Parables
of Jesus (U136-001)
Synoptic Use of Parables: Observations
5) The Parables of Q and of Thomas & 6) Some Conclusions
(day 4)
(4/21/06--see also PH, 110-14)
5. The Parables of Q and Those of Thomas
Would
that we had had even more time to discourse on the former, for the parables of Q
invariably stress that community's eschatological concerns, while those
of the later (as seen in class), almost without fail, elucidate the author's Gnostic tendencies
and interests. Again, study of the former helps the modern reader
appreciate the complex process of how each successive level has employed
the parables in its own way and for its own purpose--from Jesus to Q to
both Matthew and Luke. Parable usage of Q invariably focused on eschatological
issues or emphasis, while Matthew's and Luke's use of Q addressed moral and
ecclesial issues though often with eschatological nuances or context.
Analysis of Thomas (c. 300-350 AD) on the other hand witnesses to an early,
post-New Testament use of the parable tradition to express a considerably
different perspective from that of orthodox christianity (review your introduction
to Thomas and Gnosticism in PH
100-9). I add here a little note on the Gospel of Judas--we are
not sure yet whether it contains parables but the reason for speaking
of that text is both that it is much in the news these days and that it
is comparable in date, content, and "value" to the Gospel of Thomas
(just about the same date of composition and Gnostic character).
Note, the media is a good place to find out about "things" but not
really to learn about them. I return then to the few parables we
discussed as coming and used by the Q-Source (going before judge, two
builders, children in market place, stray sheep, faithful/unfaithful
servant) and those as coming from Thomas (fishnet, stray sheep,
others?).
6. The Modern Reader: Some Conclusions
Finally, study of the various levels of parable usage (we only mentioned this in class today) is designed to assist the modern student of the New Testament both in appreciating the meanings of a parable (whether of the Jesus or written levels) and in coming to grips with its significance for a modern reader. One of the toughest and most obvious challenges of reading parables, and New Testament texts generally, involves distinguishing between meaning then (both the Jesus and written levels) and meaning now, i.e., the possible significance these texts have for modern readers. While we do not have time nor the leisure to discuss the difference between the two and even the relation between these, it is important to note that a modern interpretation and application of these ancient NT texts, here in our case: parables, must take into consideration meaning then and must be related to the authors' intend or meaning. I hope that the methodology helps in understanding and even enjoying the "parables of Jesus" and their wisdom and relevance for the contemporary reader (especially in informing and reforming behavior). Now you can go back and reread the parables with some enjoyment and insight. These ancient stories provide the attentive reader with considerable information about God, kingdom, choice, and a host of religious and personal issues and these in turn are meant to reform or change the audience's perception of reality and affect their behavior. Such considerations however are best left to you as attentive readers.Synoptic Use of Parables: Observations
4) Study of Lukan Usage (day 3)
(4/19/06--see also PH, 110-14)
For Luke also we start with an overview. While this evangelist also follows the Markan source both in preserving parables which speak about who Jesus is (also Q and its concern about reception of John and Jesus) and about Israel (20:9f--"wicked tenants"), Luke nonetheless exercises the greatest creativity in the use of parables during the course of the long narrative section, Jesus' trip to Jerusalem (9:51f).
Within this long section of the Gospel, Jesus is seen as teaching the disciples about discipleship. Luke, in a long series of speeches and dialogues, takes this opportunity to have Jesus address a large number of issues which should be of concern to the disciples as they follow Jesus on the road. Chapter by chapter, section by section the Gospel addresses the following issues: concern for God and neighbor (10-11), seeking the lost (15), attitude toward riches (12), eschatology (12), signs of kingdom (13), discipleship, hearing the word/doing it, being ready, Gentile mission, etc.
Luke's use of parables is considerably more complex and relates to the author's themes especially about discipleship (hearing, doing, producing, attitudes, second chance, the poor). Jesus is the revealer/teacher who uses parables to discourse about God and God's plan for the community of believers as they learn to follow Jesus and to adopt his perception of reality.
Why
then does Luke write and how can one articulate Luke's use of parables?
In rather general and perhaps vague terms one can insist that Luke wrote
to compose "an orderly account of the events" concerning Jesus and the
early years of the Jesus movement. In effect Luke wrote two volumes
whose content was carefully researched and whose sources (other writers,
"eyewitnesses, and servants of the word"--see 1:1-4) are presented as reliable.
