Showing posts with label parables. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parables. Show all posts

Saturday, 9 March 2019

Strange Stories - Forgiveness and Prison



This is the first of our parables for Lent.
When we read it, what do we find out about God or Jesus?

Jesus introduces the story: This story will show you what the kingdom of heaven is like:
Another Kingdom of Heaven parable,
A few weeks ago, we heard a series of parables on the kingdom of heaven is like, and I summarised the kingdom as:
·         Generous to the point of being extravagant or wasteful [sower/4 soils]
·         Inclusive, even of enemies [wheat and weeds]
·         growing/useful [mustard seed]
·         hidden/subversive [ yeast]
·         valuable [ treasure]
·         something to seek, and find[pearl]
·         non-judging [fish]

today’s parable:

the kingdom of heaven is like a king who forgives a debt,
a big debt,
a debt so big the servant could never have paid it back.
Various people have tried calculating how much the debt was, in the translation we heard this morning it is fifty million silver coins, other translations have ten thousand talents. it equates to about 150,000 years of wages for a labourer. I wonder how the person could get into that kind of debt. Even if he was paid five times as much as a labourer, it is 30,000 years of wages. It is a ridiculous amount.

the king was merciful.
and we think what a lovely story.

the first servant is forgiven a ridiculously big debt.
then he refuses to forgive a much smaller debt.
and he is thrown in prison.

in the Kingdom of Heaven, forgiveness is received and given.

If we read it as the king represents God,
the forgiveness of the debt of the first official is what I want to hear;
not only am I and my family not being thrown in prison for being in debt,
but I don’t have to pay back what I owe,
which given the amount is impossible.
But then when the one who was forgiven doesn’t forgive, the forgiveness is taken back.
That doesn’t seem like good news to me.
It does fit with the line in the Lord’s Prayer: forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

The ending doesn’t fit well with me, it isn’t the way I want, or expect, God to treat me, or anyone.

What is forgiveness?

A quote:
“Forgiveness is not saying that what happened was OK,
it’s being able to say within your heart
that you accept what’s happened
and you won’t let it stop you living a life
or seeing humanity in the person who has hurt you.”[i]

In my experience, not forgiving someone eats away at me, and at times the other person has been totally oblivious to the turmoil within me. 

A story:
When I was at college, I struggled with one person on staff. She put students down, expected us to be able to stop our lives on little notice and do what she wanted. At times her comments were cruel and hurtful.
After I finished college, I decided all was well, as I would not ever have to relate to her again.
About five years later, I was on a Synod task group, and she was on it as well.
UGH!!!
I wondered how I could work with this person when I did not want anything to do with her.
 
I decided I had to forgive her. I had no idea if she was aware of how hurtful her behaviour had been, or even if she remembered some of the things she had said to students. She had not asked for forgiveness.
I chose to forgive her, so I could be involved in the work of the Synod task group without seething about her treatment of students.

I didn’t say anything to her about forgiving her, but once I had forgiven her, I was able to work with her without being distracted by resentment.


Is there someone you need to forgive?

If you are ready to forgive, you can write it on a piece of paper, screw it up and it will be burnt.
When I have offered this before, some people commented that they wished it was so easy.

often forgiveness is not easy,

but:

forgiveness does not ask you to forget what happened
forgiveness does not ask that you stay in an abusive situation
forgiveness does not ask you to pretend it never happened
forgiveness does mean the behaviour was acceptable.

forgiveness means not letting the hurt dominate your life
forgiveness means letting go of the desire for revenge
forgiveness means freedom for you to be yourself
when we hurt someone, we need to ask for forgiveness, and we also need to take responsibility for what we have done.

my experience is that some people don’t forgive – they hold onto hurts, they let the pain envelop their lives, and they become bitter.

the other pattern I have noticed is that some people struggle to accept forgiveness.

I wonder if that is part of what is happening in this parable.
While the Lord’s prayer says: Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.

Maybe we can only truly forgive, when we know ourselves forgiven.
Until we accept forgiveness, from God and ourselves and others
When we stop holding ourselves hostage to our mistakes
Maybe then, when we can accept the forgiveness of God, will we be able to accept forgiveness and forgive others.

Forgiveness isn’t like winning the lottery, though for the first person in this parable it must have seemed like it.
Forgiveness is part of our lives, and we live with the consequences of not forgiving.

What does this parable tell us about the Kingdom of Heaven?

this parable is a warning of what happens when we don’t forgive others.
when we hold onto hurts,
when we hold onto judgement,
when we hold onto the desire for revenge,
we are not free to live in the forgiveness God offers us
when we don’t forgive others, they can be hurt by that, but so are we.

