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It's only a parable?
 

by Magda Colon
USA

Luke 19:11-27 calls upon Jesus' followers to murder Jews who do not accept
him?

Why worry, after all, it's only a parable?


A parable is a simple story used to illustrate a lesson. It conveys a meaning
indirectly by the use of comparison analogy.

In the total imagery of Jesus' parable, found in Luke 19:11-27, Jesus was the
nobleman who becomes the king. As his parable was directed toward the Jewish
people who constituted his audience (verses 1-9), these enemy-citizens
represent the Jews who reject Jesus as king. In verse 14, they were called
citizens; in verse 27, through their rebellious refusal to accept the
nobleman's kingship, they are now considered enemies. Therefore, Jesus (the
king in the parable) decrees a time of judgment on the unfaithful and
disobedient. Echoing the warning of the Matthean Jesus, "He who is not with
me is against me . . ." (Matthew 12:30), the Lucan Jesus demands of his
followers that those who reject his rule be destroyed before him: "But those
enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here, and
slay them in my presence."

The intent of Jesus' words was not lost on subsequent generations of his
followers. Christians could not but interpret this parable as a call for
judgment upon the Jewish people for rejecting Jesus. This was made all the
more poignant because this commandment came from Jesus himself. The
destruction to be carried out upon those who refuse to accept Jesus is the
bloody commission, the sanction for slaughter of all who refuse the cross.

The tragic results of what is taught in this parable are recorded in the
history of subsequent encounters of the Jewish people with those Christians
who followed Jesus' dictum. Why do the Jews suffer oppression at the hands of
Christians? This Gospel passage answers, "The Jews suffer persecution because
of their refusal to accept Jesus as the Messiah."