Luke's goal in writing was to explain God's overarching plan for human
salvation. Luke presents the things set out for Jesus and his disciples
(use of fulfillment and necessity terminology as well as Jesus' inexorable
journey) for the salvation of all flesh (note the theme of universal mission
to Israel and to the nations in 9:1f and 10:1f). Further Luke wrote
to present and defend the community's earliest tradition, i.e., "the truth
concerning the things about which [believers like Theophilus] have been
instructed" (1:4). In effect, Luke wrote to explain Jesus' role (and
later in Acts that of believers) in God's plan. Finally, if I might
quote myself (New Views, 27),
Luke's vision of the Christian reality has a definite historical
setting:
origin and matrix in Judaism and its
scriptures, embedded in the story of Jesus and his followers, and at
work
throughout the Roman empire;
it has a philosophical-theological framework: "the definite plan and
foreknowledge
of God" (Acts 2:23);
and offers an unrelenting christological focus: a finely articulated
agency
christology.
Just as Luke's notion of the divine plan pervades the entire narrative of the Gospel, so Luke's use of parables is most extensive and complex. Indeed, one finds parables and parabolic sayings in every chapter from chapters 5 to 21 (save chapter 9). While there are a few parables or parabolic sayings prior to and after Jesus' Jerusalem journey, the vast majority of these are found in chapters 10-19 while Jesus, the teacher, is making his last, long journey and is seizing every opportunity to instruct his disciples for the last time. Luke addresses many major themes during this long journey: Jesus as revealer of God's plan concerning love of God and neighbor (10:21f --including the "good Samaritan," the "Lord's Prayer," and the "friend at midnight"), teachings on possessions, responsible/productive behavior in view of the delay of Jesus' return (reread 19:11-27), eschatology and morality, prayer and the kingdom, God's search through Jesus for the lost, second chances, the beginning of the kingdom in Jesus' deeds, etc (see long list of parables and their narrative contexts). In effect, describing Luke's use of parables is as difficult as analyzing and synthesizing that author's creativity and thought. The parables in Luke are carefully situated in particular Lukan contexts (see especially Lukan introductions and conclusions to the various parables) and are used as means to illustrate or explain Jesus' teaching to his disciples. If any parables need to be explained in relation to their context, it is especially those of Luke which illustrate the axiom of our methodology: context is the key to interpreting the use of a parable on the written or gospel level.
Luke's parables teach God's love for humanity and Jesus' gentle, humane concerns, but they also call the fool, the rich, the self-righteous to task and to repentance. They also speak of second chances, of universal salvation, and of challenge, love , and prayer. Luke's parables allow the writer to discourse at length on God's plan for human salvation, on the role of God's agent and Son, and on the response, which is invited, demanded, and welcomed on the part of those who hear the good news of God as announced by Jesus of Nazareth.
Synoptic Use of Parables: Observations
3) Study of Matthean Usage (day 2)
(4/17/06--see also PH, 110-14)
For Matthew also we begin with an overview. Analysis of Matthew's use of parables centers on two important literary issues: the author's use of Mark and Q as sources and Matthean creativity in focusing on Jesus as teacher (the five major discourses). In the first case Matthew reproduces many of Mark's concerns regarding who Jesus is (bridegroom, initiator of new age--9:15f, strong one--12:25f), what he teaches, how he is received or Q issues (reception of prophets: John & Jesus-- 11:16f-- children in market place). Also following Mark, Matthew has expanded the two speeches of Mark that had parables (chapters 4 & 13--parable & eschatological speeches, respectively) and has expanded both as two of the five major speeches of the Gospel (chapters 5-7: the sermon on the mount, chapter 10: the mission discourse, chapter 13: a greatly expanded parabolic speech, chapter 18: the community discourse, and chapters 24-25: the eschatological speech) .
Jesus is a proclaimer of the above five major speeches, in a manner similar to Moses' five books. These according to Matthew contain Jesus' teaching, the teaching that is to be preached to all nations (28:19-20). Four of these speeches contain parables (the forth has numerous metaphors). The first, the sermon on the mount (5-7) employs two parables (and sayings) to underscore Jesus' moral teaching (5:25f & 7:24f), while the community discourse of chapter 18 employs two further parables to explain the community members and leaders' duties toward fellow believers (sheep to be brought back into the fold & forgiving as reciprocity for divine forgiveness, 18:12f, 23f).
Two other speeches require focused attention, both because they contain the majority of Matthew's parables and because of the number and complexity of the issues treated by means of parables. The first concerns chapter 13, the discourse in parables. A key to understanding this chapter is concern for the audience being addressed, first the crowds and disciples in 13:1f and the disciples only in vv. 36f. Matthew is concerned especially about addressing the readers concerning their life within the community of believers and their concern for and invitation to outsiders. The chapter speaks of the kingdom as present and as coming and as a complex, mixed reality. It warns about priorities and reminds the believer about judgment.
