Hear The Parables of Jesus Anew

Hear the Parables of Jesus Anew
“He taught them many things by parables.” - Mk 4:2
A “Lessons To Go” Scripture
study by Mark S. Pavlin

Part 1

PICTURES ARE WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
“New Still-Life” artist Tjalf Sparnaay, Hivlversum, the Netherlands, creates
mouth-wateringly paintings
(yes, this is a painting).

Maggie Boellart, director of the Plus One
Gallery, London, says, “Look at Vermeer
or any of the Dutch painters, they
were hyper-realistic in their
painting also."

Sparnaay says sees his work as a continuation of this honored Dutch tradition.
"I use these age-old skills to get a timeless idiom.“
And food, he says, is a "common,
recognizable language."

Greek:
παραβολαῖς
Aramaic:
mathla “riddle”
Hebrew:
mashal “proverb”
A close relative is
the term “symbol”
Parables are pictures
Parable: a succinct, instructive story, illustrating a spiritual truth
otherwise hard to see; sometimes applied to a moral lesson.
Unlike a fable or myth, parables feature ordinary people going about
their normal routine in familiar settings (not exotic or faraway places)
in the present day or recent past.

Parables were not new…
Parables were known to
people hundreds of years
before the time of the
ministry of Jesus.
Perhaps the most famous is
the Parable of the Cave, in
Plato’s The Republic (Book 7)
in which people watch
shadows in a darkened cave
until one of them escapes,
emerging into daylight.
The story helps us under-
stand that normal life can
be spiritually impoverished
and “reality”, in some sense,
itself an illusion.

Parables were not new…
Parables were known to
people hundreds of years
before the time of the
ministry of Jesus.
Perhaps the most famous is
the Parable of the Cave, in
Plato’s The Republic (Book 7)
in which people watch
shadows in a darkened cave
until one of them escapes,
emerging into daylight.
The story helps us under-
stand that normal life can
be spiritually impoverished
and “reality”, in some sense,
itself an illusion.
No doubt Jesus learned many stories
from his parents as a boy growing up
in Nazareth.
He heard many more from villagers as
he helped Joseph in his workshop.
He reflected on their meaning as he
prepared to begin his own story...

Every event in his ministry, all that went on around him, reminded
Jesus of God and of his message: Turn away from normal life! Life in
the extraordinary Kingdom of God is near you! How to explain this?
Sowing seed, growing wheat, making bread, fishing, paying taxes...
Weddings, banquets
and funerals. Fruit
trees, clean-swept
houses, judges,
robbers, children,
shepherds, servants,
businessmen, sons
and daughters. Coins,
debts, sheep, goats,
pigs, wine, wheat,
and bread.
Extraordinary stories from ordinary life

To his listeners, the stories were simple and familiar. Like platitudes.
But Jesus gave these comforting old tales a surprising twist and made
them memorable, even shocking!
Through these stories, recalled and re-told in the Gospels by the
Christian community of the late 1st century, we encounter Jesus today
in a most authentic way.
Much as he was
heard by opponents
and disciples in his day.
Here is an “un-filtered”
voice, not of the Christ
or of the Son of God but
of Jesus, son of Joseph,
a man of Galilee.
The parables were old and new

1. SECULAR
Listeners are often not believers, may be hostile; subjects are
secular. Only four feature a religious character
2. FAMILIAR
Similes and metaphors are comparisons (“this is like that”)
between the ordinary, the mundane and the extraordinary, the
transcendent. They fail if the listener is not familiar with the “this”
3. SPIRITUAL
Vivid language calls on the imagination to clarify a spiritual truth
and fix what is being expressed in the memory;
4. ENGAGING
The listener is a participant; the parable calls for engagement,
even a struggle since it may be perplexing;
5. URGENT
Often a challenge; they urgently call for a response to their
message: “now is the day!”
Marks of the parables of Jesus

1. Jesus tells a parable in response to a challenge, question, event, at
a specific time and in a specific place
2. After his death, resurrection, & ascension, disciples recall all that
he said and did and then tell others – the church is growing!
3. Long before they are written down, parables are part of the Oral
Tradition, the living witness to and proclamation of “Good News”.
4. The church eventually collects the sayings of Jesus, translates them
into Greek, arranges them within narrative elements, and makes
some adaptions and expansions to fit their late 1st century
situation; the result is the Gospels
5. Later Christian leaders, preachers, teachers, and commentators
add layers and layers of (sometimes helpful) interpretations
6. Result: the parables Jesus told are fossilized; they no longer have
the power to surprise us; they are stale.
Over time: burial by interpretation

And too Westernized!
We yank the stories out of their
Palestinian context.
From the earliest time – starting
in the Gospels themselves –
there has been much too much
re-interpretation.
Centuries-worth of attempts to
turn every parable into allegory.
Tendency to force-fit to changes
in history, culture, theology.
Too familiar?
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
Biblical quilt, by Lee Porter (1990)

Hard to think of an example of a modern-
day parable because our “western” minds
run right into an allegory rut!
For example, “Animal Farm” by George
Orwell, is a fable, not a parable –
• Animals not people, are the characters,
• It is too long for a parable, and
• It’s characters transparently “stand in” for
real world people
• Which is typical of an allegory.
For discussion: is “Moby Dick” a parable?
“The Lorax?” “Frankenstein?”
In fact, Western minds can’t do it!

When {Jesus} was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked
him about the parables. He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of
God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is
said in parables. “ - Mk. 4:10-11
Jesus did not try to hide his good news!
In its present form, this verse
presents Jesus as one who deliber-
ately veils his message.
But linguistic evidence strongly
suggests that this verse as origin-
ally spoken was about the message
of the Kingdom, viz:
“You guys have the Big Secret but
to those who have not yet heard
and believed, everything is still
puzzling.”

 Unplanned response to a concrete situation that arose
 Not a careful literary production like a poem or short story
 Not intended to set forth some general maxim; no “deep
hidden meaning”
 Must be placed in the setting
of Jesus’ life and ministry...
 ...when Jesus spoke amidst
conflict and controversy…
 …and called for an imme-
diate response/answer!
Wit not writ!
Parable of The Good Samaritan
Jan Wijnants (1670)

Joachim Jeremias (1900–1979), German Lutheran
theologian and Near Eastern Studies scholar, held
the Chair of New Testament Studies at the Georg-
August University of Göttingen (1935-1968);
studied theology and Oriental languages at the
Universities of Tübingen and Leipzig where he
earned both a PhD and a ThD. He published a
landmark work The Parables of Jesus (1963) & its
abridgment, Rediscovering the Parables (1966).
Neal Fisher (1940-), an ordained UMC minister;
Assistant Professor of Theology and Society at
Boston Univ. School of Theology; PhD Systematic
Theology, Boston Univ. (1966); The Parables of
Jesus, Glimpses of the New Age (1979).
Two guides

The Gospel of Thomas not canonical, not orthodox, definitely
Gnostic but it is an independent tradition for over one quarter
of the parables.
By the numbers
Parable recorded... Synoptics Thomas
Mark, Matthew and Luke 4 3
Mark and Luke 1 0
Mark only 1 0
Matthew and Luke 10 4
Matthew only 10 3
Luke only 14 1
Total 40 11

The Gospel of Thomas not canonical, not orthodox, definitely
Gnostic but it is an independent tradition for over one quarter
of the parables.
By the numbers
Parable recorded... Synoptics Thomas
Mark, Matthew and Luke 4 3
Mark and Luke 1 0
Mark only 1 0
Matthew and Luke 10 4
Matthew only 10 3
Luke only 14 1
Total 40 11
The Gospel of John, notable in
many ways as different in tone
and content from the Synoptics,
records no parables.

The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of 114
sayings of Jesus which provides insight into
the Christian oral tradition.
 Discovered near Nag Hammadi, southern
Egypt, in December 1945
 One of 52 writings now known as the
Nag Hammadi Library
 Written in Coptic so possibly from Syria
where Thomasine traditions were strong.
 Scholars speculate they were buried in
response to the declaration of Bishop
Athanasius (in 387) of a finalized canon
of Christian scripture, now our NT
 Thomas not “in” but it is very interesting!
“Hidden words that the living Jesus spoke”

From the Gospel of Thomas
For on the day of the harvest the
weeds will be plainly visible and they
will be pulled up and burned.”
– Saying 57 (= Mt. 13:24)
His enemy came by night and sowed weeds
among the good seed. The man did not
allow {his workers} to pull up the weeds.
He said, ‘I am afraid that you will go
intending to pull up the weeds and
pull up the wheat along with them.’
Jesus said, “ The kingdom of the Father
is like a man who had (good) seed.

