A Parable a Day Keeps the Devil at Bay
People of St. Paul's,
welcome to Lent 2016
and to the parables of Jesus.
I believe parables are a good Lenten tool
because Jesus used them to change attitudes and behaviours
and Lent is nothing if it is not about
reviewing our attitudes and behaviours
so we enter more fully the life of the world to come.
As Jesus faced the devil in the wilderness
so Jesus helps us keep the devil at bay
with his parables.
Our Home Devotion series
will consist of one parable a day
and will complement our Sunday theme:
Parables to Foil Temptation.
What is a parable?
Many answers have been given to that question!
An earthly story with a heavenly meaning.
A fictitious saying picturing truth.
An imaginary world that reflects reality.
An imaginary garden with real toads in it.
An expanded analogy use to convince and persuade.
It seems Jesus used parables more than other teachers
and he used them brilliantly
to make people think
about their relationship to God and the Kingdom of God,
“the world to come” that is even now present
A Bit of Background to Parables
Jesus was not the first person to tell parables.
Parables of various types are known in almost all cultures.
“Comparison” - the basic meaning of the Greek word for parable is a common way for human beings to think.
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Parables are a form of wisdom teaching.
Old Testament parables such as those used by the prophets
were a strong influence on Jesus.
That said it seems that no one else used them
as forcefully or as frequently
as Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels
of Matthew, Mark and Luke.
Parables are found in other Jewish writings,
in rabbinic writings, in Greek and Roman culture.
How to Read a Parable
First of all drop all your own baggage
and enter the world the parable is creating.
Don't assume you know anything.
Let the parable read you.
Second, remember parables are not timeless tales.
Jesus' parables are specific to his context
and that was 1st century Palestine.
Third, note how the Gospel writer has used the parable,
where he has placed it.
Parables are stories told twice:
first by Jesus and then the Evangelist.
Fourth, think about how the parable connects
with the life and other teaching of Jesus.
Day 1 – Week 1 – Ash Wednesday
The Tower Builder and the Warrior King
Read Luke 14: 28-32
So what's the devil Jesus wants to keep at bay
with these two parables about discipleship?
A tower builder starts the project without thinking it through.
A king launches into battle without thought.
I don't think this is about being calculating.
That would not fit with Jesus' teaching elsewhere.
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I think it's more about being thoughtless or careless
both of which result in failure.
What Jesus wants is for us to enter the life of the world to come.
What Jesus wants for us is abundant life.
The devil wants to block that,
to have us settle for less, to stay in the shallow end of the pool,
to never know the height nor breadth nor depth of living.
Discipleship is not a thoughtless or careless affair to be entered lightly.
It is more than gabbing over coffee cups, more than entertaining ourselves,
more than congratulating ourselves on how nice we are.
It is not shallow or superficial. It calls us to go deep.
It calls for daily awareness, thoughtful living,
and conversion to Jesus' way
of understanding ourselves and seeing our world.
As we sing in Isaac Watts' hymn:
“Love so amazing, so divine
demands my soul, my life, my all.”
Dear Jesus,
guard me against settling for less than your kingdom.
Help me be attentive to and mindful of your grace.
Grant me strength to pray and study
that I may know you better
that I may receive more than the devil's mess of pottage
that I may live to your glory.
Amen.
Day 2 – Week 1 – Thursday
The Two Builders
Read Luke 6: 46-49
This is the first parable presented in both Matthew and Luke.
It concludes the Sermon on the Mount (Sermon on the Plain)
in which Jesus lays out the ethics of a Christ-like life.
It is clearly a kind of wisdom teaching
with a contrast between a wise man and a foolish man.
The foolish man is the one who does not put into practice
the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount
and so does not stand in the judgement.
In other words he loses out.
There's an English expression that captures the meaning.
It has the word “lip” in it.
Lip service.
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Jesus is warning us followers
not to listen to the devil
who tells us that lip service is all that is needed
to participate in the life of the world to come.
It is not about hearing the words
and giving them lip service.
It's about living them.
It is about radical obedience to a demanding way.
The devil might say the Sermon on the Mount is impractical
and to give it only a nod.
Imagine a world where people don't abuse each other verbally in anger,
do not lust or violate marriage vows, do not retaliate with violence,
a world where people love their enemies.
That's the wise living of Jesus. All else is sinking sand.
Dear Jesus,
help me to live the words of life,
help me to live the life of the kingdom,
at least today.
Amen.
Day 3 – Week 1 – Friday
The Two Debtors
Read Luke 7: 36-50
Loving more. Loving less.
Loving greatly. Loving little.
One Jewish NT scholar, Claude Montefiore, described this story as
“one of the treasured religious possessions of the Western world.”
The devil, of course, is not only about hating.
No, no! He's happy if at the very least he can get us to love less.
He gets what he can,
diminishing, reducing, minimizing
love.
The crux of the parable is in Jesus' question.
“Which of them will love him more?”
It's about loving and loving extravagantly.
Deep love
isn't measured out as if it were a scarce commodity.
Deep love
isn't about doing the least that is required.
Deep love
isn't in name only love.
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Some churches are known by initials.
SDA – Seventh Day Adventist.
LDS – Latter Day Saints
RC – Roman Catholic.
The devil would have us be the LCD church:
Lowest Common Denominator!
What's the least I can do and still be a part of the church?
In this parable Jesus portrays nominalism as the devil's playground.
To paraphrase the Bee Gees: “How deep is your love for God?”
Dear Jesus,
save me from smallness of heart.
As much as I have received, let me love.
Amen.
Day 4 – Week 1 – Saturday
The Unforgiving Servant
Read Matthew 18: 23-35
This parable is a shocker and a disturber!
It uses exaggeration in lots of ways.
It makes more than one comparison
between God and our living as disciples of Jesus.
It is good to remember it is an imaginary story.
It is not an equation; it is an analogy
and analogies work but not in all aspects.
Don't get hung up on some of the details.
Consider the main thrust.
If you were to pick a hymn title for this parable what might it be?
How about “Amazing Grace”?
This is a parable of astonishing forgiveness
and boundless mercy.
In the midst of an evil world
the Kingdom comes with limitless grace
but also, for us followers of Jesus, with limitless demand.
Mercy is actually a requirement for disciples of the kingdom.
We are called to be imitators of God.
It takes wisdom to discern
but the parable calls us to consider
when our rights might yield to compassion.
The parable also warns us not to adopt
a “whatever”or “nothing matters” attitude.
The devil would have us stand on our rights all the time
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with no thought of compassion or mercy or pity.
The devil would have us never bother with injustice,
never call to account actions that are less than the mercy of God.
Dear Jesus,
help me discern
when out of mercy I am to yield
and when out of mercy I am to call to account.
Amen.
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A Parable a Day
Keeps the Devil at Bay
Lent 2016 – Week 1
St. Paul's United Church
Dundas
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