Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Parables

Scripture Parable #5 — Luke 7:41-43

The Moneylender (The parable is only 3 verses; the 10 verses before and after put it in context.) 

Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. “Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little, loves little.” Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 

Parable #6 — Luke 8:16-18 — The Lamp on a Stand 

“No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.

4 comments:

Luke Lea said...

Hi Avi, How are you? I lost touch with you somehow a while back but now have stumbled upon you again.

Anyway, speaking of parables (riddles?) I thought you might like this paper I somehow put together several years back. Steven Pinker liked it, so I suppose it's not completely crazy?

I've put you on my feed so will be following you now going forward. Are you still in the water business?

Luke

shorturl.at/MUZ27

Assistant Village Idiot said...

I was in the mental health biz, not water.

Now retired.

I think I recall you lived in KY.

Luke Lea said...

Sorry. I misremembered. TN, not KY, though currently in western MA. Very lovely here.

G. Poulin said...

I keep coming across people who don't seem to grasp that the elements in parables don't represent themselves. They represent other things. They don't make this mistake with every parable; no one thinks that the Parable of the Sower is about farmers and farming, and no one thinks that the Parable of the Net is about fishermen and fishing. But when it comes to certain parables, they pretty consistently forget this principle. I can't count the number of times I've heard people treat the Parable of the Vineyard workers as a lesson in labor relations, or the Parable of Dives and Lazarus as a lesson in relations between the rich and the poor. The pope just did this the other day; I wish someone would explain to him what a parable is.