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- [00:02]
Jack Wilson
The History of Literature Podcast is a member of the podglomerate Network and Lit Hub Radio.
- [00:10]
Dan Cummins
This episode is brought to you by Amazon. Sometimes the most painful part of getting sick is the getting better part. Waiting on hold for an appointment, sitting in crowded waiting rooms, standing in line at the pharmacy that's painful. Amazon One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy remove those painful parts of getting better with things like 247 virtual visits and and prescriptions delivered to your door. Thanks to Amazon Pharmacy and AmazonOne Medical Healthcare just got less painful.
- [00:38]
Jack Wilson
Hello Today on the podcast, something a bit unusual. A mysterious document that arrived in my inbox. Author anonymous, origins unknown. And if that weren't mystery enough, the email employs a form known for its ambiguity and at times its elusiveness that's elusive with an A and elusive with an E. We'll look at parables and a parable today on the History of Literature. Hello, welcome to the podcast. I'm Jack Wilson, your host. I'm glad you could be with us today. It arrived in my inbox out of thin air. Well, that's how it often seems with email, doesn't it? But this one was special. No name attached, no subject, no identifier of any kind. An email address with no person connected with it. Just randomness and a domain I did not recognize. My efforts to track it down proved fruitless. And maybe that's for the best. Often in life we demand certainty when ambiguity would suffice and be more appropriate, perhaps. Which brings me to the contents of this email and a historical genre. The title simply a parable, not a parable by so and so. A parable for our times or a modern day parable. Not even the topic or protagonist. The parable of the small town family or I mean, it could have had a lot of different things, right? The most famous parables in Western civilization are the ones told by Jesus. And we'll talk about those today. They're not called a parable in the Bible. They mostly don't have a title. They're just spoken by Jesus to his followers. But we've categorized them, we've given them names so we can keep them straight and remember their contents. They're called the Parable of the Good Samaritan in maybe the most famous example. Or just the Good Samaritan. Even that seemed like too much certainty for this anonymous author. It seems simply a parable. I'm going to read it to you eventually. We have some other things to discuss. First, recently I had a discussion that you're going to hear in the coming weeks where we deal with some old European fairy tales with one of our guests and the morals of the story that were provided by the author compiler. Here we have none of that. Here it's just a story and the mystery behind it. If we can glean anything about it, it's that it fits into the literary tradition known as parables. We know that from the two word title that this anonymous author gave it, a parable. And so I thought I would talk about that for a while. Who invented parables? Where do they come from? Was Jesus the first? Nope, nope, he was working in a tradition. Who besides Jesus used them before and after? What are they good for? What's the format? What are the features? What did Jesus convey through his parables? How have they been interpreted? What do people today say about parables? And then we'll hear this story, this narrative, this parable that has been, well, haunting me is probably putting it too strongly, intriguing me, ghosting up my inbox, puzzling me to no end. You can email me with your own thoughts about it if you care to speculate. Maybe we'll share some of those speculations down the road. Okay, parables, what are they? They are essentially short stories. Not even a literary short story, as we might read from a Joyce or a Chekhov, which by comparison feels overloaded with detail and plot. They're succinct, they're compressed narratives, as so much in the Bible is. They're much more akin to a fable. But unlike fables, we don't expect a world of talking animals or other forms of nature personified. Parables are usually discussions of human beings in some kind of situation, dealing with something, a slice of life, an example, an analogy that we are to draw, or a metaphor that we are to understand. We extrapolate something from a parable, they get at some truth, most famously about the nature of human beings. But in Jesus's teachings, they are that often. But they also convey information about God, the kingdom of heaven, faith, the end times, instructions. Here's where the end times is particularly interesting. Here's when it's coming, here's when you'll know. Here's how to wait. Here's what to do in the meantime. Here's how to be moral instructions. Religious instructions come out of parables. Jesus's parables. Now let's back up metaphors. Aristotle called them signs of genius. Windows. This is the success of a parable is like that too. It's a metaphorical analogy. It can rise on or fall on how well the parable explains or exposes or explores something deep and mysterious in a way that we can comprehend. The word parable comes from the Greek, the prefix for alongside next to the word for throwing, throwing alongside, a comparison, a metaphor, what is that? One idea alongside another gives us a parable. And while we're talking about the Greeks, let's talk a bit about the universal and the particular, our old Plato, Aristotle, dichotomy and dynamic. A parable is a particular story that conveys a universal truth which can itself be applied back to a different particular story or situation. Think of it as something on earth, an earthly story about two brothers, for example, or maybe a broken window or a helpful traveler. In that simple story, often not much more than a quick anecdote, we find a lesson that goes all the way to the heavens, the realm of the ideal, a universal truth. Maybe this simple story about planting a seed tells you all about something abstract, the kingdom of heaven. Then we are to take that knowledge, that abstraction, and reapply it back here on earth to our own lives, our own spiritual lives, or our code of conduct, our approach to a different situation. I can almost imagine this like a television image being shot up into space, reformulated into something ethereal, and being restored, being returned back into your television set. Right? That's how I kind of think of these things. Where are we now? Are we in the heavens, talking about the ideal, the abstraction? Are we back on earth, reapplying the thing that we have just learned? My analogy doesn't quite hold with the television image, because there's also a transformation. The story about the seed goes up into the realm of the abstract and the ideal, but when it returns, it's different. Let me give you a cleaner example so that this makes sense. How do you talk about something like eternal love and forgiveness? How do you make people understand that God's love will find its way to a repentant sinner? You can imagine people saying, well, that hardly seems fair. I'm doing the one that I'm doing everything God wants. I would expect him to love me for that. But what about this guy who spends his life sinning, doing everything God doesn't want? How will God? Why is God going to love him? How does that work? What's that all about? Will it really happen? Well, here's a famous parable told by Jesus that explains. This is Matthew, chapter 18, verses 10 to 14. See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. What do you Think. If a man owns a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the 99 on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly, I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the 99 that did not wander off. In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish. You see how this works? Here's a story that rings true to us. The story about the shepherd. Yes, I can imagine that a shepherd would be just that way. I don't own sheep, as it happens. But I know that If I have 99 things going right and one thing going wrong, I fixate on the thing that's going wrong. And I'm excited when that thing is restored and it's right again. Right? That's what we do. I have 100 appliances in my house. If the dryer breaks, I focus on the dryer. I don't sit around and praise the refrigerator. I want the dryer to be better. In a classroom when I had 25 attentive students and one bored student, I didn't ignore the bored student. I zeroed in on him. It was always a him, it seems, and most of the time his name was Irvin. And I later learned that he had something wrong with his eyes that made him look more bored than he was. But you get the point. We take the story about the lamb and we say, yes, that rings true. We understand that a shepherd behaves like that. There's something innate about us