The person who holds onto the anger and resentment, is not at peace,

God offers mercy and grace, but we are expected to do the same.
the Kingdom of heaven is a Kingdom of forgiveness.


This lent, who do you need to forgive?
What do you need to let go of?

[i] https://www.theforgivenessproject.com/tracey-ford

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , ,

Saturday, 16 February 2019

The Kingdom of God is like when

This week i am trying something new. The words in red will be on the screen in Church. i gave them to the people who prepare the file on Friday afternoon, and then worked around them tonight. 


1.   Here is an image of Matthew chapter 13[i] , in all there are 7 stories, all which begin The Kingdom of heaven is like what happened when or what happens when …
we didn’t hear the first story today, but many of you will know the parables of the sower, or maybe we could call it the parable of the 4 soils.

Before we start looking at chapter 13, and what it might tell us about the Kingdom of Heaven, I want us to think for a little while about what is a parable? Jesus tells lots of parables, and in the lead up to Easter we will be reading some more of them. Here are some quotes:
2.   Most parables are mini-stories, but they are strange ones. Something familiar becomes something strange, often subverting our expectations.[ii]
we see that in some parables, like the Good Samaritan. The people would not expect an enemy to be the one who would help, it should be an Israelite.  Expectations are turned upside down.
the quote continues:
3.   If you are certain about what a parable means and have arrived at your interpretation easily, you are probably getting it wrong.[iii]
parables often have multiple ways of looking at them. One problem with our habit of naming parables is that it biases our interpretation. We think they are easy to understand, but what if we read them from another perspective? How would a farmer read the parable of the sower – it was a waste of seed, surely the farmer could be more careful, and thrifty, in his sowing.
4.   It’s quite fitting that Jesus is describing the kingdom through parables.
Parables surprise us, are hard to grasp, and subvert our expectations.[iv]
5.   Parables surprise us, are hard to grasp, and subvert our expectations.
The kingdom does the same thing.[v]
The kingdom of heaven…   if I asked you, how would you describe it?
6.   The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when …..
The kingdom of heaven is like ….  that phrase occurs about 30 times in the gospel of Matthew; it is one of the main themes of Matthew’s Gospel. This morning we heard 6 parables, all of which start: The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when … . All the parables are actions, so the kingdom of heaven is not the farmer or the seed
7.   a farmer sows seed
and it falls on good soil, and the path and rocky ground and amongst weeds. What might this tell us about the kingdom of heaven?
8.   a field is scattered with good seed – I am guessing most people pull up weeds that come up in their garden, but here it is likely the weed looks like wheat. One suggestion I read was that instead of calling this the parable of the wheat and weeds, we could call it the “The Parable of the Incompetent Servants.” Or, if you prefer, “The Parable of the Servants Who Can’t Be Trusted to Pluck Weeds.”[vi]
Notice that the servants are not trusted to pull out the weeds without harming the wheat, but at the end, it is workers, not servants, who sort and collect the crop.
9.   a mustard seed is planted
firstly, mustard was a weed!
No farmer in their right mind would plant mustard seeds, it would quickly take over the whole field, and your neighbour’s field. It isn’t the smallest of seeds, I have seen much smaller.
what has this to do with the kingdom of heaven?
10. yeast is mixed with flour –
‘three big batches of flour’, which is equivalent to about 21 kgs. That is a lot of flour. Someone has calculated that this would make 52 loaves of bread. This woman is making enough to feed the village, not her family.[vii]
and 3 batches of flour is on other stories as well, like when Sarah made bread for the visiting angels [Genesis 18:6]
11. treasure is found – I wonder about this one, I get that some things are worth giving everything for, and when we say we follow Jesus, there is an expectation that we then live for Jesus. But how many people could sell enough to buy a field?
12. finding the best pearl – this sounds like an odd business decision. If the pearl is so wonderful that you don’t want to sell it, how do you stay in business?
13. A net is full of fish – this is similar to the parable of the Parable of the Servants Who Can’t Be Trusted to Pluck Weeds. Pull up all that is in the net, take it to the beach, then sort it out.
“ Angels will come and separate the evil people from the ones who have done right.” It is not our task to judge.
14. The kingdom of heaven is …..
15. generous/wasteful [sower/4 soils]
•  inclusive [wheat and weeds] – the servants are to tend the whole field, to help all plants to grow, both good and bad.
•  growing/useful [mustard seed] it may not be wanted in a field, but the parable talks about providing shelter.  
•  hidden/subversive [ yeast] baking bread is women’s work, and therefore lesser value in this time. Yeast is hidden and subversive, it works its magic unseen.  
•  valuable [ treasure]
•  found/searched for [pearl]
•  non-judging [fish]

