Minas and Parking

This morning I heard a colleague tell a situation he faced with a couple of his other colleagues over a parking space. Apparently, one believed the parking spot to be hers and the other that the spaces were given on a first come first serve basis. This animosity between the two caused my colleague great distress as he was fairly new in his position and the situation was beyond anything he could have imagined in his newly assigned job description. He responded to the two’s brute statements with apathy. What does it matter?
If anyone knows anything about the city in which I work, one would know that parking is not an ominous issue. This is not a metropolitan city with subway systems and taxis. Parking spaces are profuse in number, easily accessible, and unassigned. But is there something to be said about this “claim” to the spot? She had been parking there for years; did she have a right to it?
Overhearing this story made me smile. Not because I felt that anyone was right or wrong in the situation but because this little story that irritated my colleague left me with just a little more information on who God really is. What did I learn from this little spat? Possession, stewardship, and dispensation were topics that immediately came to mind.
The one colleague believed the spot to be hers. In actuality the spot was there before she began working and will likely be there after she is gone. She made no provisions for the spot but had simply claimed it as she came to posses the spot on a daily basis. No one had fought her on it…until now. Often spots will be assigned, placed in the stewardship of an individual to use while he or she is providing work for a company nearby. Clearly, the individual knows that he or she cannot take the spot home when he or she leaves and place it back the next morning (although I visualize some cartoon scenario in my head of one doing so). It is simply understood that the individual has the option of using the spot as long as he or she is working.
God endows each of us with bodies to hold our souls. He makes provision on this earth that we may partake of its assets as long as we are here. We don’t actually OWN any of it. It makes me laugh when I think of how we “own” land that we may or may not live on. We take possession of things from stores, restaurants, and other places using only a piece of green paper that will bring us favor the more we have of it. Yet, really do we have a valid claim to any of it? Isn’t it all God’s? He’s just allowing us all of the things we need…and want. We didn’t bring anything with us into this world, and try as we might we’ll take nothing out with us.
I’m reminded of the parable of the ten minas (Luke 19:11-27). The master endows to each servant a sum of money to be left in their care until he returns. Each servant takes into his possession his master’s money and becomes the steward of that sum until such time when the master returns to collect. If I remember correctly, the first two invest what had been given and the other buries his fortune. Upon the master’s return he delighted in his first two servants who profited from their investments. Yet, the servant that hid his mina away was condemned for his actions.
To each of us, God endows special abilities and gifts to profit His kingdom. Those who despise Him as king, like in the story, refuse to even accept their task of stewardship. Then there are the two faithful servants that invest theirs and reap a reward for such work. Then there is the one that knew he had something of value and was supposed to invest, yet, did not. He was stripped of his responsibility and given nothing. We must take responsibility in what we are given. We are stewards of His precious gifts.
What is important to remember in such a parable is that the servants did not already have these minas. They were imparted to them upon the master’s departure. The servants did not possess these and therefore could not claim this money for themselves. How easily could they have invested the minas and collected on the interest for themselves. They had done all the work, is it not rightfully theirs to keep? I mean they’re going to give back to the master what he left anyway. No, the servants saw an opportunity to please the one they served. Upon, presenting their profits the servants were justly rewarded for their profits.
I’m reminded of the gifts that God has blessed each of us with. I watch and see that some use their gifts to benefit themselves. There are those who refuse their gifts much like those who were sentenced to death at the end of the parable. They refused to invest or even recognize their master as king. I think of the timid servant who hid his mina knowing full well that his master would be displeased with him. There are those who know that they’re talented yet refuse to use their talents to help anyone, let alone the sovereign Lord. Then we’re left with the faithful few who found their minas as an opportunity to expand their master’s success. In the end their faithfulness was rewarded and the master shared his success with them.
Not once in the parable did any of the servants refer to the minas as their own. They always said “your mina.” What a powerful message. So, does the worker have a rightful claim to “her parking spot?” Has she been given special claim to this spot like the faithful servants to their master’s kingdom? That I cannot answer. However, this little spat has caused me a great deal of contention in my own life. How will I use the gifts and talents with which God has blessed me? Which servant will I be like? In the end what shall be reserved for me?