In other words, one last time, before they enter the Holy City, Jesus tries to set His disciples straight about what is to happen and what it will mean for them.
And then Jesus begins the parable proper: “A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return.” Now, right there is something everyone listening would have immediately understood, something “ripped from the headlines,” so to speak. You see, this idea of a nobleman going to a far country to receive a kingdom was not a fiction, but an event which had actually happened in the living memory of those around Jesus.