The second speech of importance is that concerning the endtime, an expansion of Mark 13, namely chapters 24-25. Here, like in Mark, Matthew warns about readiness, reading the signs of the times, but, at much greater length, and with new parables, Matthew speaks of being ready, of waiting, of interim activity (talents), and, colorfully, about the final judgment (based on treatment of others as Christ--sheep and goats).
Finally, Matthew in chaps 21-22 addresses a concern of great importance to the community: its relationship with and dialogue or polemics with "the synagogue across the street."
In light of the above then we turn to Matthew's purposes for writing and the numerous emphases and issues addressed by Matthew's parables and parabolic sayings. Years after the destruction of Jerusalem and its religious center, the temple, Matthew and others are actively working to establish their claims to the Jewish tradition (see PH, p. 70). a) Thus a major concern of Matthew's Gospel is a defense of the Judaeo-christian tradition of its community. It is in this sense that Matthew is a Jewish revision of Mark, for Jesus is clearly presented as the Jewish Messiah, the son of Abraham, of David, a new Moses; and the church as well is designated the new and true Israel. So there is a focus on Jesus' Jewish character as well as the community's and the tradition's Jewish background, concerns, and character more generally. It is in this context too that Matthew focuses on the rejection or acceptance of Jesus by the Jewish community. A number of parables in chapters 13 and 21-22 address Jesus' conflicts with the Jewish authorities and more generally the Jewish-christian community of Matthew's dialogue with the "synagogue across the street" about Jesus and about the true Israel (the "two sons," the "wicked tenants," and the "marriage feast"). In chapter 13 there is expressed, or hinted at, the firm hope that the time before the coming of the kingdom in glory will also allow for the conversion of fellow Jews, for there is in these parables a constant play between the notion of being insiders and outsiders (see below).
b) Another important concern for Matthew is a restating of the community's traditional moral instruction and warnings, for Matthew notes that in the present time of trouble there has occurred, presumably within the community, an "increase of lawlessness" and consequently "the love of many [has grown] cold" (24:12). For that purpose Matthew incorporates and expands Mark's ecclesial and moral concerns and devotes many parables to the theme of productivity, righteous living, and love of brothers and sisters. There is much concern for morality, life under the kingdom (see sermon on the mount--chapters 5-7) or within the community (chapter 18) and the eschatological crisis (chapters 24-25). Further, there is concern for commitment and the demands of discipleship and mission (chapters 10 and 28). Repeatedly Matthew addresses the responsibilities of leaders (see the "stray sheep" and its context in chapter 18) and more generally of responsible discipleship (see chapters 19-20, 25, particularly the "laborers in the vineyard" and the "last judgment"). It is particularly an analysis of chapter 13 which reveals Matthew's multifaceted use of parables to discourse on community and kingdom, namely on the mixed character of the community, its care for all (see chapter 18 for the "little ones"), and on attitudes and demands of the kingdom (but see also chapters 19-20 and 23).
Much of Matthew's work with parables and other creative use of the tradition might be understood with the help of a well-known Matthean parabolic saying, that of 13:52: "every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old." Matthew then is that scribe who draws from the Jewish and christian tradition the old and the new and fashions an interesting, complex message for the Jewish-christian community as it dialogues with the "synagogue across the street" and as it ventures out into the Gentile world (see 28:16-20) still clinging to its Jewish tradition.
1) Introduction
2) Study of Markan Usage (day 1)
(4/12/06--see also PH, 110-14)
1. Introduction
A certain number of parables and parabolic sayings, used originally by Jesus to preach and teach the crowds and authorities of his homeland, survived in the memory of his followers and, owing to the potential of these metaphorical stories, became the vehicles of the community's teaching and thought. Concerned with new problems, the community's leaders and ministers employed the master's words and deeds, particularly his vivid stories, to help their fellow believers understand and confront the challenge of being christians in a non-christian world. The works of Mark, Matthew, and Luke illustrate admirably this crucial process of reapplication of dominical stories, for each employs the parables, among other forms, to address their purpose(s), to address a traditional as well as a new message to their communities, and to advance their chosen strategies to deal with community problems and perspectives. (If I have time I will either see in class or post below a brief note on the Q-Source and the Gospel of Thomas and their use of parables.)
