Religious intolerance in the Christian Scriptures (New Testament)

In Luke 19, ending the Parable of the Talents

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The setting:

In the Parable of the Talents in Luke 19:12-26 and Matthew 25:14-30, the Gospel authors describe a parable that they attribute to Jesus. It involves a nobleman entrusting money to his slaves before he left on a trip. Two slaves used their shares to invest wisely. They doubled the money by the time that their owner returned, and were rewarded. A third slave was afraid of losing his share. He buried it for safekeeping, and was punished.

The parable in Matthew leads into the well known passage in Matthew 25 where Jesus judges the people of all nations, separating them into the "sheep" and "goats" on the basis of their good works or lack of good works, such as: feeding the hungry, giving drinks to the thirsty, supporting the stranger, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick and imprisoned.

The mirrored parable in Luke ends with a verse in which Jesus calls for the murder of those who do not follow him:

Luke 19:27 says:

"But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me."

This is a curious verse. It and verse 14 ("But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.") seem to have been tacked onto the parable as an afterthought. Both verses seem unrelated to the contents of the parable itself. Deleting them makes the parable run more smoothly.

Interpretation of Luke 19:27 in various handbooks and commentaries:

"Those who oppose the kingly power of Jesus will be destroyed. These are the Jerusalem leaders whose rejection of the Messiah seals the fate of their city."

This interpretation uses a common theme that runs through the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation: that of transferability of sin. The Commentary suggests that the sins of the leaders of Jerusalem would be transferred to all of the other occupants of the city, and that all would be punished with death.

"... referring to the awful destruction of Jerusalem, but pointing to the final destruction of all that are found in open rebellion against Christ. ... The last verse of the parable predicts a curse that is to come upon the enemies of Christ."

"The imagery of destruction for those who refused to accept the king shows that accepting God's rule over oneself is a great moment of decision. Unfortunately, some decided against the life that King Jesus brings. The Christological import of this parable is profound: Jesus, the king, has a decisive role in human destiny, for responses to him determine life and death."

"This portrays the fate, not of church members, but of those who would not have the Lord reign over them. It embraces all the impenitent. Compare Mt 13:49 21:44 25:30:00 2Th 1:8-10." ₁

There is no indication of religious freedom here. There is no possibility of forgiveness, mercy, or tolerance towards those with different beliefs. There is no repetition here of the "love thine enemies" found in Matthew 5:44 and Luke 6:27. Instead, we have a "show them no mercy" type of policy as in Deuteronomy 7:1-2. (NIV).

Comments from books and Internet web sites:

Interpretations differ. Some feel that the verse:

It seems to be a favorite verse that both saved individuals and skeptics use to attack each other.

A sampling of opinions:

"Jesus was employing the use of fiction, specifically a parable to show how harshly earthly rulers deal with servants who do not show a return on what is entrusted in them - for the purpose of teaching that God expects nothing less from our stewardship as a much more gracious sovereign. ... He was showing that with a great gift, such as the knowledge of truth, there comes a great responsibility to invest ourselves and our knowledge into others. That is my understanding. The treatment of the 'enemies' is part of the backdrop of the story but is not employed to describe God's ways." ₄

"That particular passage was in fact part of a parable of a rich man who was speaking of his servants. He had given them gold to keep until his return from a distant land and was talking about his return and how 2 of the servants had invested the gold and increased it and the 3rd had not. This is not Jesus talking of how to treat people who believe not in him.

In fact he said to simply shake the dust from your feet of the places where people will not listen to the teachings. Never did he say to kill them." ₆

"When I first quoted these words of Jesus, I was taken to task by several noteleavers. They thought that I'd taken these words completely out of context. They charged that Jesus was actually quoting somebody else and that we simply mustn't think that he would ever urge us to do anything as impolite as slay his enemies - oh, no no no!"

Never mind that it's not clear that he was, in fact, quoting anybody else. Never mind that - if he was quoting someone else - he certainly seems to have been quoting them approvingly. If he actually meant to say, "Hey! DON'T be slaying my enemies now!" he chose a pretty odd way of expressing it." ₇

Anatheist quotes a book by Jaroslav Pelikan ₈ that describes Thomas Muentzer, a famous 16th century Christian minister and Reformation leader. Muentzer cited Luke 19:27 in a sermon calling for a Christian revolution and holy war.

He also quotes a book by Richard and Joan Ostling's ₉ that describes a sermon by Joseph Smith on Matthew's version of the Parable of the Talents. Smith indicated that the passage relates to polygyny (plural marriage). A man with multiple wives will be blessed by God; a man with only one wife will have his existing blessings removed.

References:

1. Bible Commenter at: ttp://wes.biblecommenter.com/
2. Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, "#84. Parable of the Pounds (Luke 19:11-27)," Jesus Walk^® Bible Study Series, at: http://www.jesuswalk.com/
3. Robert W. Funk, et al.: "The Five Gospels: The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus; What did Jesus really say?" Pages 36 & 374
4. "Books of the Christian Bible," Answer Bag,  2007-AUG-04, at: http://www.answerbag.com/
5. Gary DeVaney, "The Controversial Luke 19:27," at: http://www.thegodmurders.com/
6. "Does jesus call for a christian jihad..." Yahoo! Answers, at: http://answers.yahoo.com/
7. Anatheist, "Lesson Twenty Two: Luke 19:27, at: http://www.geocities.com/
8. Jaroslav Pelikan, "Jesus Through the Centuries," Pages 174-175.
9. Richard and Joan Ostling, "Mormon America," Pages 66-67.

Copyright © 2008 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2008-MAR-23
Author: B.A. Robinson