My wife and I pulled off the freeway,
half way down the off ramp was some road kill.
My wife exclaimed, “Look a dead thing!”
Less than a block later we drove by a church.
I joked, “Look a dead thing.”
Archive for the 'parables' Category
Parable :: 10 :: Dead Things
05.25.2009Parable :: 9 :: Betrayal
04.09.2009
I heard about a man once.
Others have heard of him too.
Sometimes they even talk about him.
They talk about…
his ministry…
his words…
and all the things he did and didn’t do.
They talk about how he lived a long time ago,
and somewhere a lot of us haven’t been.
They like to say he doesn’t look how Hollywood portrays him,
and others say we hardly know the man.
We rarely name our sons after him these days,
and it’s always odd if you do meet someone with his name.
Words have been written about him,
both back then and today.
I wonder if we will ever know more about him?
Will a historical search reveal more about him?
Will we meet him someday?
Will he be as we have imagined?
Dark hair, tan skin.
Will we be shocked at his humanness?
Will we hate him?
Will we dare to speak his name?
Judas.
Parable :: 8 :: The Good Heretic
12.31.2008What happens when the word Samaritan is replaced with heretic?
(main text from Luke 10:25-37 of The Voice New Testament Translation)
Just then a scholar of the Hebrew Scriptures tried to trap Jesus.
Scholar: Teacher, what must I do to experience the eternal life?
Jesus (answering with a question): What is written in the Hebrew Scriptures? How do you interpret their answer to your question?
Scholar: You shall love — “love the Eternal One your God with everything you have: all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind” –and “love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus: Perfect. Your answer is correct. Follow these commands and you will live.
The Scholar was frustrated by this response because he was hoping to make himself appear smarter than Jesus.
Scholar: Ah, but who is my neighbor?
Jesus: This fellow was traveling down from Jerusalem to Jericho when some robbers mugged him. They took his clothes, beat him to a pulp, and left him naked and bleeding and in critical condition. By chance, a priest was going down that same road, and he saw the wounded man, he crossed over to the other side and passed by. Then a Levite who was on his way to assist in the temple also came and saw the victim lying there, and he too kept his distance. Then a heretic journeyed by. When he saw the fellow, he felt compassion for him. The heretic went over to him, stopped the bleeding, applied some first aid, and put the poor fellow on his donkey. He brought the man to an inn and cared for him through the night. The next day, the heretic took out some money–two days’ wages to be exact–and paid the innkeeper, saying, “please take care of this fellow, and if this isn’t enough, I’ll repay you next time I pass through.” Which of these three proved himself a neighbor to the man who had been mugged by the robbers?
Scholar: The one who showed mercy to him.
Jesus: Well then, go and behave like that heretic.
Parable :: 7 :: The Other Wise Man
11.20.2008
While reading about Advent, which is coming soon, I found this parable by Henry Van Dyke.
From the Introduction:
“Who seeks for heaven alone to save his soul,
May keep the path, but will not reach the goal;
While he who walks in love may wander far,
Yet God will bring him where the blessed are.
You know the story of the Three Wise Men of the East, and how they travelled from far away to offer their gifts at the manger-cradle in Bethlehem. But have you ever heard the story of the Other Wise Man, who also saw the star in its rising, and set out to follow it, yet did not arrive with his brethren in the presence of the young child Jesus? Of the great desire of this fourth pilgrim, and how it was denied, yet accomplished in the denial; of his many wanderings and the probations of his soul; of the long way of his seeking, and the strange way of his finding, the One whom he sought—I would tell the tale as I have heard fragments of it in the Hall of Dreams, in the palace of the Heart of Man.”
Parable :: 6 :: Words
09.18.2008“Love your neighbor,” he screamed.
“Love your neighbor,” she reminded.
“Love your neighbor,” he bellowed.
“Love your neighbor,” she yelled.
“Love your neighbor,” they whispered.
“Love your neighbor,” she exclaimed.
“Love your neighbor,” they roared.
“Love your neighbor,” he mumbled.
“Love your neighbor,” she stated.
“Love your neighbor,” they cheered.
“Love your neighbor,” they sang.
“Love your neighbor,” he insisted.
“Love your neighbor,” she snapped.
“Love your neighbor,” they shouted.
“Love your neighbor,” she moaned.
“Love your neighbor,” He taught.
Parable :: 5 :: Amicus Dei
07.29.2008“I have a new friend,” exclaimed the little one.
The old ones assumed the little one was talking about an imaginary friend and chuckled. “What’s his name?” one of them asked.
“My friend isn’t a boy.”
“What’s her name?”
“My friend isn’t a girl either.”
“Well then what’s ‘its’ name?” an old one asked.
“God,” happily the little one replied.
“Oh,” said the old ones in surprise.
“Isn’t God your friend?” inquired the little one.
“No, no. God is only friends with Christians?”
“Why?” the little one curiously questioned.
“Because God is only friends with those who say a prayer and go to church,” recited the old ones.
“Oh,” said the little one in surprise.
Parable :: 4 :: Jesus Freak’s Translation
07.22.20081 Corinthians 3 (Jesus Freak’s Translation)
1 If I evangelize, but do not have love, I am a medium that ruins a message. 2 If I have the gift of memorizing scripture verses and carry my Bible at all times and read it on my lunch break, and if I only own and listen to Christian music, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I am in emotional worship and give more than 10 percent for my tithe and don’t tell anyone, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud or self-righteous. 5 It does not gossip about others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs or rights. 6 Love does not delight in wealth but rejoices with the poor. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are testimonies, they will cease; where there are sermons, they will be silenced; where there are apologetics, they will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we preach in part, 10 but when completeness comes, we will be humbled. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. Now I’m an adult, but I struggle to put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Parable :: 3 :: Semi-Good Samaritan
07.04.2008“Mom,” said the little one.
“Yes dear,” softly spoke the older one.
“In Sunday school we learned about the Good Samaritan, but I had a question,” shared the little one.
“What is your question?”
“Why did the Samaritan drop the beaten up man off and pay someone else to care for him… why didn’t he just take him home and care for him?”
“Because there are professionals to do that stuff for us, so we can go home. And we have enough to do and these days if something happened you might get sued. Professionals have insurance to protect them. We couldn’t afford to take the chance that we might get sued,” authoritatively said the older one.
“Oh…” said the little one.
Parables :: 2 :: Clean Pair of Eyes
06.26.2008Clean Pair of Eyes
A homeless man was once heard saying that if your left eye causes you to sin you should cut it out.
A Pastor was overheard talking about how people should take that advice so he could buy stock in companies doing research in eye transplants so that he could retire in Hawaii in a couple of years after his “work” was done.