2. Mark's Use of Parables
The use of parables fits into Mark's major concerns: christology (who Jesus is & what he does for community and contemporaries), community concerns (christian challenge, primacy of mission, and other issues), and the Markan community's situation (apocalyptic concerns). Mark employed Jesus' parables, with Jesus as speaker and actor, to discourse further on the Gospel's major objectives.
a. Christological Usage. Mark is concerned about Jesus and his role: he is a bridegroom, brings in the new age (also is the Son of Man--see 2:19f); he is the strong man who has begun the victory over Satan (3:23f). Jesus is especially a teacher (see beginning and ending of parable chapter, 4:1f and 34), who hints at who he is, insists that all things are clean (7:19--not subject to kosher laws). Through Jesus' teaching in the temple, Mark is able to discourse on Judaism, Jesus' reception, and to focus on the community's eschatological concerns. Finally, the parable of the wicked tenants foreshadows in parabolic form the story of Jesus' death as the climax of salvation history.
b. Ecclesiological Concerns. Jesus brings in the new age (see issue of fasting and Jesus' departure); Jesus insists on hope (victory has begun; Jesus is the strong one--there is here a paradox: cross/resurrection). Mark uses parables to focus on community concerns, especially in chapter 4: community situation (see below): temptations, challenges, daily realities (soils), insider/outsider issues and consequences (lamp/shining -- mission; disclosure -- judgment, evaluation/ measure/ reward -- production). There is also stress on the themes of hope and mission ("mustard seed" and "seed growing secretly"). Mark also focuses on Jewish issues (kosher food and the reception of Jesus--see especially the "wicked tenants"). Lastly, the community's great concern about the endtime is addressed in chapter 13.
c. Markan Purpose and the Parables. The above now brings us to Mark's purpose for writing and the general focus of the Gospel's parables and parabolic sayings. There is general apocalyptic fervor and expectation in the Markan community. They believe that Jesus, as Son of Man, is about to return in apocalyptic glory to end the reign of evil and persecution and to usher in God's kingdom.
Mark writes to dispel this notion of an imminent parousia (or return of Jesus). The Gospel in effect adopts several strategies to address this problem. First there is a direct or frontal attack against the community's beliefs, for chapter 13 is an anti-apocalyptic exhortation. Employing a traditional apocalyptic schema, Mark insists that what the community members discern as signs of the times (people speaking in Jesus' name, wars, rumors of wars, kingdoms and nations rising against each other, earthquakes, famines, and persecution of the elect--see vv. 5-9, 21-22) are but the beginning of the enddays. They are misreading these signs, for the good news is just beginning to spread and must be preached to all nations before Jesus will return (13:10). Further, no one knows when this will be, not even the angels nor the Son--only the Father knows (13:32).
Mark's main strategy however is the composition of a peculiar life of the master, a life which focuses on several titles for Jesus, titles which allow Mark to address and correct the community's apocalyptic thinking. Indeed, Mark focuses on a "Son-of-God" rather than on a "Son-of-Man" christology--uppermost on Mark's mind is the issue of Jesus' identity. a) Jesus as "Son of God" (or holy man) is one who does God's will and who has God's power, but ultimately Jesus is one who undergoes death and is vindicated in God raising him from the dead. Mark's story is not about a glorious Son of Man but about God's "beloved Son" who pleases God (1:11) and who does God's bidding (14:36). b) Thus, Jesus is one who suffers and rises, surprisingly, as Son of Man (see 8:31; 9:31; 10:33). Mark here subverts the community's favorite title and associates it not to his glorious return but to his passion, death, and resurrection. Further, he insists that as Son of Man Jesus will return in the future (see 13:26 and 14:62), at a time when even Jesus does not know (13:32). c) To accomplish this goal Mark employs a strategy of secrecy (in the first half of the Gospel) and of revelations and heavenly messages from God (1:11; 9:7; 16:6-7), by Jesus himself (14:61-62), and by a centurion at the cross (15:39). d) So Mark presents Jesus as one who begins God's work or role through his deeds and his words through the ministry portrayed in the Gospel. e) And lastly Mark portrays Jesus as one who presently leads the community in mission (16:7--he leads the disciples to Galilee and beyond), for Jesus insisted earlier (13:10) that the good news must be preached to all nations before the end arrives. So the Gospel of Mark consists of a traditional story of the master's life and death, but it also suggests his present role as risen lord who promises to return as Son of Man when God sees fit.
So Mark exhorts the community to accept its traditional christological beliefs and follow Jesus, to persevere in faith in view of Jesus' teaching about the present and future kingdom, and to let its light shine before others in view of the eschatological harvest and in cooperation with the divine dynamism presently at work. Mark's parables offer promise and hope for the present. It is essentially in chapter 4 that one sees how the Markan parables address both the community's apocalypticism and strive to disabuse its members of its notion of a near end of the world. Despite alleged persecution or hardtimes, despite disaffection and the temptations of some to apostasy (4:15-19), the seed parables (the sower, the seed growing secretly, and the mustard seed) without exception point to a future kingdom in terms of a magnificent harvest or shrub. They also point to a strong reason for optimism despite bad soils and humble beginnings; God is at work; there will be a splendid , future harvest or growth. In the meantime one must let one's light shine forth (4:21) and use one's talents according to the measure received (4:24).