that cares about the one that's lost. We let the 99 kind of be on their own. We're happy about them. But then we are so excited when we find the one that was lost. We get it. We take that story and the point. We beam it up to the skies where it's all abstract, and we say, we tend to care about the lost, the broken, the damaged, and we're happy to see those things get better. And Jesus nudges us to understand that this is how God feels about lowly humans, we sinners. If someone's lost the way, that's the sheep that God is going to hunt down and help. He doesn't say, well. God doesn't say, well. 99% is good enough for me. You can only do so much. After all, I'm only human. God doesn't say that. He goes for the 1%, just as a shepherd would. Now we beam that back down to Earth and we apply it. Now, we're not talking about sheep anymore. We've taken our lesson and we think, well, if I am a person, then I'm loved by God, even if I'm a sinner. And that guy over there is too. And so is that woman over there, and so is that other guy. Boy, some of these people are worse than me. Well, God will care about them. He might even spend some extra time on them. And he will rejoice when he sees them return. Or he will do that for me if I've lost the way or if I lose the way in the future. Now I understand. Now I understand. I didn't get it before. I thought God was picking the wrong people to help or to care about or to give a little extra love to. Well, now I get it. I understand God. I understand how it works for people here on Earth. And all we did was talk about sheep. And I don't even own a sheep myself. But I get it. That's how a parable works. That's how it's supposed to work. And it works this way outside of the religious context, too. As we'll see, even the stories in the Bible can often work just as well as moral instruction in a completely secular way. Not every parable is out there to explain how to understand God or heaven or some other theological concept. Sometimes it's just about character. Sometimes it's just about getting along. There's a religious subtext, of course. The God who prescribes the Golden Rule is not a God who prescribes. Get yours while the getting's good, right? So it does. The Golden Rule does tell us something about God, but it's also perfectly acceptable as advice or wisdom, no matter what your God is, whether you believe or not, or if you have no God at all. It's words to live by. Parables. Some of them are like that, too. Okay, the transmission I've been discussing, the abstraction and the reapplication. It has to be good in a couple of ways, right? The story and its meaning have to be comprehensible. We have to recognize the general truth of what is being said. We need to understand the larger meaning. And we have to see how it applies to us in our own lives or in some other situation. And it can't give you. It can't give you anything extra to gum up the works. I'll give you at least one example of a parable that didn't make it into the Bible. And it's kind of confused. You can see why it was. Well, I almost said why it was left behind. But then I'd have to say, no pun intended. And in my kingdom, the heaven over which I preside, I have room. I have room for all parables. I'm not going to leave any behind. I have room even for those parables that are not chosen. Parables. I like the wayward parables, the lost ones, the helpless, even the hopeless. All these parables are my children. How do we know if we're listening to a parable? And if we are, how do we know what meaning to take from it? Sometimes the parable teller will give us a clue. I say to you. Verily, I say, that's usually the pivot for Jesus, right? Truly, I say to you, and then we know this is a parable. Here's a lesson to apply. Here's the parable of the budding fig tree from the Gospel of Luke. Helpfully, Luke signals to us it's a parable by telling us that Jesus told them a parable. That's how it starts. And he told them a parable. Look at the fig tree and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. End quote. Now, what does Jesus mean exactly before this? He has described the things that are going to happen, the signs that will signal that the kingdom of God is coming. And the natural question is, when? When Some heavy stuff. When is redemption? When will all this happen? And he says, I am not going to give you a date, certain. I am not going to tell you exactly what month, what day, what year. So that sounds kind of unsatisfying, really. We're not going to know. Well, some of us have to make plans. Some of us might need to know. You can't just wave that away. If it's not on the calendar, then what? How can we possibly be prepared for it? And here's where Jesus reorients them in their thinking. He says, you don't have a certain date about the figs arriving, do you? But you do have some advance notice. The leaves are your signs that the figs will be arriving soon. Well, this event is going to be like that. You'll see signs and you'll know that the event is on its way. The point of the parable here is to tell them there will be signs before this happens. Believers will see them and know that's how the scheduling is going to work. And he uses the fig tree to say, we all know this happens. It works perfectly fine with fig trees. We don't demand a specific date from a fig tree. We see the signs. That's enough notice. Well, this is going to work like that. Jesus also talks about parables, what they do and why he uses them. There's a sense that he he told a lot more parables than are recorded in Matthew. We'll hear things like, Jesus spoke to them again in parables, or he spent the day telling them many things in parables. At one point, Matthew says he didn't tell the crowd anything that day except through parables. Then he got together with the disciples and explained what he meant. There's an exchange I like where someone asks him to explain the parable. Here it is. Peter says, explain the parable to us. And Jesus says, are you still so dull? Don't you get it yet? But then he does explain it. Are you still so dull? Jesus is often called the greatest teacher in the history of the world. By Christians, he's certainly called that. And for Christians, it would be hard to say or believe otherwise. Jesus was revealing divine secrets. What could be more important than that? He's not only the greatest teacher, he's maybe the only teacher. I mean, he's at the top of the list. What I love about this passage is that it resonates with every other teacher whose job it is to pass along mortal and mundane topics like the day the Declaration of Independence was signed, or what, seven times eight. Or what caused the civil war. Even teachers like those, like the rest of us can identify with the impulse that Jesus expresses here. Right? One might think that the Prince of peace in teaching would say, when Peter says, explain the parable to us, he might say, the Prince of Peace. One might expect that he would say, ah, yes, my son, give it time, I'm sure you will understand. Or I'm happy to repeat. Instead he blurts out, are you still so dull? Isn't that wonderful? Peter, Peter, you're my guy. I love you. You'll be the rock. But dude, I've told you this already. I didn't think I'd have to explain it. Oh, Jesus, God love him, are you still so dull? That's from the new international version, by the way. Different translations differ on what Jesus says at this moment. The King James version has it, as are ye also. Yet without understanding the Good News Bible says, you are still no more intelligent than the Others don't you understand? That might even be better than Are you still so dull? A backhanded compliment. I expected more from you, Peter. I thought you'd be more enlightened by now. And yet here we are. You're as dumb as everybody else here. What did the others think when they heard that? Whoa. Drive by. What did we do? Jesus? We didn't ask you to explain the parable that was, Peter. Even though I'm trying to define parables in the abstract here as a literary device, I find it difficult to get away with from the way Jesus used parables. Parables are so widely used in the New Testament, something like 30 of them, depending on how you count. But many of them are repeated multiple times in the four Gospels, and he's so closely identified with parables that we can't help but talk about his parables. So even though we'll try to talk about parables in general and how they work, I pretty much resort to using examples from the New Testament to explain what I mean. The Greeks didn't just give parables the name, they had examples of them too, of course, but the Christian parables are the ones that we most often associate with the term. I'll give one example later of a parable outside the Christian tradition, and if you're inclined, you can go read the ones from Greece about Heracles or Hercules, the Greeks called him, or the ones from the 19th