones
ilso went down. But in each and ev- i
ry instance, the first and direct
ause of all this human misery i
irought about' through failure of i
tanks is due to the unfaithful i
toward, in whose care and keeping
he people hud placed their money. If :
infaithful stewardship in matters of i
noney bring such harmful results. I
hen how much greater is the suffer- i
ng when we are unfaithful to God <
11 the way and manner of handling .
he blessings which He placed in our i
lands. t
Whatever we have we have it t
imply because of God's goodness, 1
list as the men in this parable re- (
eived the pound direct from the hand t
f the nobleman. Whatever we have. ]
herqfore, belongs to God, and our ]
tewaidship is, indeed, a great res- (
mnsihility. Mow. shall we handle it? i
'estis says: "It is required in stew- 1
irds, tliat a man be found faithful." ]
of Joy. Joy and sorrow are not alien i
and antagonistic; they both come,
from the s*me capacity for feeling,
the same breadth of sensitive surface
which the soul exposes to the Touch
of God and of the world.
"He who lives more lives then cne,
More deaths than one must die."
The ocean has sweep -and depth in
it for seagoing tempests, has room 1
for calms also, with a verge and
horizon to their peace that no pool
can know. The place where great
storms arise is the place where great
calms fall. The same capacity is re
quired by both. A man of deep sor- 1
rows and deep joys must always be
the same man ? with what a range of
feeling! Jesus is so glad in Commun
ion with His Father that on a moun
tain top His very face is transfigured.
And He is so broken hearted in Gelh
semane that His brow sweats blood.
When He is sorrowful, no sorrow is
like His, and when He is joyful, what
a sweep of water and depth of sky
for His gladness.
"Indeed the impression of Jesus' >
joyousness is greater because of His
sorrows. Jesus had been the real en- 1
courager of men, because His joy sus
tained the shock of cruel circum- '
stance, and agonizing struggle, and
came off victorious.
Like a rainbow His gladness often
gets part of its effect because it is
built on the clouds of prereedinK
storm. When His trouble was at its
climax in the Upper Room at the |
Last Supper His joy was unquenched. ;
"Be of good cheer," He said, "I haVe \
overcome the world."
The men who have hiost cheered . 1
their fellows are not the men of un- ]
troubled lives, but those whose spirits \
were too glad to be submerged by |
sorrow. Men like Robert Louis Stev- j
i>nson who, exiled to Samoa for his i
health, and sure to die there soon, i
prayed, "Give us to awaken with
smiles, give us to labor smiling, and '
as the sun lightens the world, so let ' <
our loving kindness make bright this ]
house of our habitation." Such men <
have been the joy bringers of ths <
race, and Jesus is the Master of i
them. ! j
This is the most significant fact <
ibout Jesus' joy, that the sources ot'^
it were not at the mercy of men and ]
?ircumstances. There were sources of ( ;
joy In Jesus life which were depend- (
int on the good will of men. His sat
sfaction in the creature comforts of
life, His delight in the free and un
mpeded teaching of the people, 1 1 is '
,'onfidence in His Disciples, including '
fudas ? these, and other doors of joy ;
11 the Master's experience, were at
lie mercy of men. And they closed ,
hem all through the final months of j
His ministry. You can hear the click
>{ closing doors around His life, un
;il at last they shut Him into the Up
ier Room to face a terrible tomorrow.
Every door which the hand of man
?ould reach was closed. Then that (
?vonderful thing happened which is
he mark of all exalted souls and su
premely of the Master's. He fell back I
on resources which the hand of man
could not touch. "My joy I give unto
you," He said, "and your joy no man
can take from you."
Jesus' blessedness was not like a
brook that flows from melting mows
which can be made to vanish by the
sun, but like a stream that has ex
haustless springs to draw from. He
could stand anything that men or cir
cumstances could do to Him, and still
have resources of joy. He was an
unconquerable soul. He even told His
disciples that when they were perse
cuted they could still "rejoice and be
exceedingly glad." Whatever else may
be true of Jesus, He was no "pale
Gallilean." The first impression which
He makes is one of overflowing
radience and gladness."
I repeat the prayer with which I
began The Prayer Corner of the past
three or four weeks on Joyfulness:
A PR A YER FOR THE
MASTER'S JOY
Our Father, help us to find
The Secret of the Master's Joy,
that we may no longer dwell in th<
outer crowds, where our happines:.
comes and goes as the flowers bloom
and fade. May we enter into the sec
ret places of the Most High, where
He lived, until our joy like His, can
not be taken away from us.
Teach us the Joy of discovering the
tokens of Thy Presence always in tlv
song of birds, the fragrance of flow
ers, the sunset, but more in the ring
ing laughter and plaintive cry of lit
tle children, in the deep hunger in Ih ?
hearts of our brothers and sisters,
and in our own souls, so that we are
never alone.
Teach us the joy of friendship, that
leaves no hurt or sting. Help us to
enter into the deep joy of sympathy
with our brothers and sisters need,
the sympathy that gives insight and
knits heart to heart until we are able
to receive help when it is offered.
Lord Jesus, help us to make Relig
ion a thing so beautiful and joyous
that all men may be won to surrender
to its sweetness and excellency and
ioy, its free and ennobling spirit.
Forbid that we should go up and
Jown the world with melancholy
ooks and dejected visage, lest we
should repel men and women from
intering Thy Kingdom. Rather may
,ve walk in the freedom and joy of
"aith, and with "Thy new song" in
)ur mouths, so that men, looking on
is, may learn to trust and love Thee.
All this we ask in Thy Blessed
Name, more clear and precious than
?ver. Amen
? C. D. C.
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