Jesus the strong man (3:19b-35) is less the community's expected Son of Man or even miracle worker, but more the resurrected lord who preaches the beginning and future coming of God's kingdom and also the one whose miraculous power announces the incipient nature (beginning) of God's kingdom or reign. Thus duly warned, instructed, and given new hope (parables of chapter 4), the community members are to trim their lamps and let them shine (4:21-22); they are also to preach the good news (13:10) as they follow Jesus on the road to Galilee (16:7). But in more broad and fundamental terms they are to rethink their notions of Christian discipleship. Rather than awaiting an imminent Son of Man and focusing as a community on otherworldly salvation and a ghetto discipleship, they are to learn from God's Son what discipleship, service, and kingdom are all about. The journey of discipleship (following Jesus on the way--see 8:34; 10:52; and 16:7) has just begun. The Son of Man will return in an undetermined future, but of immediate concern for the disciples are Jesus' example, teaching, and invitation to become followers of the risen Lord as he directs the world mission and preaches the arrival or beginning of God's kingdom in word and deed.
Jesus' Teaching and the Parables: Overall Observations
c) Jesus' Use of Parables--Human Response (day 3)
(4/10/06)
Jesus' parables, indeed his entire teaching, presuppose a creator/creature relationship. God creates human beings to rule over the earth, to acknowledge their status and their responsibility to the one who has lovingly created them in the divine image. They are to be holy, like God.
Further,
God's demands as creator and as savior are repeatedly alluded to by
Jesus
in parable after parable as he lays down the demands of the kingdom and
the attitude which it requires of those who are invited. Jesus
claims,
in a number of parables, to know what God demands of those who are
listening--this
is the essence of the good news:
We have here an extraordinary claim: it is Jesus who lays down the
ethical
principles which are the
conditions
for life under the reign of God. Our eternal life depends on
hearing
and doing Jesus' words:
"these words of
mine." As Matthew says in conclusion, the crowds were astonished at
Jesus'
sermon,
"for he
taught them as
one who had authority, and not as their scribes" (Mt 7:28-29).
Jesus'
authority
does not rest
only on an
appeal to the Scriptures, as did that of the scribes; his authority
derives
from
his own
radical understanding
of God's will. Jesus claims an authority greater even than that
of
any
prophet.
And this design for life which Jesus gives is the only one that will
last" (note from Boucher,
pp. 130-31--in discussing two builders).
Thus we now turn to the response(s) expected whether as challenge to
God's call or invitation, as response to the demands of the kingdom, or
as readiness vis-a-vis the uncertain realities of God's plan.
1. In
a first group of parables Jesus addresses the challenge or demands of
the
kingdom. The focus on these various stories is the response
or
demands made upon those who are called or invited (Boucher--3rd
category):
The Hidden
Treasure
The Unjust
Manager
The Unmerciful Servant
The
Pearl
The Slave's
Wages
The Good Samaritan
The Tower
Builder
The Friend at
Midnight
The Two Builders
The Warring
King
The Widow & the Unjust Judge.
In these parables the kingdom or God's invitation is characterized
as a priceless treasure or valuable pearl which individuals find,
whether
by accident or as the object of a quest, and are confronted with the
task
of acquiring or making these their own. While there is a note of
giving up or a price to pay for acquiring this treasure there is
especially
a note of joyful choice of this treasure over all other
possessions.
The issue is one of priority, less of giving up but more of making this
priceless treasure the organizing principle of one's every
concern--other
things receive their value or play a role in relation to this central,
chosen treasure. Other parables of this category focus on the
themes
and concepts of responsibility or duty, of seriousness of decision, of
persistence in seeking what one needs, or of doing what is demanded in
view of the kingdom. Some of these parables view also God's
assistance
and human confidence in God as central to one's response to the
kingdom.
While some may focus on God's willingness, indeed eagerness to assist
those
who ask, the stories' focus is on human confidence and trust in
receiving
from God what one needs to respond to the kingdom. Further, the demands
of the kingdom require what the Law and Jesus' interpretation thereof
insist
is necessary to gain eternal life or to respond most fully to God's
invitation
to the kingdom and that is complete love of and trust in God ("friend
at
midnight," "widow and judge") and love of neighbor ("good
Samaritan").
The kingdom demands that one build on a solid foundation, that one be
shrewd
in viewing the kingdom as one's central goal or quest--being in God's
good
graces, being merciful to fellow servants, being merciful and forgiving
like God; these are the demands of the kingdom; that is how one
inherits,
according to Jesus, the eternal life so frequently associated in
synonymous
terms with God's incipient and future reign.