You too seek his un-
failing and enduring
treasure where no
moth comes near to
devour and no worm
destroys.”
Saying 76 ( = Mt. 13:45)
Old Clothing Merchant in Cairo (1866)
That merchant was
shrewd. He sold the
merchandise and bought
the pearl for himself.
Jesus said, “The Kingdom of the Father is like a merchant who had a
consignment of merchandise and who discovered (in it) a pearl.

Why parables?
 The speaker wants to SHARE of him-/herself, information learned,
thoughts/ideas, an experience, an emotion
 The speaker EXPRESSES his/her insight/experience in language, a
complex event comprising composition, syntax, grammar, tone, and
body position and gesture…
 The result is a set of SOUND WAVES
 The receiver HEARS this expression,
encoded in media (or, perhaps, not
all of it due to background noise,
poor hearing, or illness)
 The receiver DECODES what he/she
hears and translates it into what
makes sense to them.

Jesus is God’s expression of love (meaning?)
 The problem with religious language is an old one…
 How talk about the inexpressible?
 How describe a heavenly vision?
 Example: “Jesus ascended into glory
and sits at the right hand of the
Father” – what meaning does that
have for some one not a worship-
ping Christian?
 Language has meaning because it is embedded in the shared life
of the community – it has no meaning at all for the one who lives
outside that community.
 What Jesus had to say to us was as memorable and full of meaning
as he could make it
 But it had to be embedded by the evangelists to have meaning.

Homework: write your own parable
 Not too brief; not
a one line simile or
two line proverb.
 Illustrating or illumina-
ting a spiritual truth;
not ethical in nature
 NOT an allegory, please!
 Should feature people
not animals acting like
humans (as in Animal Farm)
 Setting should be ordinary rather than exotic or magical
 Okay to start it “once upon a time” or “in a far away place”
 Does not have to have an obvious point (can be a puzzle!)

Part 2

Did you write a parable?
Share your homework
Parables, by Jane Mitchell
Share it with the class.
Each lesson will
begin with an
example of my own.

Grains of Colored Sand
To know what it is like to live in the presence of God for eternity think
of a group of people kneeling in a quiet room before a large intricate
pattern lined on the floor. With intense concentration and great care,
each dispenses colored sand from a special finely-tipped cone.
There is one color
for each person.

Grains of Colored Sand
Taking breaks only for
brief rests and a little
food, the people
steadily make progress
lovingly creating a
unique work of art.
No one hurries, no one
coughs, some pray or
sing; no one speaks.

No one marks the passage of the hours, but in time the picture is
complete. Thousands of colored grains of sand are in their place,
each contributing one tiny speck of color to the great work.
The people pause for a moment to cheer and compliment and
thank each other.
Then, abruptly,
they sweep up
the sand!

The colors rapidly
swirl and mingle. In
minutes the sand is
all together in a
bag, taken outside,
and poured onto a
nearby dirt road,
soon to be utterly
dissipated in the
traffic and dust.

 Jesus spoke in Aramaic, his stories were set in Palestine;
 The stories of Jesus were re-told in early Christian communities
which grew as they attracted Gentiles who spoke Greek
 As the parables were translated into Greek some details were
adjusted to fit a Hellenistic setting; redaction resulted in pairing,
collection, or fusion of parables
 Other details were embellished; smaller numbers become larger
numbers, individuals become kings, more details are added
 Be aware of the influence of the OT and of folk-tales; any changes
of audience, the insertion of independent sayings, and the setting
(framing) in which an evangelist places a parable
 Recognize interpretations inserted by the early Church (signals
are, e.g. delay in the return of Jesus, need for missionary work,
mention of church organization)
Factors to keep in mind

 40 in the Synoptic Gospels
 None in John (he has Jesus
speak in metaphors, e.g.
“I am the Way”)
 1/3rd of the space of the
teachings of the Gospels is
taken up by the parables
 Mark= 16%
Matt= 43%
Luke= 52%
 Mark 4:34 emphasis – Jesus
taught ONLY in parables
Review: parables by the numbers
Parables, by Jane Mitchell

Say it again, Jesus
 Our mission: to try to recover the parables as Jesus spoke them
 Set them again in Palestine (not Hellas)
 Strip away allegorical interpretive suggestions
 Reach for the clear, simple
message
 We will find Jesus saying only a
few things to his listeners (us!)
 Over and over, in different images
 We can see 9 kinds of parables
 These constitute Good News!
 All speak of the New Age of God
The Prodigal Son, by He Qi

1. Now is the day of salvation
2. God’s mercy for sinners
3. The Great Assurance
4. In sight of disaster
5. It may be too late!
6. The challenge of the hour
7. Realized discipleship
8. The way of sorrow and the
exaltation of the Son of Man
9. The consummation
9 kinds of parables
And God Created Man and Woman
Jacob Lawrence (1990)

#1. Now is the Day
 Celebrate! The new age is like a joyous wedding feast
 Scrap, don’t mend, that old garment! Wear new clothes
 Pour that zesty, flavorful new wine into new containers
 Similes, not parables in this category
The images challenge the listener to think NEW… In effect,
Jesus says, “What part of N-E-W don’t you understand?”
“The time has come”
These are the first words Jesus
speaks as recorded in the Gospel of
Mark, the earliest of the gospels.
“The Kingdom of God is at hand”
Soon after this, Jesus uses three
images for the time:

New age news is good news
When John, who was in prison,
heard about what Christ was doing
(or “the deeds of the Messiah”) he
sent his disciples to ask him, “Are
you the one who is to come, or
should we expect someone else?”
Jesus replied, “Go back and report
to John what you hear and see: The
blind receive sight, the lame walk,
those who have leprosy are cured
(or “cleansed”), the deaf hear, the
dead are raised, and the good news
is proclaimed to the poor.”
-Mt. 11:2-5 (after Is. 35:5)

Learn from ordinary things
Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: as soon
as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out,
you know that summer is near. - Mk. 13:28
Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl
or a bed? Don’t you
put it on its stand?
– Mk. 4:21
No one puts new
wine into old
wineskins... The
{new} wine will
burst the skins....
Put new wine in
fresh wineskins. - Mk. 2:22

Today is the time of God’s favor
{Jesus} went into the synagogue... and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah
was handed to him.... he found where it is written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to pro-
claim good news to the poor.
He has sent me
to proclaim freedom
for prisoners
and recovery of sight
for the blind,
to set the
oppressed free,
and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Then he... sat down...{and} began by saying to them, “Today this
scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” - Lk. 4: 16-21

Today is the time of God’s favor
If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come, the old has gone,
the new is here! - 2Cor. 5:17
…We urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says {in Isa.
49:8}: “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salva-
tion I helped you.”
I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
- 2Cor. 6:1-2

 2nd type of parable to consider is the one that conveys “God’s
Mercy For Sinners”
 The good news is not only that a New Age is dawning but...
 That God wants to be with His people, that God loves His people!
 More shockingly than
that is this: God loves
the poor, the outcast…
 ...and even sinners!
 This was good news
because in Jesus’ day
the Jewish leaders were
teaching that sinners
should be shunned.
#2. Mercy

Lost and found (Lk. 15:2-7)
Tax collectors and sinners were all
gathering around to hear Jesus. But the
Pharisees and the teachers of the law
muttered, “This man welcomes sinners
and eats with them.”
In response, Jesus told them this parable:
“Suppose one of you has 100 sheep and
loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the 99
in the open country and go after the lost
sheep until he finds it? And when he finds
it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and
goes home. Then he calls his friends and
neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with
me; I have found my lost sheep.’

