NOTES for Luk 19:12-28

When considering the parable of the money entrusted to the servants, both we and the original hearers might ask a question: all right, some of those who put the money to work made a profit, while the servant who did not want to take a risk added nothing to the starting capital. But why does the parable not consider the situation in which a person invests the capital unsuccessfully and suffers a loss? Does that not happen?

Of course it happens; no one is protected from failure when taking a business risk. But what the Heavenly Father has entrusted to us differs from earthly money precisely in that it cannot produce a loss. Our abilities and opportunities differ, so we are not equally able to influence the profit that will result from investing the gifts we have received from Him. Yet success in works that He blesses is certain. That is why the parable does not consider the possibility of bankruptcy as a consequence of enterprise. Avoiding the use of the abilities we have received, however, leads to ruin—and is itself already ruin. For a time, it is possible to emerge from this state of ruin, but we should not delay...