…..more than a definition.
–noun
1.
a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson.
2.
a statement or comment that conveys a meaning indirectly by the use of comparison, analogy, or the like.
When I first became a Christian I was in awe of people that knew scripture and stories from the bible. More than just knowing them; they lived them and related to them in a way that I couldn’t grasp. My biggest fear at my new church was going to my first bible study and not feeling “qualified” to be there. Satan had me convinced that it was a club of which I was not a member and being a new Christian with a sordid past was one of the main reasons my application wouldn’t even be considered….but I went. And the rest is history.
The parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15) is one that I have mentioned in a previous entry and have lived for the past two years. I have blessed to be on the welcomed end as the “son,” and more recently, the welcoming end as the “father” when Baby (my youngest who will be 19…lol) came home after nearly a year of sowing her wild oats. But the relationships with my other two daughters have been strained at best until recently. I still have not heard from my oldest but I am certain that God is working amazing things and I know I can’t skip ahead in the book that he authors but need to wait.
My middle daughter has had some hardships lately and although I am sad for her and hate to see her go through it, I am glad for us. We have spoken more in the past two weeks than we have in the past two years; without exaggeration. Her boyfriend died much too early a couple of weeks ago and we took our conversations from the sporadic text messages to the occasional phone calls. As if losing her boyfriend wasn’t enough; it is fall in Milwaukee where she lives and the street sweepers were out to sweep downtown. She recently moved and didn’t know that the first Friday of every month is street sweeper day until it is time to change up the street parking situation when the snow begins to fall. Her car was towed to a tow lot, her insurance had lapsed, her driver’s license expired, and she didn’t have current registration….ALL of which had to be addressed before trying to get her car out of the impound lot before noon on Saturday at $20/day storage fee on top of the $40 ticket for the violation in addition to the $105 towing fee….ALL just two days after her boyfriend’s funeral. To say it was a tough week would be an understatement.
She never asked for money during our conversations but just seemed broken and needed her mom. She even went so far as to tell me, “I thought I had to choose between you and dad but I realized I can’t do it anymore and I need a mom too.” I melted. Just as I have found a kinship to the parable of The Prodigal Son, I have recently discovered another parable that Jesus shared with Peter as told in Matthew 18.
The Unmerciful Servant
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coin. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
I was forgiven a debt of great proportions about a year ago. It wasn’t a debt forgiven by the “lord” as told here but my parents paid a debt to resolve the debt owed….to the tune of $100,000. (Parable equivalent of 10,000 bags of gold). I can’t remember even hearing this story before but was awakened this morning by a need to open my bible and find a parable to match our scenario….it did everything but jump off the page when I began my search in Matthew; finding it in less than ten minutes. Could I accept this favor from my parents without helping my daughter in a similar way? It was not a debt owed to me but it was one that if paid, could mean a new beginning without the haunt of past failures looming at every turn. Her debt was nothing in comparison to the one lifted from me but it was one I could help with and forgive as Jesus described to Peter (Parable equivalent of a hundred silver coins). Throughout the morning, across three states, countless telephone calls, internet searches, bank withdrawals, and money transfers I repeated “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
My daughter does not have a personal relationship with Jesus. In fact, she doubts his existence despite my efforts to show her all about him through actions and the changes I have made in my own life; all to His benefit. I still pray and hope that moments like today show her otherwise.
I am thrilled to know a few more parables of the bible but to also have personal ties to many of them. I have a bond with one daughter as prodigals. I have a different bond to my middle daughter as servants that are forgiven. I am excited to see what parable relates to my oldest daughter and I and am certain that he smiles at the thought of me discovering it one day….in His time.
To think that these “parables” in the bible are just statements or comments that convey meanings indirectly by the use of comparisons, analogies, or the like would take the personal meaning out of them that Jesus wanted us to learn from and wants us to live. These aren’t fairytales by the Brothers Grimm but life lessons as relevant today as they were thousands of years ago.
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