Suppose a woman has
ten silver coins and
loses one.
Doesn’t she light a
lamp sweep the house
and search carefully
until she finds it?
And when she finds it,
she calls her friends and neighbors together and says,
‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’
In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence
of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Restoration is joyous

Those who realize the forgiving love of God might
show their joy and gratitude in unconventional ways!
A woman who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at
the Pharisee’s house… she came with perfume and stood behind
him weeping and wet his feet with her tears, then wiped them
with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

More than unconventional – scandalous!
 Jesus is the honored guest at the banquet of Simon, a Pharisee
 All are reclining at table, likely it is the Sabbath meal
 Simon the Pharisee probably thinks he may be a true prophet
 He would see it as meritorious to entertain a traveling holy man.
 Jesus, we can assume, just spoke at the local synagogue
 He probably spoke of God’s love for sinners - we can surmise that
the woman heard the message
 She was a “sinner” – either a prostitute or the wife of a man of
dishonorable employ (perhaps a tax collector or tanner)
 She would know where Jesus was going for dinner - everyone in
the village would be talk about Jesus
 She was not invited – she crashed the party!
 And it was a disgrace for her to unbind her hair in a man’s presence

The two debtors
(Jesus) Two people owed money
to a moneylender. One owed
him about $10,000 and the
other owed about $1,000.
Neither of them had enough
money to pay him back. So, the
moneylender wrote off both debts.
(Jesus) Now which of them will feel the deepest thankfulness
toward him (or love him the most)
(Simon the Pharisee) I suppose the one who had the bigger
debt forgiven.”
(Jesus) You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

Then Jesus turned to the woman… I tell you, her great love for me
is showing that she realizes God accepts her and forgives her many
sins- if forgiven little, one loves little.
He then said to
her, “Your sins
are forgiven.”
The woman’s actions
were a living parable
Great forgiveness – great joy (Lk. 7:44-48)

Two sons (Mt. 21:28-31)
(Jesus) “There was a man who had two sons. He went to one
and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
‘I will not,’ he answered.
But later he changed his
mind and went.
Then the father went to
the other son and said
the same thing.
This son answered, ‘I will,
sir.’ But he did not go.
Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
“The first,” they answered.
(Jesus) “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are
entering the kingdom of God ahead of you!”

Two in prayer (Lk. 18:9-14)
Two men went up to the temple to pray,
a Pharisee and a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood by himself and
prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not
like other people—robbers, evildoers,
adulterers—or even like this tax
collector. I fast twice a week and give a
tenth of all I get.’
But the tax collector stood at a distance.
He would not even look up to heaven,
but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have
mercy on me, a sinner.’
I {Jesus} tell you that this man, rather
than the other, went home justified
before God.

Jesus proclaimed stunning, but good, news - that
God’s Kingdom was come – now! And it was a place
of mercy, healing, acceptance and joy! To those
who heard him speak, he must have sounded as
one speaking the very Word of the Lord

Part 3

Twice Mine
A young boy made a boat of wood and set a sail of cotton
He tied a string to hold it fast and sailed it on a river.
A sudden summer storm blew up so fast, the boat - he could not save it,
So strong the surge was. Tug! Snap! The string did sever
No! cried the boy, come back! The boat sped on, it would not heed him
Fast it fled away, and yet, so skillfully he’d made her
Finely sailed despite no guiding hand and course to harbor.
Sailed no haven heading, no shelter
seeking - gone! Yet, in its place the
boy, determined,
Set a solemn promise: sure in time
he’d find that sundered sailor
So much he loved her- he would
bring the two together.

School, play, chores, alert the boy kept watch and then he found it
Who caught the errant toy? Repaired and pawned it to a dealer?
He never asked, nor cared, but worked- it really was no hardship
To take on tasks to earn each coin, amass each needed dollar
Then in time he had enough, bought back the boat
And brought it home to be with him.
He sang to let it know it was his wayward toy no longer:

“You’re mine, you’re mine
That’s two times that you’re mine
Once because I made you,
Twice because I bought you
You’re mine, you’re mine
That’s two times in my heart
I’ve tied us with a cord of love
No storm can break apart.”

Lost and found
• Parables considered in 9 categories
• 1st category is: “Now Is The Day of Salvation”
• 2nd category is: “God’s Mercy For Sinners”
• Jesus shocked his listeners, scandalized his disciples with the
Good News that God loves the outcast, even sinners!
• We considered:
 Lost-Found parables (sheep, coin)
 Two Debtors / Woman who
washed Jesus’ feet with her hair
 Two Sons / Publican-Pharisee
 Now: The Loving Father
(commonly “The Prodigal Son”)

Parable of the Prodigal Son Father

Lost and gone
There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father
‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So [the father] divided his
property between them.
Not long after that, the
younger son got to-
gether all he had and
set off for a distant
country.
There, he squandered
his wealth in wild living.
- Lk. 15:11-13
“The Prodigal Son Feasting
with Courtesans” Bartolome
Esteban Murillo, 1660

Rebellious son got what he deserved?
 Not an allegory – story is right from life! Younger sons, daughters
to this day do this sort of thing! They want to be independent.
 Younger son not married, so he is probably about 18 years old
 Practice then was to split the liquid inheritance to favor the first-
born son: 2 parts goes to the Elder, 1 part to the Younger, as per
Deut. 21:17 as follows:
 “…preference to his actual firstborn… giving him a double share of
all he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength. The
right of the firstborn belongs to him.”
 Family land, which was very valuable, would go to the older son in
its entirety since it could not easily be divided. This is called a
modified primogeniture system.

More than just wanting independence?
“If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey
his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline
him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the
elders… “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey
us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” Then all the men of his town
are to stone him to death.” - Deut. 21: 18-21
 Suggestion here is that the Younger Son’s request (or demand)
is insulting and highly unusual
 It was as if the son were saying, “I wish you were already dead!”
 Jesus’ audience may well have been shocked – if nothing else, he
got their attention!

Assistant pig-keeper
After he had spent everything there was a severe famine in that
whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired
himself out to a citizen
of that country, who
sent him to his fields to
feed pigs. He longed to
fill his stomach with the
pods that the pigs were
eating, but no one gave
him anything.
- Lk. 15:14-16
The Prodigal Son
John Hrehov (1996)

Ritually unclean animals
From Leviticus 11: The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
“Say to the Israelites: ‘Of all the animals……”
NO-NO: Camel, Hyrax, Rabbit, Pig
OKAY: Fish; but NO-NO to: Oyster, lobster, squid,
NO-NO: Some birds (eagle, raven, owl, gull, hawk,
heron, osprey, stork, bat)
OKAY: Locust, cricket, grasshopper
NO-NO: Ants

Rebellious  Repentant
 (1) Runs out of money (2) Middle of famine (3) Takes low-paying
job (4) Duties necessitate being ritually impure constantly
 How low can you go?
 He is not just broke and worked to a frazzle, but he cannot practice
the duties of his faith (e.g. observe the Sabbath, attend synagogue)
 Why not eat the “pods” fed to the pigs? Because they were
disgusting and/or indigestible (not because they were “impure”)
 To stay alive, we can speculate, he had to steal food. His moral
depravation was about as complete as it could be!
 ..εἰς ἑαυτὸν δὲ ἐλθὼν
Unto - himself - he - appeared (argued, influenced)
Or “He came to himself”

When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How
many of my father’s hired servants have
food to spare, and here I am starving to
death. I will set out and go back to my
father and say to him: Father, I have sinned
against heaven and against you. I am no
longer worthy to be called your son; make
me like one of your hired servants.’
- Lk. 15:17-20a

Did this take courage?
 As he journeyed back home we can hear him talking to himself:
 Why did it take me so long to realize how stupid I am?
 And now what are you thinking? Dad won’t take you back as a
servant – even the lowest kind, the “hired hand”
 He will likely humiliate you or stone you!
 As he you or stone you!
 You are not only NOT worthy, you
are a disgrace to the family!
 [The story does not necessarily
exclude Mom– she is just not
specifically mentioned, as would be
normal for that time, but she is
part of “home”]

Welcome home! Lk. 15:20b-21
But while he was still a
long way off…
His father saw him and
was filled with
compassion for him…
He ran to his son, threw
his arms around him and
kissed him .
Do I really want to go through
with this?
Wow! Dad’s been on the lookout
for me!
How undignified for an old guy!
He’s giving me the sign of peace
and forgiveness …
I’m dirty, unclean, unkempt…
I have not yet said a word…
I have no claim on his love.
“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and
against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son……..’
(But he does not get to finish his practiced speech...)

But the father said to
his servants, ‘Quick!
Bring the best robe
and put it on him.
Put a ring on his finger
and sandals on his
feet. Bring the
fattened calf and kill
it. Let’s have a feast
and celebrate.
For this son of mine
was dead and is alive
again; he was lost and
is found.’
So they began to
celebrate.
- Lk. 15:22-24
The Return of the Prodigal Son
(Rembrandt, ca. 1667)

Not so much forgiveness as resurrection
 Best robe = New garment, new age
 Ring; sandals = Emblems of authority
returned
 Calf = Expensive meat held for
only honored guests
 Feast = A gala reception, a party,
like a wedding banquet
All of this
tells us the
father’s
love is...
… extravagant,
 … scandalous,
 … and has no limits!

