Parable of the Minas (7) Take Time

The Parable of the Minas was also a warning that the economic restoration brought by the Kingdom of God would take time.

Zacchaeus actions would not stop the poor people from being harshly tax. The fact that Zacchaeus had resigned did not mean that the people would not have to pay tax. That would be wishful thinking, and Jesus reminded them of the harsh reality. If Zacchaeus could not do the job, his collection responsibilities, would be handed over to someone else, like the first servant, who could extract money where it had not been put in. Zacchaeus would be replaced with a chief tax collector who was even more harsh and corrupt. In the short term the situation would get worse.

As long as political powers exist, they will find someone to collect their taxes. As long as they have power, they will look after their cronies. The people would not be freed from their excessive tax burden until hundreds of chief tax collectors had been converted and given away their surplus wealth, instead of handing over to the political powers. Only when no one harsh enough could be found to take on the tax collector role would that happen, causing the entire political system to collapse.

The Zacchaeus incident was a sign that this would happen, but it would take time. The unfairness of secular capitalism and the corruption of politicised capitalism will eventually collapse and the Kingdom of God would come in its place. That would take time, and in the meantime many people would suffer under the harsh treatment of a corrupt political and economic system.