I was recently asked to look into what Jesus meant when He said “occupy til I come.” In Luke 19:13

The story, from Luke 19:13-27 is a parable, an image of the kingdom, told to help us to better understand.

Now at first glance one might read this, and with the wording used understand it as trade, business, having an occupation, for the word used in Greek we translate as occupy means to trade.

But again, we must read this as a parable, not as anything whose true intentions are financial. (Now that being said, I am not saying to not build Christian based businesses, I am a proponent of capitalism, entrepreneurship, and believers owning businesses and using them as a means to reach the lost.)

But rather, I believe there is another deeper meaning as well to this. God has given each of us a gift, the gift of salvation. Do we take our salvation, hide ourselves away from the world, avoiding any temptation or fear that we might lose our salvation and so we avoid conflict, and hide the gospel and ourselves away?

Or, are we being fruitful, multiplying and populating the coming kingdom? Are we taking our gift, the gift of salvation, and testifying what God has done, the salvation He has wrought in us, and bringing others into the kingdom with us?

The wording in this passage indicates that we should be in labor, putting the work, gift and investment given to us and there should be a fruit as a result. God does not call us home the day we are saved, because God expects us to take our salvation and the gifts He has given us and use them to glorify Him and do the work He has for us.

How we do that will look different for each individual, how God blesses each of us, and how we use those blessings will look different for each of us, but we are to take those gifts and blessings and turn them to good for the kingdom. When Jesus returns He does not expect to return and find we have taken our time and the gifts bestowed upon them and been unfaithful poor stewards.

For some of this, this may mean starting our own business, or rearing a large family, or pastoring etc, it matters not how it looks, only that we have taken the gifts and been fruitful in our doing. Will every believer be a nurse or doctor? Will all start large businesses that employ hundreds of people? Will all preach from a pulpit or travel the nations preaching? No, God has called each of us to our own work, empowering us with many manifold gifts, some spiritual, others mental, physical, some in finance, others in business, but what matters is we take the gifts and use them for the kingdom sake.

What then? Is our salvation contingent upon the work we do? No, else the cross becomes in vain, but we are called as good stewards, faithful sons to be diligent in our pilgrimage, good caretakers and image bearers of the God most High, who is not lazy not slack, but working hard. Our work we are called into, in whatever form, is designed to glorify the Son, build the kingdom and honor our Heavenly Father.

To occupy in this context is not having dominion, but being diligent workers, not in laboring for our own small kingdoms that will pass away, but toiling for the kingdom, which is of Christ and in us, adding into it, not that any man adds, for some plant, others water, but God provides the increase.

Has the church always understood and acted on this? This message while intended on the individual can also be applied to the Church local and global. Is the church taking the gifts of each member of the body and raising them up, equipping them to the work of the ministry? Are we encouraging others gifts and helping them to use them for the kingdom?

Are we so focused on what the mouth does for the body we are forgetting what the hand does? What the foot can do? The finger or the ear? All of us are apart of one body, designed to honor the Son. The church does good setting money aside for missionaries, for new pastors and for updates to the building, but is the Church always putting it’s entire resources to the good work of building the kingdom?

We will look more another day into the question, has the church always been a good and faithful steward? What has the stewardship looked like, occupying until our Lord’s return? Throughout the history of the church.