The Parable of the Ten Investments

Read Luke 19:11-27…

Ok, you are done? Now we can proceed.

The Parable of the Ten Investments
JC, a man of dignified lineage went out and traveled far and wide. He learned a great deal, and soon became personable and well liked. His understanding of business was unmatched and his reputation went before him. He grew in standing and his business flourished. He became known as a tough boss, however, there were always opportunities for advancement within his businesses.

One fall JC decided to venture into a new market, he purchased an investment bank. To everyone’s delight, JC did not fire a single soul. He in no way spoke of downsizing only growth, growth of his “Kingdom”. It was an odd name for his mega-corporation, but it inspired hard work, loyalty, and a sense of honour in his employees.

JC took a special interest in this new venture. He decided that because of the economic woes of the time he would invest new capital to the bank. For the occasion, he made the trip from his home in Aspen to New York to be present for the announcement.

JC was a man of immeasurable means, yet everyone was still shocked by what transpired next. During the public announcement about the “new era” for “Kingdom” - an era that would be shaped by investment banking and full participation in the global market – JC stunned everyone when he brought forward the ten-member board of the bank he had recently purchased. As JC shook their hands - while the camera’s snapped photos that would grace the covers of newspapers, tabloids, and blogs within hours - he announced that each of these ten individuals would be entrusted with a One Billion dollar stock portfolio to be managed. For a moment no one moved, not a single photo was taken; no one in living memory had treated former competition in such a way.

With the instruction to put the money to work, the announcement ceremony ended, and everyone slowly dispersed and JC returned to Aspen. The enormity of the event continued to buzz in the media for the next few days, but was eventually drowned out by more pressing news events. The act of favour, however, was not soon forgotten. Yet, the ten-member board loathed JC in their hearts. They felt doubly patronized. Not only had they lost control of their company, they felt condescended to by JC’s sensational generosity that made a mockery of their best attempts to salvage their company. Like resistant puppets, they reviled their puppeteer.

Upon a subsequent trip to New York, to watch a new Broadway show, JC dropped by his new investment bank. He gathered the ten board members to hear reports about each of their portfolios.

The first report was given. To JC’s great delight, the One Billion was now Ten Billion. This had been accomplished through high-risk speculation, which paid off because of careful oversight by the member of the board.

“Well done! You truly understand what it takes to succeed in this business”, exclaimed JC. “Since you have been trustworthy with the small task of direct investment, I am now placing you in change of the entire investment banking portion of “Kingdom”.

The second report was then presented. The One Billion was now Five Billion. Through diversification and investment into new sustainable fuels, the investments had grown at a fantastic rate.

JC was so impressed with the ingenuity and visionary tendencies of this board member he promoted him to CFO of the alternative recourse division of “Kingdom”.

The third board member approached JC, he told JC how the One Billion Dollars was a stable 1.02 Billion Dollars. He had liquidated the stocks and invested the money into a bank account that was slowly gaining interest.

The third board member said, “JC, I know you are a tough boss and I was in fear of what you might do, you take what is not yours and build wealth on those who cannot defend their work. Thus, knowing my fallibility I chose to take the safe route and maintain that which was entrusted to me through stable and guaranteed investment”.

JC replied, “You stupid and ignorant investor! You are correct in your perception of me, and thus will receive what is due to you! Are you so ignorant, and so uninformed, that you do not know that the inflation rate is 3.9%! You have devalued my money and made a mockery of “Kingdom”.

JC then turned to the other board members around him and said, “Take his investments and amalgamate them into the funds of the first board member who presented”.

Shocked and appalled, the nine board members spoke with one voice, “JC, the first of us already has Ten Billion in investments and now also controls the entire banking sector of “Kingdom”, while the third to present will be left with nothing!”

Not missing a beat, JC replied, “I tell you that to everyone who has and succeeds, more will be given. But to those who have little and do not grow their investments, even what they have will be taken away”.

With this statement JC completed his character and career assassination of the third board member. The third board member was reduced to live in squalor as a bank teller earning minimum wage for the rest of his days.

It was at this point Lucifer leaned over and whispered in Julius Caesar’s ear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant!”


Commentary

Writing a parable in this style and format was inspired by Peter Rollins. I finished reading his book The Orthodox Heretic earlier this week. It is a series of parables, which push one to think beyond the norm/typical understandings of faith and God. I have not read a book like this one before. It challenged me to grow and explore my faith in new and exciting ways, to an extent I had not been challenged to go to in the past few years. I highly recommend it, with the caveat that it is not for the faint of heart.