If you were writing this, you would come up with other words.
Another parable, from a different tradition.
Story of elephant:
A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: "We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable". So, they sought it out, and when they found it, they groped about it. In the case of the first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said "This being is like a thick snake". For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. As for another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk. The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said, "elephant is a wall". Another who felt its tail, described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear.[viii]

The parables in today’s reading give us hints about the Kingdom of Heaven. So, what might we see when we look at them together:

16. Taken together, these stories envision the kingdom of heaven as new life springing forth among us in surprising and uncontrollable ways.[ix]
17. They call upon the church to cease being an arbiter of righteousness and to start nurturing the world into abundant life for all.[x]
yes there will be judgement, but at the end of time, not now, and not by us. Our task is to bring life, to encouragement growth,
18. The common theme in all of these parables, then, is that the kingdom of heaven brings life to the world in ways that transcend all of our expectations or intentions.[xi]
19. We cannot leaven part of a loaf of bread.[xii]
20. We cannot keep our mustard seed from serving as a birdhouse.[xiii]
21. We can’t excise the weeds from the wheat but rather must tend to them all.[xiv]
22. The task of the church—the task of we who believe—is to bring life.
To bring life indiscriminately.
To bring life to all.
To bring life without preconceptions of who deserves it or what such a life should look like.[xv]
23. We should bring abundant life for all, as Jesus might say (John 10:10).[xvi]
24. The kingdom is
abundant,
hidden,
in the everyday.
Go seek, knead, fish or whatever you do.
It is there that you will find the kingdom.[xvii]

This week, I encourage you to look for signs of the Kingdom, note them down.
It may be that you find glimpses of the Kingdom in unexpected places or
in unexpected ways within yourself, within others and in the world all
around you.[xviii]

Which parable resonated with you?
Where do you see the Kingdom of Heaven?


[i] https://www.stevethomason.net/studies/the-bible-bookshelf-archive/loj/matthew/matthew-page-9/
[ii] https://spiritandtruthpublishing.com/blog/subversive-kingdom-feb-17-2019/?fbclid=IwAR2f9Efs_U171TxbsbSY7pgnxBGzyI2GmNm4U2Uf_syLStZoDROH02Z79ms
[iii] https://spiritandtruthpublishing.com/blog/subversive-kingdom-feb-17-2019/?fbclid=IwAR2f9Efs_U171TxbsbSY7pgnxBGzyI2GmNm4U2Uf_syLStZoDROH02Z79ms
[iv] https://spiritandtruthpublishing.com/blog/subversive-kingdom-feb-17-2019/?fbclid=IwAR2f9Efs_U171TxbsbSY7pgnxBGzyI2GmNm4U2Uf_syLStZoDROH02Z79ms
[v] https://spiritandtruthpublishing.com/blog/subversive-kingdom-feb-17-2019/?fbclid=IwAR2f9Efs_U171TxbsbSY7pgnxBGzyI2GmNm4U2Uf_syLStZoDROH02Z79ms
[vi] https://robertwilliamsonjr.com/help-weeds-grow/?fbclid=IwAR3yfb6WNtMJLni7qkVIFgr5Icv6c8ml_--AtPW9o-9CNBL5Xt0FAUaRRwQ
[vii]   http://breadmonk.com/my-bread-blog/three-measures-of-flour
[viii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant
[ix] https://robertwilliamsonjr.com/help-weeds-grow/?fbclid=IwAR3yfb6WNtMJLni7qkVIFgr5Icv6c8ml_--AtPW9o-9CNBL5Xt0FAUaRRwQ
[x] https://robertwilliamsonjr.com/help-weeds-grow/?fbclid=IwAR3yfb6WNtMJLni7qkVIFgr5Icv6c8ml_--AtPW9o-9CNBL5Xt0FAUaRRwQ
[xi] https://robertwilliamsonjr.com/help-weeds-grow/?fbclid=IwAR3yfb6WNtMJLni7qkVIFgr5Icv6c8ml_--AtPW9o-9CNBL5Xt0FAUaRRwQ
[xii] https://robertwilliamsonjr.com/help-weeds-grow/?fbclid=IwAR3yfb6WNtMJLni7qkVIFgr5Icv6c8ml_--AtPW9o-9CNBL5Xt0FAUaRRwQ
[xiii] https://robertwilliamsonjr.com/help-weeds-grow/?fbclid=IwAR3yfb6WNtMJLni7qkVIFgr5Icv6c8ml_--AtPW9o-9CNBL5Xt0FAUaRRwQ
[xiv] https://robertwilliamsonjr.com/help-weeds-grow/?fbclid=IwAR3yfb6WNtMJLni7qkVIFgr5Icv6c8ml_--AtPW9o-9CNBL5Xt0FAUaRRwQ
[xv] https://robertwilliamsonjr.com/help-weeds-grow/?fbclid=IwAR3yfb6WNtMJLni7qkVIFgr5Icv6c8ml_--AtPW9o-9CNBL5Xt0FAUaRRwQ
[xvi] https://robertwilliamsonjr.com/help-weeds-grow/?fbclid=IwAR3yfb6WNtMJLni7qkVIFgr5Icv6c8ml_--AtPW9o-9CNBL5Xt0FAUaRRwQ
[xvii] Spill the Beans
[xviii] Spill the beans
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Saturday, 29 July 2017