century about broken windows, or the ones from the Sufis. Mostly what we'll hear today are Christian parables. Okay, what exactly is a parable? And why do some people say that the New Testament has 30 or so parables, and other people say it has more than 60. Why is that so hard to pin down? Some people find parables in the Book of John, and others say that John contains no parables at all. It seems we need to define it before we look for it. Whether we're looking inside the Bible or outside of it, definitions of the word parable vary. Most agree that it's a short, fictional narrative of some kind. It illustrates some truth or some assertion, often about human nature. But as we'll see in the examples from the Gospels, it's human nature plus something higher. Sometimes it's not a story as we think of it in the once upon a time there was a king who loved gold kind of story. Here's a parable from the New no one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out, and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins and both are preserved. End quote. There's no person there for us to imagine, really. There's no family members surrounding a speaker or confused neighbors asking questions. There's no dilemma. There's a kind of appeal to one's sense of craft or purpose or getting things right. I haven't given you the context of this. You may already know it. Jesus is trying to explain why his ways are so different from the old ways. If he's the Messiah, the King of the Jews, then why isn't he adhering to Mosaic Law? Why not the fasting regimen prescribed by John the Baptist, for example? And imagine if Jesus was trying to say, I'm doing things in a different way, and that's valid and important. Imagine if he said, for example, why am I doing this? Because you shouldn't mix the new with the old. Just don't do it. I say to you, I command thee. Do not mix the old with the new. And people would say, well, why not? Don't we have babies mixing new people with old? Don't we see rain falling from the sky into a river? Isn't that new water joining old? Doesn't that mix? Mixes just fine? So Jesus finds a few other examples to illustrate his point. He says, you wouldn't pour new wine into old wineskins, would you? You wouldn't put new cloth on an old garment. You'd make things worse. And listeners can say, right, okay, so it's not like the baby's being born or the rain falling from the sky. It's like the new cloth on the old garment. The new cloth will eventually shrink. It'll pull away the whole. We'll end up. If we put the new on the old, we'll end up with nothing. We'll make everything worse. This is a situation like that, the New Deal, the New Testament. Jesus is here. There are old ways that will no longer fit. You can see how these can be confusing to people. Jesus was often misunderstood, and he'd be asked to explain his meaning further. And today, without Jesus here to ask, to confirm, the stories stand on their own. And their meaning isn't always agreed upon either. That's intrinsic to the parable form. Because we are asked to draw a connection, to interpret and analyze, there can be room for disagreement and doubt. Of course, that's not really a flaw in parables. That's True of pretty much any form. It's inherent to language. It's intrinsic to human nature. Thou shalt not murder is about as plain spoken as it gets. You might say, well, why couldn't Jesus just speak like that? Just tell us things specifically? Well, thou shalt not murder. Does that give us enough? Is self defense. Murder is suicide. Murder is shooting a Nazi on the battlefield. Murder. There are always lines to be figured out because no single word is capable of capturing every possible shade of meaning or situation. Life is too complex for that. You can also see in the parable of the wineskins and the parable of the old garment just why we struggle even to count the number of parables. Those are two different parables, but they're almost like stray remarks, isolated. It's not. Sit down, my children, and let me tell you a story with a beginning, middle and end. It's like a quick analogy. The conventional assessment is that the Gospel of John doesn't contain any parables, and he helps us toward this assessment by not using the word parable, preferring a different word when he says parable, like things. But some scholars now say, well, these are parables too. The story of the Good shepherd is in the Gospel of John, or even some of his expressions and figures of speech. They work like parables. The term parable, in other words, when it comes to the New Testament, is essentially contested. Parables have been around for a long time and in many different cultures. There are examples from ancient Greece and Islam that we don't have time for today. But let's look at a rather famous one from the Jewish tradition, the Rooster Prince. A lot of people think that some, and most, maybe of Jesus parables, or a lot of them anyway, came from the Jewish tradition. That's where they had first been found. So let's look at one that we know was from the Jewish tradition, the Rooster Prince. I'm going to call this a tale of two parables, because I've got two different versions here and they convey different themes, and I think it's helpful to look at both. Here's version number one, which I've taken from an online source. The Stephen Wise Temple says the prince who thought he was a rooster. There once was a prince who thought he was a rooster. His father and mother, the king and queen, were devastated when the prince entered the banquet hall one evening and announced, I am no longer a prince, but a rooster, and and retreated beneath the dinner table, squawking like a rooster and picking up crumbs from the banquet hall floor. He refused to wear clothes, speak in human language, or eat with utensils. For weeks and weeks, the king and queen tried, with no success, to convince their son that indeed he was not a rooster, but a great prince. They called upon their community members to help, but no one could convince the prince that he was actually not a. A rooster. Finally, the king and queen called upon their trusted rabbi for advice. The rabbi arrived to the banquet hall, crawled underneath the table, and perched next to the prince, who thought he was a rooster. He clucked alongside the young rooster prince, and they pecked at crumbs on the floor in unison. I see that you want to be a rooster, the rabbi said, but you know that you can still be a rooster and wear clothes. I can, the young prince replied, and the rabbi nodded. So the prince donned his princely robes. Once again, the rabbi told the rooster prince that he could also remain a rooster and speak in human language. So he began to speak again. Finally, the rabbi said that he could still be a rooster, even if he ate with utensils. So he sat up at the table alongside his family and community and proceeded to eat with a fork and knife. The prince ate like a human, spoke like a human, and dressed like a human. But even with this outward appearance, he knew forever in his heart that he was still a rooster. It's a nice story. The message is fairly clear in one way and not so clear in another. It's clearly saying, hey, we should meet people where they are, right? The rabbi, the trusted rabbi, the wise rabbi, he knew how to get something out of this rooster prince. Yelling, threatening, begging, explaining that had not worked. But clucking with him, pecking at crumbs with him, that worked. Developing trust and then kind of persuading him to do normal things. But did it work? Did the rabbi do a good job? It didn't really work. Right? Is that the point of the parable? I'm not sure it's saying what it wants to say. That's what's confusing to me, is the point. You can never change people's minds, not really. But you can get them to conform to what you want on the surface level. You can make them look a certain way and act a certain way, behave a certain way, but you will not fix them. You will not change them. That's not a bad message. Maybe it's an interesting one. Might be some practical advice. People won't change, but you can get them to do what you want. I'm not positive that's what they were going for here. I kind of feel like the literary fruit was right there, hanging there. And the tale teller couldn't resist grasping for it because what an ending it is. The literariness of this is much more interesting than the moral instruction, because deep down, he knew forever in his heart he was still a rooster. Is it telling the listening audience, think what you want? People harbor that secret. Just go along with the crowd or your parents on the outside. You can have this whole secret self that they never need to know about. Just don't express it in any way. Hide it. Act normal. Think weird. Okay. Or be yourself. Maybe that's it. It's not weird. Maybe being a rooster is. Maybe that's a metaphor for something like, be