Saturday, September 17, 2011

Pick a Parable

Being faithful followers, loyal believers requires a preternatural confidence and courage. Saying that I am Christian is easier than being a Christian. This is the age of short cuts, the time of leisure. We search for things and people who display an air of ease. Each day we make short journeys, sometimes alone, sometimes with others. We have conversations. We share this and that. We speak in metaphors, we make allusions, use metaphors. To make our points we use anthropomorphism, alliteration, hyperbole, personification, simile and other rhetorical devices. We use verbal language to communicate.

Jesus Christ did the same thing. As we use metaphors he used parables. He could provide something for his audience to hear and to think about. He could provide something to capture his audience’s attention and to educate them.

A parable suggests more than literal meanings of the words. A parable is a mystery, a riddle, a private language to be decoded.

Each parable provides clues for interpretation. Meaning always accompany parables. Interpretation of parables often requires reflection or reading notes in modern Bibles, listening attentively to homilies during Mass. The message within Jesus’s parables remain applicable, remain instructive for our modern lives.

As Christians we are always challenged, always asked to be alert, always asked to be prepared.

Jesus Christ used parables to teach his followers, to prepare their hearts, minds, and souls for the difficult choices, for the responsibilities of being faithful, truthful, and loving followers of God.

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