Wait! The story isn’t over!
Meanwhile, the older son
was in the field.
When he came near the
house he heard music
and saw people dancing.
So he called one of the
servants and asked him
what was going on.
‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the
fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ - Lk. 15:25-27
The story does not end be-
cause it did not end in real
life – it is not an allegory.

Not even a goat!
The older brother became angry and
refused to go in.
So his father went out and pleaded
with him. But he answered his father:
‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed
your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could
celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has
squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill
the fattened calf for him!’ - Lk. 15:28-30
Notice something here?
The surly Older Son does not even address his father properly!
And the father shows patience and love to his older son as much
as he does the younger.

Appeal to reckless love
My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything
I have is yours.
But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of
yours was dead and is alive again.
He was lost and is found.’” - Lk. 15:31-32
The second half of the parable ends as did the first half. Com-
pare v. 24 (“this son of mine”) to v. 32 (“this brother of yours”)
Notice that there is no conclusion – no reply by the Older Son.
Jesus wants his listeners (Pharisees? - You and Me?) – to act!

Reckless love does not count the cost

There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen
and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named
Lazarus, covered with sores
and longing to eat what fell
from the rich man’s table.
(like bread that was dipped in
water and used to wipe soiled
fingers, then tossed away).
Even the dogs (that ran
wild in the streets) came
and licked his sores (since
he was too weak to shoo
them away).
The Parable of the Six Brothers
(or The Rich Man and Lazarus; Lk. 16:19-21)

Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggar Man…
The time came when the beggar
died and the angels carried him to
Abraham’s side (the place of highest
honor).
The rich man also died and buried.
In Hades, where he was in torment,
he looked up and saw Abraham far
away, Lazarus by his side.
So he called, ‘Father Abraham, have
pity on me and send Lazarus to dip
the tip of his finger in water and cool
my tongue, because I am in agony
in this fire.’
Lk. 16:22-24

Besides, between us and you
a great chasm has been set in
place, so that those who
want to go from here to you
cannot, nor can anyone cross
over from there to us.’
He answered, ‘Then I beg
you, father, send Lazarus to
my family, for I have five
brothers.
Let him warn them, so that
they will not also come to this
place of torment.’
- Lk. 16:25-28
Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your life you received good
things, while Lazarus received bad things. Now he is comforted here
and you are in agony.

Some people will not listen no matter what
Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should
listen to them.’
‘But Father Abraham, {they don’t listen}, he said, ‘Surely, if one goes
from the dead (to warn them), they will repent.’’
Abraham disagreed,
saying, ‘No; if they do
not listen to Moses
and the prophets they
will not be convinced
even if someone rises
from the dead.’

Not a teaching about heaven
The parable is (again) not factual; this is not Jesus giving us a
description of heaven or hell. But we are hearing Jesus teach us
about the far greater importance of justice and compassion in the
Kingdom of God than mere wealth, status and comfort.

Part 4

“Acts” are an interesting, intriguing fable
 Early Christians were curious about
the works and fate of the Apostles
 They spread many stories; one was
early 3rd century “Acts of Thomas”
 Complete versions survive in
Syriac and Greek
 Episodes in the evangelical mission
of the “Doubting Apostle” to India
 Ends with his martyrdom (pierced
with a spear (painting at right)
 Account is not entirely orthodox,
some overtly Gnostic passages
 Ultimately condemned as heretical
at the Council of Trent (1545).

India is assigned to Thomas to evangelize but he does not go

At that time a merchant comes to
Jerusalem seeking a carpenter for
his master the King, Gondaphorus.
Jesus appears to the man and tells
him to take the reluctant Thomas.
Jesus claims to be his Master and so
can order him to go.
Saint Thomas by El Greco
Coin of Gondophares (20–50 AD)
First king of the Indo-Parthians
If Thomas were a carpenter…

Is this your Master?
Thomas admitted, “Yes, he is my Lord and my God (allusion to Jn.
20:28)” Then Thomas prayed, “Lord, Jesus, I will go wherever you wish
Your will be done.” He traveled to India, met the King and announced....

“I am come to build a great Building for my Lord.” The King
provided what he needed. And it was a great sum of money.

The King at regular intervals
sent money… Thomas gave it
all to the poor and afflicted,
relieving their misery in the
name of the Jesus... When
the King sent administrators
to inspect his wonderful
palace, they returned and
told him...

“There is no palace, no garden, no court...”

The king was furious and threw
Thomas and his helper in prison…..
How best to torture them? Scourge?
Fire? But his brother Gad dies, goes
to heaven and sees the wonderful
mansion Thomas built there for the
King through his good works.

Gad wants the mansion!
He wants to return (briefly) to earth to
ask the King if he can live there.
“My brother will surely
grant my wish!”

Gad’s soul re-entered his body… The King came to his brother and
stood at his bed as one amazed… Gad told him... ”Brother, I am
speaking of your palace in heaven… A wonderful dwelling…” Then
the King considered all this… and brought {Thomas} out of prison.

Forgive this
poor doubting
man.
I, too, wish to
become a
servant of this
God of whom
you preach.
Who’s the doubter now?

 About Thomas?
 About Jesus?
 About the King before his repentance?
 His brother?
 The King after his repentance?
 Of what parable of Jesus does this remind you?
What is good and not so good about this fable?
What do you think of this?

The.
Chennai (Madras)
INDIA
SRI LANKA
The Didascalia (end of the 3rd century) states,
“India and all countries bordering it, even to the
farthest seas ..received the apostolic ordinances
from Judas Thomas, who was a guide and ruler in
the church he built.”
Travel Like Thomas

Honors His Memory
• In Chennai (Madras)
• 16th century church
built by Portuguese
• Rebuilt as a cathedral
by the British in 1893
• Principal church of the
Mylapore Archdiocese
• Declared a national
shrine (2006), Bishops'
Conference of India
• A pilgrimage center and
a museum
San Thome Bascilica

#3. Assurance
Again [Jesus] said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like
or what parable shall we use to describe it?
It is like a mustard seed which is the smallest of all seeds on earth.
Yet when planted it grows, becoming the largest of all garden plants
with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”
- Mk. 4:30-32

Contrast: tiny bit of yeast : large loaf
Jesus said, “The Kingdom of heaven
is like a certain woman who took a
little leaven, hid it in dough, and
made large loaves of it.”
Thomas 96
[Jesus] asked, “What shall I com-
pare the kingdom of God to?
It is like yeast that a woman
took and mixed into about sixty
pounds of flour until it worked
all through the dough.”
Lk. 13:20-21

The parable point is NOT in the details
 Paired similes = re-duplication for emphasis
 Not about details – to study those is to think it an allegory
 Here is mystery....
 ...but since God does it, the start assures the end
 “Seed” is especially appropriate symbol of life from death, of the
small and shriveled erupting into the great and vibrant
 As Paul writes in 1Cor. 15:35-38:
What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow,
you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of
wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has
determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.
 Harvest and tree imagery - embrace of all peoples

How does it do it?
[Jesus] also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like: a man
scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets
up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.
All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then
the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the
sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” Mk. 4:26-29

The lesson is in the contrast
 Again – try to see the parable as contrast story not allegory
 The point is NOT about different levels of faith or commitment
 Sowers are not stupid – seed is valuable! This Sower is not
blind to marginal ground.
 This Sower is extravagant, reckless: the parable is about God
 Unpromising start, apparently fruitless labor, poor ground, lousy
weather, weeds, insect predation….
 ...yet, astonishingly, an abundance!
 Jesus, too, faces hostility: a
meager following, desertions
and, at the end, betrayal
 Be assured! There will be a
glorious fruition!

What must we do? Be patient
Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming.
See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop,
patiently waiting
for the autumn
and spring rains.
You too, be patient
and stand firm,
because the Lord’s
coming is near.
- Jam. 5:7-8
Canadian-sponsored
Farmers Field School program in Tanzania teaches conservation agriculture, a method
useful in dry regions where irrigation is impossible or too expensive

Stained-glass
window, Glasgow
Cathedral,
Glasgow, Scotland.
Text showing: “The
children of the
Kingdom... The
Kingdom of heaven
is like a mustard
seed which a man
took and sowed in
his field. Mustard is
smaller than any...”