a nonconformist. Be true to yourself. Well, okay. We have another version of the rooster prince story. There are lots of them, actually, but here's one that'll give us a good contrast. This one, which I've taken from another source. MySandtails.com courtesy of the Times Herald Record. And this story ends up conveying a different message. Let's see if you can hear the differences as I'm reading it. Remember the first one? The rabbi comes in, he clucks and pecks that food on the ground. And then he kind of persuades him, you know, go ahead, be a rooster. But you can still do all these human things, like eat with a knife and fork. Here's a different story. Once upon a time, a prince lived with his parents in a city in Eastern Europe. Every day, the king gave his son tasks and instructions for how to behave. Be polite to all the elders. Be kind to all the girls. Always dress like a prince. Behave in a princely fashion. Speak this way, walk that way. The king and queen selected the prince's music, the books he read, his friends and his foes, his food and his fun. One day that seemed most, or that otherwise seemed most ordinary, the prince woke at dawn, sat up, and began to crow like a rooster. At first, no one paid much attention. But when he took off his clothes and waddled downstairs, still crowing at the top of his lungs, the servants began to laugh. The queen was in the kitchen eating breakfast, and when she saw her son, she gasped. My dear, go put on some clothes. You're not behaving like a prince. But the prince ignored her and crouched under the table, where he began to peck at the crumbs on the floor, just as a rooster might. The king scowled. This is hardly princely behavior. We are not amused. But no matter what the king and queen said or did, the prince crowed and waddled and pecked and behaved in every way like a rooster, not like a prince. That evening, instead of going to his room, the prince padded out to the barn, and there he spent the night. At dawn, he opened his eyes and began to crow, and soon he trundled back into the house to sit beneath the kitchen table and peck at the crumbs on the floor. This went on day after day. In despair, the king and queen called upon the royal doctors, who offered pills. But the prince refused to swallow the pills. Instead, he pecked at their hands. Other doctors tried talking sense to him, but the prince crowed in their faces. What can we do to make our son behave like a prince? Once again, the king asked his wise men. But nobody had an answer, and soon word spread of the rooster prince. The king would never let a rooster prince rule. If he could not cure his son. The prince could not inherit the kingdom, and the king needed an heir. But nobody seemed able to help. One day an old sage came to the city. His face was so lined with age, his eyes were nearly invisible. When he walked, he limped and used a cane. But he made his way to the palace and announced, I assure the king and queen I have the cure for their son. The king hurried to meet the old man and asked, what is your cure? First you must promise you will pay me for my work, the old man said. Second, you must promise I may do whatever I wish. Of course. The king nearly shouted, and a moment later the old man removed his robes. Where is your son? He asked. The king pointed to the kitchen, where the prince now spent his days under the table, and the sage limped there. The king followed and stood in startled silence as the old man climbed under the table and began to cluck like a chicken and to peck at the floor. How can you cure my son of his madness if you are mad as well? The king cried. But the sage only clucked more loudly and scurried about, pecking for crumbs. The king and queen consulted with each other. What shall we do? The queen pleaded. Now we have two madmen in our home. We must wait, said the king, though his heart swelled with worry. Still, he had promised the sage, and the king was a man of his word. The next day, the rooster and the chicken, the prince and the sage, pecked away under the table, clucking and crowing. And as they pecked, they began to talk to each other. Are you a chicken? Asked the prince. That I am, answered the sage. I am a rooster, said the prince. So you are the sage. Said, and how is your life here in the kitchen? Fine indeed, the prince said. Everyone leaves me alone to enjoy my time. It's a fine life. I understand, the sage said. And it is good to live the life we like. Isn't it vital? Said the Rooster Prince, crowing at the top of his lungs. This went on for days, and though the queen was furious, the king did not interfere. He believed the sage was wise, and he began to see how his son longed for freedom. And then one day, the sage called to the royal seamstress. Bring me a pair of pants, he said. When the seamstress brought them, the sage began to put them on. The Rooster Prince stared and cried. What are you doing? Chickens don't wear pants. Who says? The sage asked. Why shouldn't I be warm? Why should humans have all the good things? For the first time, the Rooster Prince noticed the floor was cold and the barn too. The next day, when the sage asked for a shirt, the Rooster Prince stared and said, chickens don't wear shirts. Why should I shiver just because I'm a chicken? The sage answered. Once again, the Rooster Prince thought about how cold he felt. And when the sage put on socks and shoes, the Rooster Prince saw how bruised and tired his own feet were. When the sage asked for a plate of food and the Rooster Prince smelled it, his stomach grumbled. His heart contracted with envy. The very next day, the Rooster Prince asked for some pants, a shirt, some shoes and socks, and a plate of food. Soon after that, he was behaving like a human being again. From that day on, everyone lived happily ever after. Okay, do you see the difference in version 2? There's no secret self that endures. It doesn't quite rule it out, but it doesn't specifically inform us that the prince believes he's a rooster for the rest of his life. All we have here in the second story is that the Rooster Prince has asked for some human things and behaves like a human, and everyone lives happily ever after. We think he snapped out of it, as in the first version, the wise rabbi meets the Rooster Prince on his terms. Here we have the sage doing the same thing. He earns his trust, pretending to be a chicken. But this time he doesn't just say, act normally and you can do whatever you want. He persuades him with logic. He appeals to his sense of dignity and pride and selfishness. Why would you want to be a cold, naked rooster? Why should humans get all the clothes? Woody Allen had his own take on this story, sort of in Annie hall, where he repeated an old joke that seems to share some origins with the rooster prince story. The punchline to that I'm sure you'll recall, is we needed the eggs. Sometimes you have to let people be themselves. You can't control them. Maybe it's best to take them as they are and take the good where you can find it. Okay, now my not knowing exactly what the lesson is from the first Rooster Prince story especially is not so unusual, because that's. A lot of parables are like that. We have an uneasy relationship with parables. We don't always agree on what they mean. In some newer translations of the Bible, they don't even use the word parable. Explain this riddle to us. Peter says in the common English Bible translation, maybe the translators of that version thought riddle is a more common word than parable, a more modern word. But it's not a riddle. To me, that seems like they've introduced some new confusion. You'd. You'd read it and think, oh, all right, a riddle. But this riddle doesn't really work. You might think Jesus. Jesus is not so. He's kind of bad at making riddles. He doesn't seem to know what a riddle is, but that's because he shouldn't have used the word riddle. Jesus was not bad at making riddles. He was good at delivering parables. Are you so dull that you don't get that translation translators are ye, yet without understanding the common English Bible in general? I'm not an expert on the various translations, but I have found that the common English Bible is a little too graphic for my taste. In most translations, there's. There's something like. Don't you know that everything goes into the mouth, enters the stomach and leaves the body? Well, the common English Bible translates this as. Don't you know that everything that enters the stomach or everything that goes into the mouth enters the stomach and goes out into the sewer? Okay, leaves the body was enough. I don't need to have this. I get it. Sometimes a little restraint is preferable. I'll take the euphemism. If I'm reading the Bible, I don't need to be. Or maybe I'm the one who is. Yet without understanding. Let's take a break and look at the parable master. Himself. Himself with a capital H after this.
