On the edge of Jerusalem, Jesus' followers think he is days away from establishing a kingdom on the earth. Jesus adjusts their expectations with a story of a king who goes away to be crowned and returns later to reign over his kingdom. How his subjects view him in the meantime make them either servants or enemies, with drastically different fates upon his return. The difference between them comes down to how they think of the King.

1. How do you respond when Jesus asserts his power and authority in your life?
2. What has God given you in your life to steward?
3. Why might you be excited to steward those things based on the parable Jesus tells?
4. How do you struggle with God's character? How does that struggle square with the evidence of God's goodness and love in creation and the cross?