um, i think it was the timing? 15th c? Maybe combined with how the RCC teaches the parable? i seem to even recall a fairly direct ref for that, might come to me. Anyway it was someone here onsite, you could prolly search "parable talents" and zero in on it maybe.
Search Results | Christian Forums @ Christianity Board are me referring to it mostly, it was...prolly most of a year ago now i guess, maybe the oct 2017 ref
It was I that said it. An early post that I had made.
And yes the main character, the man who goes a way for a time is definitely Satan.
The Luke 19 telling of the parable gives more of a clue as to the timing and understanding for the Parable of the Talents which was told to the disciples a few days later..
Luke 19:11-27 The Parable of the Minas
(Matt 25:14-30)
11 Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately. 12 Therefore He said: "A certain nobleman {i.e. Satan} went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. {i.e. Satan knows that God is going to judge him and imprison him for a time and covers up this fact by telling the lie that he is going away to receive a kingdom.} 13 So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, 'Do business till I come.' 14 But his citizens (i.e. Israel} hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.' {i.e. they repent of their idolatry. Jesus tells us when the start of this parable will occur, when Israel repents of this iniquities against God and are redeemed.}
15 "And so it was that when he returned, {after being released from being imprisoned for 1,000 years, and claiming to} having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained {for his kingdom} by trading. 16 Then came the first, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned ten minas.' 17 And he said to him, 'Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, {you have used the money that I gave you by trading to oppress the people, please continue by} have authority over ten cities.' 18 And the second came, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned five minas.' 19 Likewise he said to him, 'You {have used the money that I gave you by trading to oppress the people, please} also be over five cities.'
20 "Then another came, saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief {according to the Law of God as told by Moses.} 21 For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow, {i.e. you want what is not yours to have},' 22 And he said to him,'Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow,{i.e. Yes I want what is not mine to have}. 23 Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest, {by giving the money to someone else to trade with so that the people were also oppressed by the money that you had received}?'
24 "And he said to those who stood by, 'Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.' 25 (But they said to him, 'Master, he has ten minas.') 26 'For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 27 But bring here those enemies of mine, {i.e. those who worship God}, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me, {which sets the time of Satan's return, after his imprisonment for 1,000 years and what Satan will be doing when he return to force people to worship him only}.'"
Now what I have inserted into the above parable and shown
by making all of the inserts bold is what we know from other portions of the scriptures. Now, I am sure that many on this forum, that are able to reference the scriptures that confirm the bold inserts that I have put into the above parable. This Parable, like the Parable of the Talents, is about what Satan will be doing when God will establish His Ever Lasting Kingdom in our near future.
What Jesus is telling the people around Him on the journey up to Jerusalem from Jericho, is that, when the Everlasting Kingdom of God is established here on the earth, it will not initially be an easy walk in the park/garden so to speak as there will be hard times ahead to resist the influence of Satan's Good and Faithful Servants and then Satan himself before all things are set right for those who deliberately chose to worship God alone, even though initially they will experience hardship and even death for their beliefs.
Shalom
PS: - Now I do agree that the Saints are required to also demonstrate their love of God to those around them and to make disciples of those willing to accept the words that the Saints teach about God, that He has given them to teach. But the parables of the Minas and the Talents should not be used to force us to be doing God's work, as this is also oppressive and will lead many Saints to fall away from God by instilling the wrong understanding of what God/Jesus is like in them.