We have started to look at the parables told by Jesus. A little general review about parables:
- Parables were a teaching tool used in the Jewish tradition that Jesus employed for his teaching.
- Parables are generally intended to be taken as a whole to illustrate one specific point, not to be dissected like allegories.
- Our purpose in looking at the parables is to ask how they speak to us in our lives. What do they illuminate about ourselves, and our relationships with others, and with the Divine?
“The Friend at Night,” found in Luke 11:5-8
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+11&version=NIV
5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity[e] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
Now consider the broader context in which Jesus told this parable. It comes immediately after Jesus teaching his disciples “The Lord’s Prayer,” and it is followed by the famous verse “Ask and it will be given you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Does this context change the way you’ve been thinking about the parable?
Sit with this for a little while. Savor it. Here are some questions to consider:
What is the one main point you think Jesus may have been trying to make?
Do you think the point centers more on the asking, or more on the answering?
Which character do you feel more drawn to, more sympathy with, or more akin to?
Is there anything about this parable that bothers you? If so, what and why?
Does this say more about prayer, or more about the nature of God?
How might this relate to the directive to “pray without ceasing” which we considered in earlier sessions of AARE?
Does this have any personal meaning to you or seem to apply in any way to your own spiritual life?
Here is a second, closely related parable: “The Unjust Judge” aka “The Persistent Widow,” found in Luke 18: 1-8
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+18&version=NIV
Once again, sit with this story for a while, and then consider the same questions:
What is the one main point you think Jesus may have been trying to make?
Do you think the point centers more on the asking, or more on the answering?
Which character do you feel more drawn to, more sympathy with, or more akin to?
Is there anything about this parable that bothers you? If so, what and why?
Does this say more about prayer, or more about the nature of God?
In addition, how do you think these two parables compare?
Are they making the same point, or are there differences?
What about the differences in larger context around the stories?
Does this have any personal meaning to you or seem to apply in any way to your own spiritual life?
- Parables were a teaching tool used in the Jewish tradition that Jesus employed for his teaching.
- Parables are generally intended to be taken as a whole to illustrate one specific point, not to be dissected like allegories.
- Our purpose in looking at the parables is to ask how they speak to us in our lives. What do they illuminate about ourselves, and our relationships with others, and with the Divine?
“The Friend at Night,” found in Luke 11:5-8
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+11&version=NIV
5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity[e] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
Now consider the broader context in which Jesus told this parable. It comes immediately after Jesus teaching his disciples “The Lord’s Prayer,” and it is followed by the famous verse “Ask and it will be given you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Does this context change the way you’ve been thinking about the parable?
Sit with this for a little while. Savor it. Here are some questions to consider:
What is the one main point you think Jesus may have been trying to make?
Do you think the point centers more on the asking, or more on the answering?
Which character do you feel more drawn to, more sympathy with, or more akin to?
Is there anything about this parable that bothers you? If so, what and why?
Does this say more about prayer, or more about the nature of God?
How might this relate to the directive to “pray without ceasing” which we considered in earlier sessions of AARE?
Does this have any personal meaning to you or seem to apply in any way to your own spiritual life?
Here is a second, closely related parable: “The Unjust Judge” aka “The Persistent Widow,” found in Luke 18: 1-8
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+18&version=NIV
Once again, sit with this story for a while, and then consider the same questions:
What is the one main point you think Jesus may have been trying to make?
Do you think the point centers more on the asking, or more on the answering?
Which character do you feel more drawn to, more sympathy with, or more akin to?
Is there anything about this parable that bothers you? If so, what and why?
Does this say more about prayer, or more about the nature of God?
In addition, how do you think these two parables compare?
Are they making the same point, or are there differences?
What about the differences in larger context around the stories?
Does this have any personal meaning to you or seem to apply in any way to your own spiritual life?