The kingdom of heaven is like

The kingdom of heaven is like ….  that phrase occurs about 30 times in the gospel of Matthew; it is one of the main themes of Matthew’s Gospel. This morning we have 5 parables, all of which start: The kingdom of heaven is like.

Some things to think about with these parables:
Firstly, the mustard bush.
The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a farmer plants a mustard seed in a field. Although it is the smallest of all seeds, it grows larger than any garden plant and becomes a tree. Birds even come and nest on its branches.
It was a weed!
No farmer in their right mind would plant mustard seeds, it would quickly take over the whole field, and your neighbour’s field.

And the woman with the yeast and flour.  Start yeast/flour/water mix

The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a woman mixes a little yeast into three big batches of flour. Finally, all the dough rises.
A few surprises in this parable:
Yeast was often considered to be impure, a symbol of decay.
Woman were not highly valued, so the analogy of the activity of God being like anything a woman does would be strange to the ears of the people Jesus was speaking to.
And then there is the ‘three big batches of flour’, which is equivalent to about 21 kgs. That is a lot of flour. Someone has calculated that this would make 52 loaves of bread. This woman is making enough to feed the village, not her family.[i]

For me, these two parables are surprising, and for the first hearers would have been shocking or stupid.
I mean, who plants a rampant weed on their farm,
and who makes enough bread for the whole village,
and just imagine how big a bowl that would be.
Here is 1 kg flour, imagine how much 144kgs is going to be.

The next two parables:
The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when someone finds a treasure hidden in a field and buries it again. A person like that is happy and goes and sells everything in order to buy that field.
The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a shop owner is looking for fine pearls. After finding a very valuable one, the owner goes and sells everything in order to buy that pearl.

finding treasure in a field, and a fine pearl; both ending with people selling all they have for the sake of the treasure and the pearl; who does that?
Is there anything you would give up all you had for?

Maybe the fifth parable will help.
“The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a net is thrown into a lake and catches all kinds of fish.”
So far seems OK, but …. Then the separation of good and bad fish. Which reminds me of another part of the Matthew’s gospel, chapter 25 and the sheep and the goats at judgement time.

Each of the parables we heard this morning hints at the kingdom of God. the kingdom of God is not one dimensional, and it is not easily described.

Jesus says the kingdom of God is like, ... then an action.
So, the kingdom isn’t like a weed,
or yeast, which is a contaminant
or buried treasure or a fine pearl
or a net full of fish.

The kingdom of heaven is not like the objects, but what people do with them.[ii]
These parables give a picture of a kingdom that infiltrates and spreads through our lives. [iii]
The kingdom of heaven is not an object, but an activity. The kingdom of Heaven is active in ways we may not even realise, “in the mysterious and powerful things that happen right beneath our eyes, even if our eyes can't seem to see what's happening (The Lectionary Commentary: The Gospels).”[iv]

Do you read the Bible, pray, and come to Sunday worship thinking that these things might lead to our lives being infiltrated, changed, and taken over by God’s reality and rule? [v]

Is God enough for you to give up everything for?

“the Gospel of the kingdom that Jesus proclaims and lives is truly good news only to those who are not finally satisfied with what this life has to offer. For those who are content, selling everything to possess a single pearl, no matter how valuable, seems a little crazy. How can anything be so precious as to give up everything else to possess it? But to those who are dissatisfied – with the status quo, with what they have been able to secure on their own, with the values, stereotypes, or prejudices of the culture – then Jesus’ Gospel, while still disruptive and even upsetting, nevertheless feels true, real, and something worth buying at any cost.” [vi]

Fulghum story p116-7 Uh-Oh
Affirmative vandalism [200 words]

I wonder what we could do, here on the Peninsula, to spread love, grace, and forgiveness?
What could we do to make a difference,

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)