The Parable of the Unjust Judge…
In a certain town there was a judge
who neither feared God nor cared
what people thought.
In the same town was a widow who
kept coming to him with the plea,
‘Grant me justice against my
adversary.’
For some time he refused.
But finally this judge said to himself,
“Even though I don’t fear God or care
what people think, yet because this
widow keeps bothering me, I will see
that she gets justice- so that she won’t
eventually come and attack me (or
wear me out)!”
“I don’t fear God or care
what people think”.

And the Lord said, “Listen to what this unjust
judge says. And will not God bring
about justice for His chosen ones,
who cry out to Him day and night?
Will He keep putting them off?
I tell you, he will see that they
get justice, and quickly.
Lk. 18:2-8
A re-duplicate parable of this
one is that of “The Man Needing Help At
Night”, which could be titled, “The Parable of…
…is about confidence God will act

“…how you were being a pain in the neck”
 1st century Palestinian village had no grocery stores
 Household bakes what bread it needs for the day in the relative
cool of the morning
 3 loaves = meal for one person
 Eastern imperative to entertain a guest
 In small village people
know who has extra
bread
 Everyone goes to bed
at sunset – only light
is a feeble oil lamp
 One door is barred with
iron rod – opening it
noisy and takes effort!
 Children are with
parents on one raised
mat in one room

The parable of you needing help at night
Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at
midnight and say...
‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey
has come to me and I have no food to offer him.’
And suppose {your friend who is} inside answers...
‘Don’t bother me.
The door is already
locked, and my
children and I are
in bed. I can’t get
up and give you
anything.’
- Lk. 11:5-8

...getting help at night
I tell you {Jesus continued}, even though he will not get up
and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because
of your shameless audacity
[or, yet to preserve his good name]
he will surely get up and give you
as much as you need.
- Lk. 11:5-8

A clear message not about prayer
 Luke sets this parable in the context of persistent prayer, but
that setting is probably secondary, not original
 Besides, God does not listen only to prayers that are
“shamelessly audacious”
 Jesus told this parable (as he did the one about the Unjust
Judge) to elicit a response in his listeners
 As he did in telling the contrast parables of seeds and harvest,
yeast and dough
 “Which of you doing these things
would not expect action?”
 Of course they would; other-
wise would be unthinkable!
 Just so: in this same way,
God will act for His people.

Part 5

The Parable of the Hot-Air Balloon
The Lord said, “How hard it is for the busy man to enter the Kingdom of
Heaven! He is like two hot-air balloon pilots competing in a cross-
country race, one foolish, one wise.
As the graceful envel-
opes full of heated air
reached the mountains,
the foolish pilot
jumped up and down
and up and down inside
his basket trying by his
energy to make his
balloon go up.
It sailed on and crashed.

Hot-Air (cont’d)
The wise pilot let go of all that he had. Sand
bags, his lunch, his maps, his parachute, his
instruments, his chair – everything. In response
the balloon rose majestically and, driven by
a great wind, sailed
over the mountains
and into the valley
beyond where the
race ended and the
pilot received the
accolades due his
safe arrival.

3. The great
assurance
4. In sight of
disaster
5. It may be
too late
6. Challenge
of the hour
8. The way of sorrow and the exaltation of the Son of Man
9. The consummation
Topics

The Parable of the Foolish Farmer
The fields of a certain rich man
yielded an abundant harvest. He
thought, ‘What shall I do? I don’t
have enough storage space for all
of it.’
Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do.
I’ll tear down my barns and build
bigger ones. There I will store my
surplus grain. Then I can say to
myself, “You have plenty of grain
Laid up for years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’
But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be deman-
ded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
– Lk. 12:16-20

“Take life easy...” The man’s mind is on his apparent
abundance and his “insurance” against future life disruptions.
This man is a fool because sudden Disaster is coming and soon!
He needs a good dose of…
 Not a parable about greed, at
least not originally (the setting
of v. 13-15 is likely secondary)
 Not a condemnation of riches
per se: an adequate harvest
was seen as a sign of God’s
blessing (as were children)
 The central message is (as
we’ve seen) simple, even blunt
What is in your (metaphorical) wallet?

Eschatology: thy kingdom come!
 From Greek words meaning last (ἔσχατος) and word (λογία)
 The study of the end of something, usually the end of the world
 Broadly, Christian eschatology is about the destiny of humankind
as revealed in Scripture
 Topics are the nature of heaven and hell, the Second Coming,
maybe the Rapture or the Tribulation, the Last Judgment and he
New Heaven/New Earth
 In Matt. 24 the Evangelist has Jesus deliver a lengthy discourse on
the disaster to fall on Earth, beginning:
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples
came to him…“Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and
what will be the sign of your coming [παρουσίας, parousias]
and of the end of the age?”

Near? Just look at a fig tree
Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you..... You will hear
of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed.
Such things must happen, but the end [τέλος, “telos”
”completion”] is still to come.
Nation will rise against nation... there will be
famines and earthquakes in various places…
Now learn this lesson from the fig tree. As soon
as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out,
know that summer is near.
Just so – in the same way - when you see all these
things you will know that [the end] is near…
... Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words
will never pass away. - Mt. 24: 4-7, 32-35

Disaster reveals truth
But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice
is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.
The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its
destruction was complete! - Lk. 6:47-49
As for everyone who comes to me and
hears my words… They are like a man
building a house, who dug down deep
and laid the foundation on rock.
When a flood came, the torrent struck
that house but could not shake it because
it was well-built.

Disaster reveals truth
But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice
is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.
The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its
destruction was complete! - Lk. 6:47-49
As for everyone who comes to me and
hears my words… They are like a man
building a house, who dug down deep
and laid the foundation on rock.
When a flood came, the torrent struck
that house but could not shake it because
it was well-built.
You are the salt of the earth. But if
the salt has no saltiness, how can it
be made salty again?
It is no longer good for anything,
except to be thrown out and
trampled underfoot. - Mt. 5:13

Be ready for the return of master...
Be dressed, ready for service, your
lamps burning, like servants waiting
for their master to return from a
wedding banquet...
When he comes and knocks you can
immediately open the door for him.
It will be good for those servants
whose master finds them watching
when he comes…. even if in the
middle of the night or near dawn.
-Lk 12:35-40

... or for the thief in the night
Be dressed, ready for service, your
lamps burning, like servants waiting
for their master to return from a
wedding banquet...
When he comes and knocks you can
immediately open the door for him.
It will be good for those servants
whose master finds them watching
when he comes…. even if in the
middle of the night or near dawn.If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was
coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.
You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an
hour when you do not expect him.” -Lk 12:35-40

When the cat is away…
Who, then, is the faithful and wise manager whom the master puts in
charge of his servants...?
It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when
he returns. I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
But suppose the servant says to him-
self, ‘My master is taking a long time
in coming,’ beats the other servants...
and {throws himself a wild party}.
The master of that servant will come
on a day when he does not expect, at
an hour of which he is not aware.
He will cut {the unfaithful servant} to
pieces... - Lk.12:41-46

#5. It may be too late!
The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took
their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

The parable of the maidens with lamps (Mt. 25:1-13)
 Wedding Banquet = eschatological imagery of God’s coming reign
 Wedding festivities typically lasted 7 days; the processions of the
bride and groom marked the beginning of the joyous event
 Bridesmaids waited at the bride’s home for the groom to take his
bride to his parents home where the ceremony would take place
 Processions were conducted in a sea of the light of torches (lamps)
 The groom is late, which was normal, the details should not be
fussed over; this is not an allegory!
 Certainly, as the bridesmaids are drowsy and some sleeping, they
are not at this point burning their torches
 That some don’t have reserve oil (in flasks) for their torches is so
silly that Jesus’ listeners were likely amused at their predicament
when they wake up to the arrival of the groom.

At midnight the
cry rang out:
‘Here’s the bride-
groom! Come
out to meet him!’
At that, the virgins
woke up and
trimmed their
lamps.
The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are
going out.’ No, they replied, there may not be enough for both us and
you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.
But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived.
The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet.
And the door was shut.