2.
In
a second group of parables one finds Jesus exhorting his hearers to
proper
attitude, readiness, and often repentance in view of the kingdom or
eschatological
crisis (Boucher--4th category):
The Rich
Fool
The
Talents/Pounds
The Rich Man & Lazarus.
The Ten
Bridesmaids
The Faithful/Unfaithful Servant
The Barren Fig
Tree
The Wicked Tenants
If one is supposed to be focused on the treasure or the kingdom then
the "rich fool" is the antithesis of one than on possessions (focus on
the creator rather than on creature goods). Each of the parables
in this category focuses on some aspect of the human response or the
ability
to respond to God's invitation. For those who have foolishly
diverted
their attention to other interests or have ignored the demands of the
kingdom
there is a call to repent or to reassess their commitment to God's
gift.
There is a constant reminder that time is of essence not as a period of
laziness or fear but as a second chance to commit oneself to the
kingdom.
If one does not focus entirely on the kingdom as one's motivation, one
had better note, in more negative terms, that there is a time of
reckoning,
a time of crisis. This eschatological judgment, which a demanding
God will not omit, should serve as a warning and indeed an invitation
to
change one's ways-- the master is away but will return to demand an
accounting
of one's talents or pounds or more generally of one's responsibilities.
d) Some Overall Conclusions
1. The kingdom is the restoration of God's rule--lost to the freedom of rebellion--but it is now the time for that reign to be reestablished through Jesus' teaching and activity. Like the tiny seeds of the planting season it has begun and it must surely come with grandeur, despite its meager beginning and its messy process.
2. Further, God shows mercy and love both in granting life to humanity and in inviting and giving it a taste of eternal life. God's sharing of eternal glory, God's call to the eternal banquet, God's reign itself is a gift and must be accepted as such. One can be sure of its present and future character and divine source. But one must realize that the concept of gift and relation to a loving God is essential, both for those who have received much lest they come to believe that they have earned rather than received and for those who, in being less than faithful to or fruitful with what they have received, rely even further on God's loving care. The one must acknowledge gift; the other must rely even further on a loving God who desires to save even those who are lost.
3. In light of God's kingdom and its gracious invitation, there follow a corresponding demand for a human response. God expects a loving, joyful response to the priceless treasure, to the loving gift of the creator and savior. God gives and there follow corresponding claims on the receiver; there is a cost; there must be a commitment; but most important there must be a joyful focus on the most important dynamic of one's life, namely, the acknowledgment of God's lordship, God's reign, God's relationship to one's very being. The demands placed on the believer are consonant with a loving, holy, and demanding parent who wants the best for its children (see the "friend" and the "widow").
4. So there is exhortation to be ready, to be serious, and especially to be committed. Jesus preaches proper attitude, pending judgment, and call for repentance. God gives lovingly; the believer, who understands gift, accepts joyfully that God's kingdom has indeed come near, and repents of a less than receptive response. This is what belief in the good news means (see Mark 1:125).
Jesus employed parables to address the major themes of his teaching, teaching about God, about the coming and nature of God's reign, and about God's loving design for human salvation. Jesus also addressed the human response that God's invitation called forth; he also made use of much exhortation in view of the approaching judgment and in light of God's loving care for all.
Jesus' Teaching and the Parables: Overall Observations
b) Jesus' Use of Parables--God's Activity
Growth & Contrast, Gift (day 2)
(4/7/06)
Our focus here is God's activity in Jesus' parables, whether concerning the coming, growth or nature of God's kingdom or about the kingdom as divine gift to humanity. These themes correspond to Boucher's first two categories and a reading of her introductory remarks for each chapter would be most beneficial (yes, at least one more time; see Boucher, pp. 69f & 92f).
1.
God's
activity concerns primarily the coming and the nature of the kingdom
(Boucher: 1st category). A series of parables, on the Jesus
level,
address precisely the coming or (more accurately) the nature of the
kingdom:
The Seed Growing
Secretly The
Yeast The Weeds
among the Wheat
The Mustard
Seed
The Sower The Fishnet.
From an overall study of these parables (on the Jesus level) one must
conclude that the kingdom has already begun though in modest form (its
coming), like tiny seeds that have just been planted or a seine net
that
has begun to gather a catch of fish. Of course , the grain or fish
harvest
or the large shrub or tree have not yet materialized and so the kingdom
is a future reality (the kingdom is
like--agriculture as parable comes to the aid of the teacher). In other
words the coming of the kingdom can truly be described as "already and
not yet"--it is already here (hard as it is to see or appreciate--like
seed planted on less than productive soil) but its grandeur, its
fullness,
its realization is in the distant future. Beyond this temporal concern
or its coming, there is in the first grouping of parables an attempt to
describe also the multifaceted nature of this kingdom. It contains both
good and bad--it is a mixed reality, whether wheat and weeds or eatable
(kosher) or non-eatable fish. It is also a mysteriously growing reality
that increases on its own (seed growing secretly) or like yeast that
transforms
bread imperceptibly. Note there is even a hint here of universalism,
for
the birds of the mustard see parable suggests inclusion of non-Jews.