I chose to mimic the text of Luke 19:12-27 because it has been a text I loath and love. This specific text was the springboard for me into an exploration of Empire versus Kingdom in the narrative of Luke-Acts, an exploration that continues to pervade my mind. In the past, I have attempted to communicate my reading of the text to friends and professors, with moderate success. This parable is my attempt to articulate this understanding through the mode of story.

About the parable: The clinching line of the parable is of course the last line. By placing words attributed to Jesus into the mouth of Lucifer, one is forced to reconsider the actions of JC throughout the parable. Do we/should we condone the actions that have taken place up until this point? This challenge is doubly issued when I change the protagonist’s identity from Jesus Christ/God (which is not explicitly stated in the original parable but often assumed) to that of Julius Caesar. One must be confronted by the horrendous actions of the protagonist.

Also raised by this parable is the question of whether one views God as being on the side of the oppressor or the oppressed? One’s gut reaction is claim God is on the side of the oppressed, but is this true in how we commonly read the parable? I always thought not.

A final question, one that ultimately determines one’s understanding of the protagonist, is what does God’s economic theory look like? When one ponders this question one is forced into a corner, either to affirm a god whose economic dealings looks remarkably similar to that of the world we experience daily OR whether one truly believes in a god who abides by gift economics, therefore one who is incompatible with the protagonist in the parable.

Life is like climbing a mountain

Well to take one of the most cliche analogies to do with life and use it...so you know in life there are struggles and hills to climb, but if you persevere through you will one day make it to the top of the mountain. Just Kidding.

Maybe it is pessimism or cynicism, but I think it is more truthfully life experience and realism that brings me to question this analogy. On saturday I went on a hike up Sumas mountain, and I realized a few things.

First, life is like climbing a mountain, it should be enjoyable, it should be something we continue to choose to do, but when you are in the midst of it, it does not always feel enjoyable. There is often a lack of enjoyment, it took only minutes for the novelty of the climb to wear off. This time the novelty wearing off was not my poor physical condition. It was the annoyance of the mosquitoes. Those little pests that so quickly suck any excitement from mountain climbing. It was precisely 12:27 on Saturday when I knew I would be writing this blog as the annoyance was nearing unbearable proportions. Here you can insert your annoyance _______ that sucks the enjoyment out of life like a mosquito (feel free to post it in the comments section below, I would love to hear them, for me it is the constant failure and rejection of job searching).

Second, why life is more like climbing a mountain than one might realize. Death is a viable option. Now I don't mean that in order to stop climbing one should choose death, I would probably just say stop, turn around maybe there is a different route up the mountain, or a nice lake to sit at instead of climbing (but I am getting ahead of myself that is more point three). The reason death is a viable option is that it will come. For me this became particularly clear last year as I climbed Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. I was sick and blacked out on the way up and was probably the closest to death I have been in the last number of years. So the analogy of life being like climbing a mountain has been tainted by the realism that life includes death. Maybe when people use this analogy in the future they should be more careful as it is not a care free, fun loving, enjoyment filled analogy. This became clear to me as when I was taking Hebrew this spring, the analogy often used was we were "climbing" mount Baker together, after which I would utter under my breath, "ya and you can die doing so".

Third, once you get to the top, you just turn around and come back down. I find this analogy to be completely lacking because the end goal of the analogy is always getting to the top, which is just a great big fib. That is the part way goal, then you still need to get your sore tired ass all the way back down. Reflecting on this I realize that we never talk about the way down. Was graduating from college the top and now I am left completely unprepared to get myself down from the mountain, and as a result I find myself in a state of free-fall? I think we in the west have shaped out lives this way, you climb the career mountain as long as possible, then once you are forced to go back down we simply let go, causing people drift off into retirement often lacking meaning or purpose. Thinking about it, it seems to be an incredibly boring imagination of what life could be, you just climb until you fall off the other side, there is a serious lack of playing in the lakes, enjoying the forrest, or taking the trail around the base of the mountain.

So I would agree that life is like climbing a mountain, but we have made it that way, maybe there are other paths to choose. Beyond the alternative life is also more like climbing a mountain that we want to imagine it being, there are annoyances, death is tangible, and there is the often neglected return trip down.