Later the others also came. ‘Lord,
Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door
for us!’ But he replied, ‘Truly I tell
you, I don’t know you.’
Therefore keep watch, because
you do not know the day or the
hour.
For Jesus, there is a crisis in
Israel – God’s reign is here!
Repent NOW- don’t be foolish
like these maidens, don’t worry
about hording possessions like
the rich farmer. PREPARE!
Don’t be foolish, the hour is late

Weather parable (=signs)
When you see a
cloud rising in the
west, you say, ‘It’s
going to rain,’ and
it does.
And when the
south wind blows,
you say, ‘It’s going
to be hot,’ and it is.
Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth
and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this?
- Lk. 12:54-56

Signs today?
 Is our response still urgent after all these years?
 There can be no doubt as to the certainty of the end of the life of
every individual...
 ... but Jesus does not seem to be teaching merely that life is
uncertain and short
 There can be no doubt as to the necessity of the people of the
world embracing a message of repentance and of the forgiveness
of sins and living in newness of a life of grace...
 ...yet, there also can be little doubt that the early church was
puzzled that Jesus had not returned, as is evident in the Pauline
letters and even in the Gospels themselves
 Many have announced the end of the world, only to be ridiculed
 What does it mean, especially to you and I?

The parable of the Wedding Feast
A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many
guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those
who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
But they all alike began to make excuses….[Sorry- can’t come].’
The servant… reported this to his master [who] became angry and
- Lk. 14:16-24
ordered his servant,
‘Go out quickly into
the streets and alleys
of the town and bring
in the poor, the
crippled, the blind and
the lame.’

The parable of the Wedding Feast
‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but
there is still room.’
Then the master [said], ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes
and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.
I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste
of my banquet.’ - Lk. 14:16-24

The parable of the dishonest manager
– Lk. 16:1-8
There was a rich man whose manager
was accused of wasting his
possessions.
He summoned {the manager} and
asked him, ‘What is this I hear about
you? Give an account of your man-
agement. You cannot be my manager
any longer.’
The manager thought, ‘What shall I do
now? My master is taking away my
job. I’m not strong enough to dig and
I’m ashamed to beg.’

– Lk. 16:3-6
The parable of the --shrewd-- manager
‘I know what I’ll do so that, when I
lose my job here, people will welcome
me into their houses.’
He called in each one of his master’s
debtors. He asked the first, ‘How
much do you owe my master?’
‘900 gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.
The manager told him, ‘Take your bill,
sit down quickly and make it 450.’
Then he asked the second, ‘And how
much do you owe?’
‘1,000 bushels of wheat,’ he replied.
He told him, ‘Here, make it 800.’

So, Jesus condemned the unscrupulous actions
of the shrewd- if resolute- manager, right? Wrong.
The master commended the
dishonest manager because he
had acted shrewdly.
For the people of this world are
more shrewd in dealing with
their own kind than are the
people of the light. - Lk. 16:7-8
Are you indignant
that Jesus holds up
as a model of
behavior a person
committing fraud?

Discipleship demands resolution
[Jesus] said to another man, “Follow me.”
But [the man] replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and
proclaim the kingdom of God.”
Still another [man] said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back
and say goodbye to my family.”
Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit
for service in the kingdom of God.” -Luke 9:59-62
He who is near to me is near the fire
He who is far from me is far from the Kingdom - Thomas 82

Humility and duty
Suppose one of you has a servant
plowing or looking after the sheep.
Will he say to the servant when he
comes in from the field, ‘Come along
now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he
rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get
yourself ready and wait on me while I
eat and drink; after that you may eat
and drink’?
Will he thank the servant because he did
what he was told to do?
So you also, when you have done
everything you were told to do, should
say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have
only done our duty.’” - Lk. 17: 7-10

Just cleaning house is not enough-
When an impure spirit comes out of a
person, it goes through arid places
seeking rest and does not find it.
Then it says, ‘I will return to the house
I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the
house swept clean and put in order.
Then it goes and takes seven other spirits
more wicked than itself, and they go in
and live there.
And the final condition of that person is
worse than the first….
Blessed rather are those who hear the
word of God and obey it.”
- Lk. 11: 24-28

- a new Master must take over
The image Jesus invokes was common in
Palestine – the world is populated by
spirits who have to live somewhere.
They may live in a person and there do
considerable harm!
If they are driven out, they go into
another person or wander in the “arid
places” seeking rest and not finding any.
If they return and find the person “open”
to receive new faith but still uncertain,
that is, irresolute, then beware the
demon entering instead of the Christ!
My Demons, by
Rachael Carmichael

Part 6

Fans of the World Cup Soccer Team: a parable
Jesus said, “A small country for the first time in its history won
the first match necessary to qualify for the World Cup.
The nation was wild with excitement.
The next match was, however, marred by fans breaking in with-
out tickets, fighting with fans from the other team, getting
drunk, screaming foul language, and generally acting crazy.
All such were, of course, arrested.”

The soccer match (cont’d)
“The country continued to do well. When it came time for the
last match, the one that would decide if the team qualified or
not, the country’s FIFA directors wanted the best people to be
there for the big game.
They invited the
richest people of the
kingdom, the mer-
chants, the movie
stars, the leading
educators and scien-
tists, and of course,
the most important
politicians.

The soccer match (cont’d)
When they arrived, they found their side of the stadium already
packed – with rowdy and “crazy” fans, most of whom had been
arrested at previous games. They were already screaming at the top
of their lungs for their underdog team.”
Jesus concluded, “Unless you too become like a football rowdy, you
will not enter the Kingdom.”

3. God’s Assurance
8. Way of sorrow and the
9. The consummation
Parables by topic
This lesson:
boundless
love and
forgiveness

The parable of the Unmerciful Servant
The kingdom of heaven is like a
[Gentile] king who wanted to settle
accounts with his servants [higher
officials].
As he began the settlement, a man
[likely, a governor] who owed him
“many talents” [μυρίων ταλάντων,
likely revenues from a province] was
brought to him.
- Mt. 18:23-35

The parable of the Unmerciful Servant
Since he was not able to pay, the king
ordered that he, his wife, his children
and all that he had be sold to repay [a
small portion of] the debt.
At this the servant fell on his knees
- Mt. 18:23-35
before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he
begged, ‘and I will pay back every-
thing.’
The king took pity on him, canceled
the debt and let him go.

But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a hundred silver coins [denarii]. He grabbed him and
began to choke him. ‘Pay
back what you owe me!’,
he demanded.
His fellow servant [a minor
official] fell to his knees and
begged him, ‘Be patient with
me, and I will pay it back.’
But he refused.
Instead, he... had the man
thrown into prison until he
could pay the debt.
The Unmerciful Servant (cont’d)

When the other [higher officials of the court] saw what had
happened, they were outraged and... told [the king] what had
happened.
Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he
said, ‘I canceled all that debt of
yours because you begged me to.
Shouldn’t you have mercy on your
fellow servant just as I had on you?’
In anger he handed the servant
over to the jailers to be tortured
until he should pay all he owed
[not likely soon as the debt is
enormous].
The Unmerciful Servant (conclusion)

The parable is in two parts – the 2nd repeating
the 1st almost word-for-word. The difference is
the contrast in the size of the debts.
The forgiveness of the high official’s huge debt
re-pictures the nature of God’s love for. Our
response should be joy!
This is not an allegory – we don’t actually owe
God a huge debt.
Nor does God love us because we are good
people and forgive others.
Imitation
The picture is simple: the Good News is so good that the only re-
sponse imaginable is to imitate God (and Jesus) as best we can.
This is “realized disciple”: to strive to be loving and compassionate
and merciful. And rejoice in being so.

On one occasion... An expert in Torah questioned Jesus: “What must I
do...?” When Jesus responded with a question of his own (“What is
written... How do you read it?”), the Torah expert answered …
“Torah reads, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind:; and, ‘Love
your neighbor as yourself.’”
“You answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
The ten two commandments
- Lk. 10:27-29
But how large is the circle around
me of my friends, my neighbors,
those who I must love as myself?

Parable of the Good Man of Samaria
The Torah Expert then asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
..or friend, compatriot
Καὶ τίς ἐστίν μου πλησίον [plehsion]
Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho (17 miles),
when he was attacked
by robbers.
They stripped him of
his clothes, beat him
(when he tried to fight
them off) and went
away, leaving him half
dead. - Lk 10:29-30

A Priest happened to be going
down the same road, and
when he saw the man, he
passed by on the other...
- Luke 10:31-32
side. A Levite came to the place and
saw him, passed by on the other side…
Jesus’ listeners would now expect to hear
about a 3rd person, no doubt a caring Israelite
The Good Man of Samaria (continued)

But a Samaritan (people despised by
pious Jews) as he traveled, came
where the man was; and when he
saw him, he took pity on him.
He went to him and bandaged his
wounds, pouring on wine (as disin-
fectant) and oil (to soothe - he did not
have a first aid kit).
Then he put the man on his own
donkey (the one that he was riding, so
now he has to walk) brought him to an
inn and took care of him.
- Lk 10:33-34
The Good Samaritan (1880)
Aimé Nicolas Morot

The next day he took out two denarii (25 times more than the fee for a
night’s lodging) and gave them to the innkeeper. (Likely this Samaritan
was a merchant who came that way often and knew the innkeeper.)
- Lk 10:34-35
‘Look after him,’ he
said, ‘and when I
return, I will reimburse
you for any extra
expense you may have.’
(He would be back after
conducting business in
Jericho).