The
reality of God's kingdom then has already begun in Jesus' preaching and
activity (from a more christological or even autobiographical
perspective,
especially the soils of the sower parable), whether in his victory over
demons and disease or over human opposition but its definitive
establishment
over all creation is a reality that is left to God's activity and
timetable,
a time when there will be no more sin, suffering or death, a time when
God will reign (see Boucher, 69-73).
Thus, at this point one should look at the parable or basic story of the texts noted above (see list of parables that are grouped under the first category) and see why they fit into the category of the coming or nature of the kingdom. Also one should note the peculiar point (or points) being made by each, as Jesus would have used these stories to speak of God's kingdom as here, as coming, as a gradual process, as promising extraordinary result, as process that involves good and bad in the real world of human activity, and especially as a process that is under divine impetus or dynamism.
2.
Jesus'
preaching insisted further on another important characteristic of the
kingdom,
namely that it owes to God's grace or generous nature (Boucher: 2nd
category). The kingdom is a gift to both the righteous or holy (a
gift from a loving creator) and to the sinner or outcast (a second
chance,
a search for the lost--note the following parables studies in relation
to this category (we were not able to do the following in class, so
what follows is meant to cover that short fall):
The Laborers in the Vineyard
The Pharisee/Tax
Collector The Prodigal Son & His Brother
The Two
Sons
The Lost
Sheep
The Marriage Feast/Great Dinner
The Two
Debtors
The Lost
Coin
The Wedding Robe.
While often cast in a negative light (the
refusal by those invited, an initial refusal to do God's will, a series
of lost and wayward person and things) this group of parables focuses
on
"three main points: they portray God's boundless love and mercy; they
justify
Jesus' mission to sinners; and they rebuke Jesus' critics who cannot
understand
or affirm God's love for all" (Boucher, 92). Whether
laborers
who have borne the heat of the day, Pharisees who might acknowledge
God's
generosity, or an elder brother who lives in his father's household,
the
reality of God's mercy and boundless love is not easily discerned or
appreciated
by them and so they are cast as self-righteous, jealous or miserable,
sad-faced
persons who resent God's love for all and so fail to appreciate the
very
nature of what they themselves have received. So on the other hand,
there
are sad, miserable, and resentful characters in these parables,
characters
who have considerable but unrealized potential, and, on the other,
there
is another series of figures who, in their miserable, lost, and hapless
state, are presented as lucky, the recipients of gifts and second
chances.
The latter are sought out, are brought into a banquet they do not
deserve,
given salaries they have not earned, are forgiven large debts, or are
taken
back into their parent's loving care. This category of parables then
addresses
a) those who would be holy, that they should appreciate the nature of
God's
love and benefaction in creation and salvation and should act on that
principle,
and b) those who have been less than faithful, that their value derives
not from their own activity or use thereof but from a loving parent who
seeks what is lost, who invites repeatedly, and awaits an affirmative
human
response. These parables address not human activity or response (other
parables will address those issues) but God's loving attention to human
subjects who are both recipients of this generosity or resentful of
that
same generosity to others.
Repeatedly, in christological and even autobiographical terms, Jesus portrays himself as the agent of such a generous God, for he eats with both the self-righteous and the outcasts. But there is profound rony in these parables, irony that is captured by the story of the "two debtors"--both have debts but ironically the one who owes more is the one who also loves more. Strange that human beings should hit rock bottom before they realize what they have lost or owe. Again these parables are addressed to both the faithful and unfaithful, to the former that they understand God's loving concern for all and to the latter that God desires, indeed welcomes their return (see the "prodigal son and his brother"). Thus human subjects have a long way to go in understanding the one whom they address as "father" or loving parent.
Here too one should look at the parable or basic story of the texts noted above and see why or how they fit into the category of the kingdom as gift or grace. Here too one must look at the specific point(s) being made by each parable, whether concerning God's gift of life and salvation, of Jesus' role in seeking the "lost" (and the "found), and the frequent point that God's love or gifts are often not readily accepted or acknowledged. Humans can say "no" and God so desperately wants them to say "yes." Thus, some of the parables of this category already anticipate the following categories, i.e., the human response.