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Okay, I mentioned this quote earlier. Matthew, chapter 13, verse 34. Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. End quote. Why did a messiah use parables? He could also deliver sermons, which he did. Why not just do that? Why give us the parable of the sower and the good Samaritan, the prodigal son, the lost sheep? Why speak elliptically? The argument against doing so is fairly clear. Why risk being misunderstood by people who won't get the point of the story? The best argument, I think, in favor of doing so is that language of humans is a human tool and it's flawed. And words, even the word of God, maybe, cannot be used in this way. Maybe we cannot be direct and explicit. Maybe a story is the only way to convey the point. And many of these parables are about topics that defy words that are too big for general human understanding. Concepts like faith, the kingdom of heaven, God himself. We don't have a word vast enough to convey infinity. The concept is too hard conceptually for human words to describe it plainly and to describe what infinity means when we're dealing with it. So we have parables that help us. Parables can persuade. A story that rings true can make sense to people in a way that commands or. Or technical descriptions might not. So let's look at some parables. They are so different. I feel like a man on the beach collecting seashells. They sort of look the same, and they have similar features, you know. Yes, this is a seashell. But then you look closely and you see just how variable they are. Here's one. The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree so that the birds come and perch in its branches. Okay? What is the man doing there in that parable? The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, okay? It's a small seed, and when it grows, it becomes huge. But then we have a man took, which a man took and planted in his field. What is the man even doing there? He doesn't do anything else. He took a planet to feel. Okay, but can't you just say, like a mustard seed? Which you. Which just drop that part out. Mark drops the man from the story. Mark doesn't bother with a guy planting in his field. Mark's version is again, he said, what shall we say the kingdom of God is like? Or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade. Yet when planted, you don't need to say which a man took and planted in his field. It's like a pseudo story. Mark continues with many similar parables. Jesus spoke the word to them as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything. How interesting is that? You could write the narrative with the man. You could make him a person, give him a few features. You could say, a man took a mustard seed out to the garden. His neighbors all said, why bother with such a small seed? Ha ha. You are wasting your time, you fool. Do you not want to have bigger plants than that? That could have been the story that would have given the man some purpose. Matthew says, we don't need to make this man a big character. That's not the point. We'll just say a man took the seed and planted it in his field, and then we'll just kind of move on. And Mark says, we don't need a man in a hair at all. Matthew, we'll just say when the seed is planted, it becomes big. And yet both of these are parables. Here's another parable from Matthew that's barely a story. The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about 60 pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough. Right? Why do we have that woman there? Can't you just say it's like yeast that you can mix into flour until it works all through the dough? Doesn't that explain what you're trying to explain? We all know what it's like when you drop a little food coloring into something and it all gets worked through. Or you put some yeast and it works all its way through into the dough. Okay, here's another. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had. And bought that field again. The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. Are you getting a sense of the kingdom of heaven yet? Do you know what it is and what you should do? The very first parable, Matthew, chapter 5, verses 14 to 16, tells you something about what you should do as a Christian. You are the light of the world. It says a town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. The second parable in the New Testament is one of my favorites. Do not judge or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when all of the time there's a plank in your own eye, you hypocrite. First take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. That's Matthew 7, chapter 7, verses 1 to 5. This could be a completely secular parable, right? You could have the sawdust in the brother's eye and the log or the plank in the other brother's eye. Like I said, even when things aren't specifically about religious, it tells us about the religion. It doesn't have to be. Just because it could be secular doesn't mean that it's not importantly part of the Bible. Okay, told this story before, but it's on my mind again. When I was reading a book to my son, Dr. Seuss Book. There's a walket in my pocket with all those cute monsters and there's a wasket in my basket and all that azer upon the chair, the little Susan creature riding along, hiding and so on. My 3 year old enjoyed the book. These monsters are for little ones. They're more cute than scary. And then there was one that actually freaked him out. There's a zug under the rug and you don't see the zug. There's no. It's not like this one has a ferocious face or Is a hashtag big claws or anything? It's just a lump under the rug. Unseen, in a shadowy room, a darkened room. And my son was terrified by this page. And he immediately turned the page and he looked at me with. With fear in his eyes, like, dad, what are you doing? What are you doing making me look at this? I probably won't sleep tonight. That was the look he gave me. Sometimes I get an error of that with the parables. These things are mysterious that I'm telling you about people. They're unfathomable and they're not to be described. That's why I'm telling you the parable. We can only come at them obliquely, but not directly. But coming at them obliquely has got more power than if I tried to explain it to you directly. Think about the dilemma that Jesus had. If one is divine and can speak directly to God, how does one describe heaven to a mortal or hell? How does one explain faith and its mysteries? How does one put into words a concept like eternal love and omniscience and omnipotence or the end days? Well, here's Jesus doing so in his own fashion. He says once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. End quote. There's a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth in the end times. Weeping, I get gnashing of teeth. Have you seen groups of people doing that together in torment? Do you think the same people were weeping and gnashing teeth? Or were there some weepers and some teeth gnashers? I think it has to be one or the other, right? You're only weeping or you're gnashing your teeth. I guess if you're gnashing your teeth, you might be weeping. Well, anyway, why not weeping and moaning, weeping and clutching your head in agony, Weeping and stumbling to the ground, or weeping and screaming in pain and desperation. Weeping gets the thumbs up that makes it. But gnashing of teeth? Well, apparently it's on its way. Who am I to judge? Okay. In the Parable of the sower, Matthew, chapter 13, verses 1 to 23, Jesus tells us about the end times, about faith, about Making into heaven. And about parables themselves, here's what we hear. That same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying, a farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil where it produced a crop a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear. The disciples came to him and asked, why do you speak to the people in parables? He replied, because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables, Though seeing, they do not see, though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah. You will be ever hearing, but never understanding. You will be ever seeing, but never perceiving. For this people's heart has become calloused. They hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them. But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For truly, I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it. Listen then to what the parable of the sower means. When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the Evil One comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word. But the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop yielding a hundred sixty or thirty times what was sown. End quote. That's the explanation. That's what it sounds like when Jesus delivers a parable, describes why he's delivering parables, and then explains the parable. I've got lots more parables here, but I see we're running long on time, so I'm going to skip over the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. Another one about explaining God's approach and how to apply that to your everyday life. Or the Parable of the Two Sons, which is a nice message. Could also be a secular message. Words to live by. Also the Parable of the Heart of Man. Something similar. The Parable of the Faithful versus the Wicked Servant. All these are worth reading. I just don't have time to read them all here. The Parable of the Marriage Feast. It's a little harder to extrapolate the meaning from that one. For me, anyway, the Parable of the Friend at Midnight. Again, I can come up with an interpretation. They don't always lend themselves to it in a direct way. I have questions. I have questions about some of these Parable of the Lost Coin. But let's play some hits. Here's a couple that are as close to the heart of Christianity as just about anything can be. Maybe this Sermon on the Mount is the only one that could come close to the next two or three. I'm going to read here the Parable of the Prodigal son. Luke, chapter 15, verses 11 to 32. Jesus continued, There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have food to spare? And here I am starving to death. I will set out and go back to my father and say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants. So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, quick, bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate, for this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate. Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. Your brother has come, the servant replied, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound. The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, look, all these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him. My son, the father said, you are always with me and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. End quote. It's the sheep, isn't it? It's the one who's lost. The 99 who are fined. That's the older brother. It's a way of understanding faith and forgiveness. Don't be jealous of the sinner who has repented and is now part of the church. Don't be resentful. Accept that this is part of the deal. Embrace the newcomers, they've made it here. And if you are a sinner, don't worry that you've missed your chance. You can repent. God will love you too. Here's another fundamental tenet of mean it. Don't just show it ostentatiously be it. This is a quick one. Parable of the Pharisee and the Text Collector this comes From Luke chapter 18, verses 9 through 14. To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable, two men went up to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, God, I thank you that I am not like other people, robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get. But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. End quote. Humble. Don't brag about your Christianity. Don't brag that you go to church more than anybody else, or that you do this or that. There's no room for bragging in this world. Not for humans to brag, anyway. Humble yourself. Do you think that message has maybe gotten a little bit lost? Hmm. I'll leave it to you to decide. And finally, we come to the Goat of parables. I think the greatest of all time, the Good Samaritan. Find it in Luke, chapter 10, verses 25 to 37. The Parable of the Good Samaritan. On one occasion, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. Teacher, he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life? What is written in the law? He replied, how do you read it? He answered, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. You have answered correctly. Jesus replied, do this and you will live. But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, and who is my neighbor? Let's pause here. I'm going to interrupt this, because this is a key part of this story. And who is my neighbor? You can hear this guy, an expert in the law. We hear. This is a lawyer's question, right? It's also a Socratic question. There's a reason why the Socratic method is popular in law schools. There's validity to it, but it can also be annoying. Why do I say validity? Well, laws are language. And words and words have different meanings with different interpretations. That's why we have lawyers to settle disputes. And not just that, but to make arguments on behalf of those involved so we can hear the strongest arguments on behalf of both and find some justice in there. Parentheses. Hopefully we can find some justice. If the rule says no vehicles may be driven in the park and some drunk, wild man is driving his van through the park, terrorizing children on the playground. Well, we can. We can guess that he broke the law. He should be arrested. That's what the lawmakers had in mind. Don't try joy racing with your pals. These roads and paths are not to be used that way. It's a park. Want people to feel safe, not be run down by vehicles or hear the noise or get all the exhaust. Okay, let's say a fire breaks out in the middle of the park. All the trees are going to burn down. The fire truck shows up, sees the sign. What the. No vehicles in the park, Says the driver, I can't break the law. Well, the fire truck driver isn't going to think that. He's going to trust that there will be an exception. Vehicles must have been defined to exclude. Right. Whoever made the law, the entity that made the law. The lawmakers must have excluded wheelchairs and ambulances and fire trucks from the definition of vehicles. And if they didn't, in the American system, the judges will. So here's the lawyer, the expert in the law, probably Mosaic law, but still, I like the idea that he's a lawyer working down the street. Hung out his shingle, has his methods. Sitting here goes to hear the master teacher, and he says, aha. Help my neighbor. What is that? My next door neighborhood. Everyone on my street, my town. Surely there are limits. How did you define neighbor? Where are the lines drawn? So let's go back to Jesus. Response to that? In reply, Jesus said, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was, and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day, he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. Look after him, he said, and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have. Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers? The expert in the law replied, the one who had mercy on him. Jesus told him, go and do likewise. That's A beautiful story. It's a beautiful parable. It tells you what you need to know about Christ and Christians as they should be, and Christianity as it should be. When Christians aren't doing this, it's fair to question why this is a parable that is very hard to get wrong. It's pretty clear, right? And yet it is all too often ignored in my view. What is this parable saying? Be good to people. Clearly, be good to people who need it. How is neighbor defined? Those next door in your town, in your country? No, it's everyone, isn't it? Even those who don't look like you, don't speak the same language, don't come from the same place. But it's even more than that. It's not even defining neighbor based on the other person and where he or she is from, where they live and in proximity or anything like that. Jesus switched the definition. Did you notice that? He switched it? Who is my neighbor? You start looking around. What is it about those other people that make them my neighbor? Jesus switched it. He's. He doesn't look at the person in need who was attacked by robbers. He looks at the person who can help. He describes three people. Two of them didn't help, one did. He says, which of these three do you think was a neighbor? A neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers? He's not defining neighbor by the man who fell. He's defining neighbor by the man who helped. It's not that. He's saying. I'm going to say that neighbor is everyone in the world, no matter how close to you they live. He. He says, your job is to be the neighbor. You want me to tell you why this person and that person is your neighbor? No, no, no, no. Neighbor comes from you, comes from within. Your job is to be the neighbor, to be neighborly. Being a good neighbor radiates out from you wherever you are, to wherever you can reach. The person on the other end isn't part of the definition. They're human. That's enough. We don't look for who's in and who's out. We're not even looking at them and their qualities and characteristics and past conduct. We're looking. My friend, my lawyer friend, my friends who are listening to this parable, we're looking at you move into some darker areas. The Good Samaritan is a parable that's bathed in light. Let's look at some shadows. There are some parables in the Gospel of Thomas. Are you familiar with the Gospel of Thomas, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Thomas. Well, no, nobody says that. Right. Because it's one of the Gnostic gospels. Thomas, the Gospel of Thomas didn't make the cut. We found it later. The elders didn't select it. They voted not to include the Gospel of Thomas in the New Testament alongside of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And maybe the parables explain why. Here's one from the book of Thomas called the parable of the Killer. Others call it the parable of the Assassin. And sometimes they put it in brackets, the wisest as they're cushioning the blow. This parable is a bit