Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Luke 19:21

"for I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that which thou layedst not down, and reapest that which thou didst not sow." — Luke 19:21 (ASV)

Our focus of attention should be on the last of the three examples. This servant allowed his fear of the nobleman’s anger to prevent him from fulfilling his responsibility of putting the money given him to work (v.20). To be sure, its investment was risky. But he had been specifically charged to take the risk of investing the money. In his case conservatism was born of fear and was wrong.

Luke’s readers would certainly know about the various forms of heavy Roman taxation. These totaled over one-third of a person’s income and included a poll tax, customs, and various indirect taxes.