So the first two categories and their respective groups of parables address the major theme of God and the kingdom. Either they focus on the nature or coming of God's kingdom or they provide amble insights into God's relation to and activity vis-a-vis humanity. The next two groups will focus on the response which God expect from these human subjects. More on that later; see and review Boucher, pp. 111f & 132f.
Jesus' Teaching and the Parables: Overall Observations
a) Overview of Jesus' Teaching (day 1)
(3/5/06)
While reading the Gospels to discern the basics of Jesus' teaching may not be an easy or simple task, it is nonetheless a necessary one for the modern who wishes to know what the prophet from Nazareth announced as good news and to understand how he used parables and why they have gained such importance over the centuries. Even if one is able to distinguish with some plausibility between the later written and the original Jesus levels, it is further important to dwell in a more focused way on the major features of his preaching.
An Overview of His Teaching
It
is no accident that Mark's Gospel begins with Jesus focusing, in his
first
words, on the major theme of his preaching, when Jesus is made to
"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent
and believe in the good news" (1:15).
This opening statement focuses on God's reign over humanity and all
of creation or in more traditional terms "God's kingdom." The
goal
of God's relationship with humanity is the ultimate recognition by
human
creatures of God's lordship over all creatures and reciprocally the
recognition
and acknowledgment of creation's gratitude and service to an all-loving
creator, parent, and master. Jesus has come to announce the
near-coming,
the beginning, the loving gift of, the challenge extended to creatures,
and the attitude required to respond to this divine initiative (the
above
statement sounds very much like a summary of the categories used in our
interpretation of parables). The kingdom is announced and God's
human
subjects are called upon to repent or to adopt a proper, grateful
attitude
vis-a-vis God's gift and the acceptance of this invitation or belief in
God's good news as announced by Jesus the Nazarene.
The Lord's Prayer
Such
an opening calls to mind and indeed invites the modern reader to
examine
Jesus' only prayer for the basic contours of his preaching. From
an examination of the Matthean (6:1-18) and Lukan (10:25-11:13) texts
and
contexts, we conclude that Jesus' original prayer would have been as
follows:
Father,
may your name be made holy;
may your kingdom come.
Give us today our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also forgive our debtors,
and do not bring us to the time of trial.
This shortened form, while it follows more closely the Lukan version
(the longer form points to Matthean additions in three places), is
arrived
at by careful redactional analysis of the two gospel versions--see
clasls
handout for more detail. Furthermore, in this short prayer
one finds an excellent statement of the basics of Jesus' preaching and
teaching, for the prayer is focused first on God and the kingdom and
then
on human needs and relationships.
The prayer addresses God as father but presupposes the broader relationship of king or ruler to subject, of parent to child. While the address of God as father is a relatively infrequent title in the Jewish Scriptures, it nonetheless is frequently assumed, for the best known designation of the Israelites was that of "children of God." Additionally, such a title recalls that of the chief god of the Greek and Roman pantheon Jupiter or Zeus pater, the one who is called "Father of gods and humanity" by Heroditus. The theme is frequent in Jesus' teaching and certainly in his parables.
Additionally there is a wish that God's name be acknowledged and proclaimed over all nations or that God's "name be made holy" among the nations, that all peoples recognize God's glory in the nation of Israel--and here in Jesus' prayer that those who receive the good news might honor God's name, honor, and reign. Thus, the ultimate wish of the first half of the prayer is that God's kingdom or reign come (soon) in its fullness and in its glory. The wish is that God be recognized as sovereign and that his reign be fully established on earth, in human hearts, and finally and gloriously in God's presence. Perhaps Matthew's added text ("your will be done on earth as it is in heaven") is an apt commentary on the first part of the prayer.
The second part of the Lord's Prayer focuses on human need, on salvation, and forgiveness. It expresses dependence on God for necessities and requires the reciprocity of forgiveness or good, moral relations with God's other children. Finally, it addresses the endtime with confidence in God's help in time of need and of temptation.
Other Considerations
These basic considerations underscore Jesus' continuous preaching about readiness for the kingdom, about discipleship in response to God's invitation. This prayer underscores Jesus' characterization of God as loving and demanding parent and of humanity as lost children who are called to freedom and to the establishment of God's reign over all creation.
Additionally,
one must acknowledge the prayer as the "Lord's" or "Jesus' prayer,"
Jesus
the one who is agent of a gracious God,
the one who seeks God's lost sheep (or coins or prodigal children)
and announces forgiveness and a second chance (despite the objections
of
the righteous--elder brother, etc). But at the same time Jesus
speaks
of a master who promises but also warns about eschatological
fulfillment
or harvest. Indeed, Jesus' teaching speaks about two basic
issues:
divine and human activity on behalf of God's creatures and creation.