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man
who fell into the hands of robbers?”
And the answer is rather obvious, don’t you think?
Notice that Jesus did not ask the same question he was asked.
The expert in the law
replied, “The one who
had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go
and do likewise.”
- Lk 10:36-37
The Good Man of Samaria (conclusion)

Allegory? What do you think?
Origen claimed the parable was an allegory as follows:
The man who was going down to Jericho is Adam
Jerusalem is paradise and Jericho is the world
The robbers are hostile powers
The priest is the Law, the Levite is the prophets
The Samaritan is Christ.
The wounds are disobedience, the beast is the Lord’s body
The inn, which accepts all who need healing, is the Church
The manager of the inn is the bishop of the local Church
The Samaritan’s immanent return represents the Savior’s expected
Second Coming.
This allegorical reading was taught throughout early Christianity,
in the fourth and fifth centuries by Chrysostom in Constantinople,
Ambrose in Milan, and Augustine in North Africa.

It is so simple: The New Age (or
God’s Kingdom) is one in which
the disciple does not keep track
of his/her own conventional
righteousness.
The “circle of caring”
is not YOUR circle, it’s
GOD’S circle.
So the question is, who is in
God’s circle of caring?
New age, new perspective
Jesus puts it this way – who needs
your caring? Find that person and help them!

“You have heard
that it is said,
‘Love your
fellow country-
men but hate
your enemy.’
But I say...
(fill in the blanks)
- Mt. 5:43
The Good Samaritan
By Vincent Van Gogh

The Good Employer(Mt. 20:1-15)
The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the
morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a
denarius for the day and sent them….
About 9 a.m. he
went out and saw
others standing in
the marketplace
doing nothing.
He told them, ‘You
also go and work in
my vineyard, and I
will pay you
whatever is right.’
And they went.

The Good Employer (continued)
He went out again about noon and about 3 p.m. and did the same.
About 5 p.m. he went out and found still others standing around. He
asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing
nothing?’ “Because no one has hired us,” they answered.
He said to
them, ‘You
also go and
work in my
vineyard.’
(the work
must have been especially urgent!). When evening came, the owner of
the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their
wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

The workers who were hired about 5 p.m.…each received a
denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they
expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a
denarius. When they received it, they be-
gan to grumble against the landowner
“These who were hired
last worked only 1 hour
yet you make them equal
to us who have borne the
burden of the work and
the heat of the day.”

… I want to give the one
who was hired last the
same as I gave you.
Don’t I have the right to
do what I want with my
own money? Or are you
envious because I am
generous?”
But he answered them,
“Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Did
you not agree to work for a denarius?

There is no indication that the last workers hired worked harder,
faster or at more difficult tasks than the ones who worked all day.
Jesus leaves his listeners (and us)
with no confusion or doubt – there
is unfairness (mercy) here!
The employer is surprisingly crazy
generous for no reason.
Must you have a reason to be
generous? Today we have a similar
practice – the doing of a spontaneous good deed, act of kindness,
to encourage and cheer our neighbor; if done in Jesus’ Name
it becomes an act that gives glory to God.
“Are you envious because I am generous?”
THE RANDOM ACTS OF
KINDNESS FOUNDATION
is an international non-profit organ-
ization founded upon the powerful
belief in kindness and dedicated to
providing resources and tools that
encourage acts of kindness.

#8. Love, too, is a way of sorrow
But this generous love of God does not seem to come to Jesus…
Of course he does deeds of kindness - healing here, feeding of a few
thousand there. But Jesus did not put a
life of doing good things at the center…
His focus, instead, was to confront the
callous, hypocritical powers in his world.
Powers which
will crush him.
Jesus uses a
number of
similes when
talking about
the suffering he must undergo, the way of
sorrow, the Via Doloroso

The way is one of suffering
 Animals have homes, but he has no place to lay his head (Mt.
8:20); meaning he is rejected everywhere
 He is the stone that is rejected that it may
in time become the cornerstone
(Mk. 12:10; citing Ps. 118)
 He is like the grain of wheat that must die
in order to bring forth life (Jn. 12:24)
 A cup he must drink (Mk. 10:38 and 14:36);
offering the cup of his own blood which is
poured out for many (Mk. 14:24)
 As shepherd, he will be struck (Mk. 14:27);
the shepherd who gives his life for his
sheep (Jn. 10:11)

Helena, the mother of Emperor
Constantine laid out the first Way of
the Cross in 326 AD.
Politics may have played a greater
role in her action than devotion.
Constantine was overseeing plans
for a city (named Constantinople of
course) to replace Rome as the
capital of the Roman Empire.
Some opposed the move. There
were (it is said) plots to kill him and
his family. So, he sent his mother out
of harm’s way to the Holy Land
to search for relics, build churches,
and solidify Christian support.
The Way of Saint Helena

She succeeded in spectacular fashion– she found the True Cross,
the burial chamber of Jesus (or Holy Sepulcher), and other historic
sites of Jesus’ ministry (at least she said
she did).
Helena built this church
She had a basilica built over the most
important ones, preserving them for us.
In one church in a hillside of Golgotha
preserved under glass, is the exact spot of
the Crucifixion and the tomb from which
Jesus rose.
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher also called
the Church of the Resurrection

Sorry for us
The modern Via, created
in the 14th century by
Franciscan monks, is re-
presented in churches as
The Stations of the Cross.
Meditation on “the parable
of the unjust death of Jesus”
is a deeply meaningful devo-
tion during Holy Week.
When you were dead in your sins… God made you alive with Christ. He
forgave all our sins, canceled the charge of our indebtedness which...
condemned us, taking it away, nailing it to the cross. Having disarmed
the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them,
triumphing over them by the cross. - Col. 2:13-15

Jesus loved animal imagery
I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. So, be as shrewd as
snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard! You will be
handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues.
On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as
witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.
But when they arrest you, do
not worry about what to say
or how to say it. At that time
you will be given what to say,
for it will not be you speaking,
but the Spirit of your Father
speaking through you.
- Mt. 10:16-20

As to the Master, so also to the Servants
...You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who
stands firm to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one
place, flee to another….
The student is not above the
teacher, nor a servant above
his master. It is enough for
students to be like their
teachers, and servants like
their masters….
Anyone who loves their
father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who
loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Who-
ever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
- Mt. 10: 21-25; 37-38

Take up your cross (say what?)
NOT a saying urging us to be patient in accepting our lot in life…
It is a shocking image of running a gauntlet of former friends and
townspeople cursing you, spitting on you, and hitting you as you strug-
gle with a heavy crosspiece on the Way to a gruesome death.
The worst part, then, is being an out-
cast, defenseless against abuse and
contempt.
As it says in Isaiah 53:3-4:
He was despised and rejected by man-
kind, a man of suffering, and familiar
with pain. Like one from whom people
hide their faces he was despised, and
we held him in low esteem…. we con-
sidered him punished by God, stricken
by him, and afflicted.

The cost of discipleship
Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first…
estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?
For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone
who sees it will ridicule you…
Or suppose a king is about
to go to war… Won’t he
first consider whether he
is able with 10,000 men to
oppose one coming a-
gainst him with 20,000?
If he is not able, he will
send a delegation while
the other is still a long
way off and will ask for
terms of peace.
– Lk. 14:28-32

Maybe not the Good News we want to hear
In the same way, those of you who do
not give up everything you have cannot
be my disciples.
– Lk. 14:33

Part 7

9. The consummation
Parables by topic
What does Jesus
see the world
coming to?

9. The consummation
Parables by topic
What does Jesus
see the world
coming to?
When Jesus speaks of the future
beyond his own passion, he employs
symbolism and metaphor- how could
one speak of these things otherwise?