nuts, frankly. In the parable of the Killer, Jesus is supposed to have said, the Kingdom of the Father is like a certain man who wanted to kill a powerful man in his own house. He drew his sword and stuck it into the wall in order to find out whether his hand could carry through. Then he slew the powerful man. Holy smokes. That's the Kingdom of the Father. A man practicing killing. Would Jesus glorify murder like this? Probably not, from what we know, right? He didn't like rich people much, or powerful people, I guess. So maybe this fits. Probably not. He says in Mark, as we saw, that evil comes from the heart of man, including murders. I think he's against them, not in Thomas. Now others say, well, this is an analogy. It's not glorifying murder. It's talking about a David and Goliath situation. And the lesson here is the Kingdom of the Father is that first you practice or you take precautions. You test yourself, then you go do it. You work in your own home, and then you're ready for the show. Maybe that's like praying, being pious, being humble. And then you're ready for the big time, the end days, when it's time to be called to heaven. First you have to practice. Then when your faith is truly tested, you'll be ready. Okay, but there are other ways to talk about practicing without talking about drawing your sword, sticking into the wall to find out whether you're can carry it through, and then going out and doing the same thing to a powerful man. Thomas has another one that isn't quite as shocking. This one could probably fit into the New Testament just fine, but it's still a little bleak. I'll pass it along. It's not. Doesn't take too long. The parable of the empty jar. The Kingdom of the Father is like a certain woman who was carrying a jar full of meal when she was walking on the road, still some distance from home. The handle of the jar broke and the meal emptied out behind her on the road. She did not realize it. She had noticed no accident. When she reached her house, she set the jar down and found it empty. What is that? What is that saying? You can live a whole life without noticing what you're losing, what you lack. It's not until the end of your destination that you see the emptiness of what you've been carrying. Oh, words to live by. Okay, while we're in the shadows, let me give you some other theories about parables. I'm not going to dive into these arguments too much, but I wanted to let you know that they're out there. They're part of the subject of parables that is currently being discussed. There's a school of thought that all of the parables are Jewish stories updated, that they're not original to Jesus. Maybe that could be another episode, because I love watching stories change over time. You can learn a lot from the contrasts as we saw in our examples. Comparing the different parables from Matthew and Mark and comparing different versions of the Rooster Prince here is a very fascinating idea, also much discussed today. The parables create the events of the New Testament and vice versa. Now, what does that mean? Remember that the Gospels were all written decades after Jesus lived. That's a lot of time for memories to morph and narratives to be added. Interpretations, gloss. Let's look at the Parable of Lazarus. It's the only parable that uses a specific name for the person. I believe this comes in Luke, chapter 16, verses 19 to 31. The rich man In Lazarus There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried in Hades, where he was in torment. He looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, father Abraham, have pity on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire. But Abraham replied, son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this between us and you, a great chasm has been set in place so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us. He answered, then I beg you, Father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them so that they will not also come to this place of torment. Abraham replied, they have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them. No, Father Abraham, he said, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent. He said to him, if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead. End quote. Now we jump to the Book of John and we see the name Lazarus again. This time we don't get a parable. Or do we? Here's what we get. The death of Lazarus. Now, a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, Lord, the one you love is sick. When he heard this, Jesus said, this sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory, so that God's Son may be glorified through it. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. And then he said to his disciples, let us go back to Judea. But, Rabbi, they said, a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back. Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light. After he had said this, he went on to tell them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. But I am going there to wake him up. His disciples replied, lord, if he sleeps, he will get better. Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, lazarus is dead. And for your sake, I am glad I was not there so that you may believe. But let us go to him. Then Thomas said to the rest of the disciples, let us also go, that we may die with him. On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now, Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem. And many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him. But Mary stayed at home. Lord, Martha said to Jesus, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now. God will give you whatever you ask. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha answered, I know he will rise again in the resurrection. At the last day, Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die. And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this? Yes, Lord, she replied. I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who has come into the world. After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. The teacher is here, she said, and is asking for you. When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews, who had been with Mary in the house comforting her, Noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. Where have you laid him? He asked. Come and see, Lord, they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, see how he loved him. But some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying? Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. Take away the stone, he said. But, Lord, said Martha, the sister of the dead man, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days. Then Jesus said, did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God? So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me. But I said this for the benefit of the people standing here. That they may believe that you sent me. When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, lazarus, come out. The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, take off the grave clothes and let him go. Now most commentators say, hey, two Lazaruses. People get confused about this. They always think it's the same person, but it's not. It's two different people. But the question has been asked. Kind of remarkable, isn't it? Two men who are brought back from the dead. One in a parable, one in actions attributed to Jesus. One referred to. Even if he was brought back from the dead, they wouldn't believe that's in the parable. And the other is just a story, actions attributed to Jesus. Although, did you hear the little parable in this? This is. This is how. This is why people argue whether John has parables or not. There was a little parable in there where Jesus said, are there not 12 hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world's light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light. Some people say that's a parable. He snuck that one in. John has parables. Most people say that's not quite a parable. But notice there are no parables in John. Let's say not like we. Not the. Like the. The big ones. Is it possible that we have some conflation here? Did John take the story of Lazarus, which Jesus and maybe others told, and. And turn it into something that Jesus actually did? Or was there some confusion? Did John, inspired by the parable, invent the miracle? And if that's true, might that be true of other miracles in the book of John as well? Could it be that Jesus walking on water and turning water into wine and healing the man born blind and multiplying the loaves? What if those things had been parables spoken by Jesus perhaps, and John either took the words and ran with them, or was confused about what had actually happened. Maybe the news and information that reached him had distorted it before he received it. Maybe if John had heard the Jewish tale, we'd have Jesus taking a rooster and turning him into a prince. Is that what John was up to? It's blasphemous to suggest this. I know. I'm just passing along what some other blasphemers are currently arguing. John wasn't these. These weren't necessarily things that happened. These were parables that had been delivered. And