Jealous Guy

As they were listening to this, he went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. So he said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to get royal power for himself and then return. He summoned ten of his slaves, and gave them ten pounds, and said to them, ‘Do business with these until I come back.’ But the citizens of his country hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to rule over us.’ When he returned, having received royal power, he ordered these slaves, to whom he had given the money, to be summoned so that he might find out what they had gained by trading. The first came forward and said, ‘Lord, your pound has made ten more pounds.’ He said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been trustworthy in a very small thing, take charge of ten cities.’ Then the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your pound has made five pounds.’ He said to him, ‘And you, rule over five cities.’ Then the other came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your pound. I wrapped it up in a piece of cloth, for I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man; you take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ He said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! You knew, did you, that I was a harsh man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not put my money into the bank? Then when I returned, I could have collected it with interest.’ He said to the bystanders, ‘Take the pound from him and give it to the one who has ten pounds.’ (And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten pounds!’) ‘I tell you, to all those who have, more will be given; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and slaughter them in my presence.’ ” After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

 

The moral of this parable that Jesus tells is that we use the gifts we have been given wisely. As we reflected upon this just a couple of days ago (see Want More Gifts?), let us reflect upon something else today. Let us reflect on the attitude of the citizens towards the nobleman in this story. They hated him. Why? Since Jesus doesn’t tell us that he was a bad man, there is a good chance that the reasons for their hatred was simply jealousy. There may have been several reasons for their jealousy, but one was obviously the fact that he was a nobleman and they were not. And because they were jealous, they tried to destroy him. Jealousy is an ugly emotion which brings out the worst in people. 

 

Scripture is full of stories about jealous people. Saul, the first king of Israel, was one such person. When he first met David, the young man who slew Goliath, Saul became very fond of him. But one day after David returned victorious from battle, he heard the people singing David’s praises. “Saul has killed his thousands,” they shouted, “but David his ten thousands” (1 Samuel 18:7). Filled with jealousy, from that moment onwards, Saul made it his life’s mission to kill David. This ended only when Saul’s own life ended. David, of course, survived because he had God’s anointing and protection over him. And there is a lesson here if you want to heed it.

 

Now, this was individual jealousy, but there is also corporate jealousy where an entire group of people become jealous. The Pharisees were such a group. They were so jealous of Jesus they tried to kill him on several occasions. They eventually succeeded, but only because it was in the plan of God that Jesus died. Later, after Jesus had ascended into heaven, the Pharisees tried to kill his apostles. Fortunately, they had a wise man in their midst by the name of Gamaliel who said: “Keep away from these men and let them be; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God!”

 

We should take note of these words of wisdom because we often tend to be filled with jealousy too. This happens even to those of us who claim to be in Christ. We are envious of others — of their effectiveness in ministry, their success in sowing the word of God, the anointing that rests upon them, or simply their popularity. And because the nature of jealousy is so evil, we will do whatever it is in our power to destroy the people we are jealous of. But tell me, won’t this only destroy us? Therefore, when we find ourselves feeling jealous, instead of trying to take others down, let us go to God seeking help. He will tell us how special we are in his eyes and how we really have no reason to be jealous of anybody.

 

Now isn’t that a better option than ending up fighting against God?

 

Watch a video of this reflection by Aneel Aranha here: https://youtu.be/jm8eoW5jZGQ