A vision of tragedy
{Jesus said} …as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be
in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking,
marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah
entered the ark.
Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and
drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.
But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down
from heaven and destroyed them all.
It will be like this on the Day the Son of Man is revealed.
-Lk. 17:26-30

Animal image again aids understanding
On that day...
...no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go
down to get them, no one in the field should go back for anything...
Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their
life will preserve it.
On that night two people will be in bed. One will be taken and the
other left. Two will be grind-
ing grain together; one will be
taken and the other left.”
“Where, Lord?” they asked.
He replied, “Where there is a
dead body, there the vultures
will gather.”
- Mk. 17:31-37

Physical images also aid understanding
On that Day...
How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing
mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this
people. They will fall by the
sword and will be taken as
prisoners to all the nations….
There will be signs in the sun,
moon and stars. On the earth,
nations will be in anguish and
perplexity at the roaring and
tossing of the sea.
People will faint from terror...
of what is coming on the
world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken
. - Lk. 21:23-26

A vision of glory
Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Are you
not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are
bringing against you?”
But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.
Again the high priest asked
him, “Are you the Messiah,
the Son of the Blessed One?”
“I am,” said Jesus. “And you
will see the Son of Man
sitting at the right hand of
the Mighty One and coming
on the clouds of heaven.”
-Mk. 14:60-62

Let’s uproot evil in our midst!
Surely God wants us to establish the Messianic Kingdom on earth
by rooting out and destroying evil and sinners among us.
In Jesus’ time there was no shortage of people willing to help:
 The Pharisees claimed to be God’s True Holy People, those
who kept the Law strictly in all purity
 The Essenes, who formed “the community of the true covenant in
the desert remoteness of Qumran
 The followers of John the Baptist, who, themselves washed clean,
challenged the power of the ruling elite and claimed the Messiah
was soon to “separate the wheat from the chaff.”
How many self-proclaimed religious leaders have since
decided God chose them to bring His Kingdom to mankind?

Shall we not uproot evil in our midst?
Jesus did not think so…
All of the parables we’ve studied reveal God as Wholly Other, rever-
sing what we think is normal, astonishingly generous and merciful,
raising the poor, filling the hungry, healing the
incurably sick, raising the dead to new life.
Forgiving sinners.
Soon the harvest will be gathered, the wedding
party will be celebrating! God will bring
this into being, as surely as the mustard
seed grows into a great bush!
“Gardening” will be done but not by us.
Not by those who cannot see the spiritual
heart, who do not have the mind of God.
…and so Jesus told them...

The parable of the weeds (Mt. 13:24-30)
….another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed
good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy
came and sowed weeds among the wheat,
and went away. When the wheat sprouted
and formed heads, the weeds also appeared.
The weeds were the
poisonous bearded
darnel (right), a
relative of bearded
wheat that resem-
bles it in its early
stages of growth

The parable of the weeds (cont’d)
The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good
seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
The servant’s question
suggests that the
weeds were in unusual
abundance and uniform
distribution. This was
not the owner’s fault or
negligence, it was
sabotage!

Tares = “that which is to be rejected”
‘No,’ he answered, ‘because
while you are pulling the
weeds, you may uproot the
wheat with them.
Let both grow together until
the harvest. At that time I will
tell the harvesters to first col-
lect the weeds and tie
them in bundles to be
burned.
Then gather the wheat
and bring it into my
barn.’

Parable of the Seine Net(Mt. 13:47-49)
Jesus tells us another, similar, parable…
[It is the case with the coming of ]…the kingdom of heaven as with a net
that was let down into the lake and which caught all kinds of fish.
When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore.
Then (and not
before) they sat
down and collected
the good fish in
baskets, but threw
the bad (e.g. the
unclean, the
inedible) away.

This is how it will be at the end of the age
Jesus’ words, highly figurative,
rich in imagery, are prophetic,
visionary…but what do they
mean? There has been no lack
of people having a go at telling
us what Jesus really meant!
Again, focus on the main point.
Don’t get lost in inappropriate
interpretations assuming the
parable is an allegory.
Above all, remember that you
are not the Sorter!

There may well be among us
– indeed, inside each of us –
wheat and tares, edible and inedible
sheep and goats, clean and unclean
all together, to us indistinguishable.
Today may we pray for faith,
compassion and courage, pray
that when the bomb goes off
we run toward the explosion
and ask, “How can I help?”

 Subjects are secular, commonplace, real events or familiar stories
 Comparisons (“The kingdom
of heaven is like…”) are not
to a person or thing but to
the process, the happening
(“….a man who digs a vine-
yard and then goes on a
journey and…..)
 Listeners are “the crowd”
not just a few followers
 Vivid language calls for use
of the imagination, fixes
the story in memory.
Marks of the parables of Jesus

Marks of the parables of Jesus (cont’d)
 The spiritual truth being
expressed cannot be
stated more clearly in
“plain English”
 The stories engage you,
surprise you, perplex
you, maybe even cause
you to struggle, or to
object
 But they all urgently
seek from you an
active response.

The Good News of God’s love is for today § God is scandalously
merciful (like welcoming home errant children) § His Kingdom
will certainly come (like a mustard seed grows into a huge shrub)
because He is the One bringing it to mankind § Not responding
to this (its like a wedding celebration invitation) is to court
disaster § It may be too late for some (like foolish maidens who
forget to bring oil for their lamps) § So take decisive action
now! (like a man who finds buried treasure) § Discipleship will
look like nothing you’ve ever imagined... (try to imagine a
Palestinian caring for an injured Israeli) § ...and will change you,
may cause you to suffer (like Jesus does at the hands of people
who don’t know what they are doing).
They tie the good news to the heart
like knots secure the fisherman’s net

Joy is the mark of the Kingdom of God
• Like a shepherd who
locates one of the
sheep in his care;
• Like a woman who
finds something she
thought lost forever;
• Like a man who,
owing a powerful lord
a huge debt, learns
the debt is forgiven;
• Like a tax collector
who prays for mercy
and is given a word of
reconciliation.

Ever new, as of old
Jesus proclaims a new
age that has always
been present in God,
(who he knows as “Dad”);
New wine (in new
containers);
New garments;
A wedding feast (so,
dancing, not fasting);
New names (Simon
becomes Peter);
New order (last first);
New covenant (love).

Jesus, a living parable
 Welcoming outcasts into
his house, even into his
inner circle of friends;
 Speaking, eating with and
healing those who were
unclean from disease or
despised by collecting
taxes or hated as being
Samaritans or foreigners;
 Castigating the “best”
Jewish people for
hypocrisy or injustice
against God’s people.

The parable of the community meal
Jesus did more than proclaim
the Kingdom, he lived it.
He performed parabolic
actions.
Principal among these were
his sharing in community
meals.
Not least among these was
the last meal he ate with his
closest disciples the night
before he died.
Jesus made this meal especially memorable by turning bread and
wine into a parable of the gracious love of God.

The parable of the bread and the wine
While they were eating, Jesus
took bread... when he had
given thanks he broke it and
gave it to his disciples, “Take
it; this is my body.”
Then he took a cup, and when
he had given thanks, he gave
it to them, and they all drank
from it. “This is my blood of
the covenant, which is poured
out for many.”
“Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that
day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” – Mk. 14:22-25

The parable of dying a shameful death
Once there lived a man who
wanted his friends to know that
love is stronger than indignity and
insult, being poor, being cursed,
being hated as a blasphemer, and
being ritually impure.
So he lived in such a way as to
accept all these things from the
religious, political, and economic
forces of his day.
With humanity, with gentleness,
he lived as one of us, rejecting the
way of power and bearing the way
of the cross.

The parable of astonishing new life
The last parable Jesus lived
out was amazing but was it
really a surprise?
Recall: seeds buried in the
earth erupt in rich life.
Lame people spring up to
run and dance.
Poor merchants spring into
frantic action after finding
great treasure.
A man rejected and de-
spised by all and even
denounced by his friends
rises to live forever.

Maybe we, too, are living parables
Many people suffer senseless violence, tragedies, grinding poverty,
stupid accidents, and needless pain. All these are evils.
But Christians do not say that such horrendous things “win”, that they
hopelessly degrade and crush the spirit beyond hope.
They do not “win” because the Divine One spoke His Parable: “The
Kingdom of Heaven is like Me becoming one of you and reaching out to
touch you, sharing in rejection, toil, poverty, illness and a cruel death.”

The mystery of suffering and redemption
“Not only does Divine solidarity lend dignity to suffering [at
the hands of horrendous evil] by turning it into a dimension
of God-likeness, but also embracing suffering as a vocation,
absorbing it without returning
hostility, becomes a way of
collaborating in God’s work
of redeeming the world.”
- Marilyn McCord Adams
“Jesus Wept”

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