Jesus. And, and. And John said, I heard that Jesus did this. Jesus says even if we raised him from the dead, they wouldn't believe. And, And John says, oh, something about raising from the dead and convincing believers. Okay. Oh, and Lazarus. Right, I got it. Here's the story. There's another way of looking at this, and that is to say that all the miracles were true and the other Gospel authors turned them into parables. John's version is the right one about Lazarus coming out. And it was Luke who said, oh, even if you did that People still wouldn't believe. Why would the gospel authors do that? Maybe because they hadn't witnessed these firsthand. Maybe they didn't believe the witnesses who claimed to have seen it. Safer to put it into words. The message will still get across, even if not the miracle mystery. Because there's a question here, right? Why didn't everybody who. I mean, here's a guy raising the dead, healing the blind and the sick. Why didn't that persuade everybody? Romans 2, everybody. So maybe the other gospel authors said, you know what? The important thing here is not that he actually did it. We all know that he could do it. The important thing is that people didn't believe it, even if it happened. So they turned that into the parable of Lazarus. Jesus raised the dead. We saw it, a man named Lazarus, but they changed it to Jesus. Jesus must have told a parable about raising the dead. And the frustration that even that wouldn't be enough. Okay, this is a long episode. We still have yet to cover the whole inspiration for this episode, the parable I received in the email. So let's take our last break. We'll come back and hear what some listener. I assume it's a listener. I assume that's why they said to tui, we'll hear what this anonymous person sent me. So here we go. Without further ado, the story that landed in my inbox. Author unknown, meaning unknown, presented without much comment, a parable. And it came to pass that a family lived in a small village with a school and a church and a bar on the edge of town. This bar had been built for retired soldiers, but it was open to all. One man, who had not been a soldier, liked to go there and drink. And when he drank, he became subject to wild mood swings. One minute laughing, and the next minute angry and ready to fight. The man had nine children and didn't like his job at the factory. But he liked the bar so much, he quit his job and spent all of his time there. At the bar. He was lucky that his wife paid his bills. This was a good situation for the man. He was happy with it. But the man's wife was not. She begged him to change his ways. We have nine children, she said. You need to stop going to the bar. Go back to your job, please, and come back to the family. We need you. But the man refused. So the woman found a job that worked longer hours. She also did all of the cooking and cleaning and raising of the children, even though the paycheck went to the man first. And he spent most of it on alcohol and food for himself. The wife made sure the children were not hungry and went to school and did their homework. She was poor and exhausted. Their house was old and needed repair. But the woman made sure that when it was raining, the children all wore raincoats. When it snowed, they all had boots. At the end of each day, she fell asleep, worn out. Her doctor told her to reduce the stress in her life, that the burden was killing her. I'm waiting for my husband to come home, she said. Then things will get better. But I've heard you also pay for his drinking at that bar, the doctor said. You're enabling his lifestyle. I do it for my children, the woman said. This is more than any person should do. You must stop for your own sake. I can't do that, the woman said. If I stop giving him money, he will leave us forever and we will no longer be a family. Every day, the children of the family ate their mother's meals and slept in the house that their mother provided. They were tucked into blankets that kept them warm at night. And sometimes the children argued with their mother. She didn't ask for anything from anyone, but she lived in a world where reality sometimes came with a price. And sometimes that meant telling the children things that they did not want to hear. Once one of the older children came home from school with bad grades, the principal called to say that the child had been getting in fights and was at risk of being expelled. The mother told him angrily that she couldn't afford to pay his bills forever and he needed to do better so he could graduate and find a way to support himself. The child knew that she was right and that it was his own fault. But it was not what he wanted to hear. So he went to the bar on the edge of town looking for his father. Hello, the father said with a big smile. Come here, son. Let me guess. That witch is bossing you around, isn't she? Yes, the child said, surprised that his father was in such a good mood. She says I need to do better in school and try harder because the family doesn't have much money. Tell her to shut up and leave you alone. The father roared. Here's money. There's plenty. And he stuffed money into the boy's shirt pocket. The child smiled. He knew the money ultimately came from his mother, but he was glad to get something that his siblings didn't have. He told himself that this was all okay and that it was his father's money to give him because it made him feel better about himself. To Think that. Then the child and the father laughed and had a good time. The father told him that it was okay for the child to do whatever the child wanted because it was important to live life in a way that maximized pleasure. The father slipped more money into the child's pocket. Because you're my favorite, he said with a wink. And he bought a glass of liquor for the child, snarling at the reluctant bartender that it was okay because he was the boy's father after all. Together, the father and the child became intoxicated, and they laughed at the boy's mother. Let her try to do the right thing. That stupid cow, the father said. There's more to life than following rules, isn't there? Right, the child said. The bartender came by and asked for payment. Put it on our tab. The father cried. My stupid wife will be here soon enough. She'll pay. Ha ha ha. See how this works, son? We have it figured out. We know how to get what we want. The bartender was disgusted. But you're a terrible father. Don't my kids have shoes? The man said. Don't they have boots? Aren't they all in school? The bartender agreed that all of these things were true. Then how can I be a terrible father? The proof is right there before you. Not a single child of mine is hungry. Ever. I'm the father of the year. And the father and son kept drinking. And the son came to believe that his father had the world figured out, and his mom was powerless to stop it from happening. The child knew that outside he was in trouble. Due to his own actions, he was going to be expelled from school. But as long as he stayed in this bar, everything would be just as he wanted it to be. And truly, I say to you that this story is not the story of a family in a small town, but the story of the people of a mighty nation. Some have even said the mightiest nation the world has ever seen. Okay, that's going to do it for the history of literature. A mysterious parable. I'm not an expert in this stuff. I have no idea what any of it means. I'm passing it along without comment. Maybe you have some ideas. If so, send them my way. You can use our comment form@historyofliterature.com we have lots of good stuff in the works. On Monday we'll talk to an expert in Shakespeare's tragic art. And on Thursday we travel back to the Chicago of the modernist period, when some small magazines were making some hay with poetry that we still read today. We'll hear about the two women who had a big part in making that happen. Mike will be here soon for a reading of a story about Chinese immigrants to America, and we'll devote some time to Edna Ferber, Zora Neale Hurston, Dylan Thomas, and Fernando Pessoa. I'm Jack Wilson. Thank you for listening, and we'll see you next time.
- [97:41]
Dan Cummins
Hey, it's Dan Cummins. If you're into the weird, the wild and the downright bizarre, check out my podcast, Time Suck. Each week I dive into shocking stories like the rise of the Nexium cult, the origins of conspiracies like Qanon, and the San Francisco witch Killer murders. With deep dives and dark humor, Time Suck brings you the stories that'll fascinate you, make you laugh, and fill your head with lots of strange facts. New episodes drop every Monday. Join the Cult of the Curious. Follow Time Suck wherever you get your podcasts.
- [98:09]
Jack Wilson
What role do books play in shaping who we are? Find out on the Five Books, the brand new podcast hosted by me, Tali Rosenblatt Cohen. Each week I sit down with acclaimed Jewish authors to discuss the top five books that have shaped them. Hear from notable guests like Booker Prize finalist Yael van der Vowden and literary influencer Zibby Owens as we delve deep into what it means to live as a Jewish American today. Join me and listen to the Five Books wherever you get your podcasts.