Hello friends,
Do you have a favorite parable of Jesus?
The Good Samaritan? The Prodigal Son? The Parable of the Lost Sheep? The Parable of the Sower? The Parable of the Talents? The Parable of the Mustard Seed?
Jesus is a teacher who tells short, simple stories called parables (sometimes only one sentence long) to convey wisdom and spiritual guidance. The listeners who hear Jesus’s parables hear the same stories but they all may arrive at different conclusions. Jesus’s stories don’t provide simple answers.
We too are invited to consider and find our own conclusions about Jesus’s parables.
Over the next five weeks we will seek wisdom for the living of our days from five lesser-known parables of Jesus:
- August 3: “The Parable of the Leaven” (text)
- August 10: “The Parable of the Pearl”
- August 17: “The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector”
- August 24: “The Parable of the Woman Seeking Justice”
- August 31: “The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus”
As Amy-Jill Levine says, the parables “tease us into recognizing that we’ve already always known.” They do so by reframing our vision.
May we be fortunate to have wisdom and hope revealed to us anew in the stories of Jesus.
Traveling together,
Sam
Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/newmanucc/ordinary-time-8336046