Tag Archives: parables

Absolute mercy

Josephs’ brothers were afraid that his mercy was not real, because they could not imagine being that merciful themselves. The servant was afraid that his king would change his mind and call in his debt after all, and his mistrust of mercy, and his failure to multiply it, made him do terrible things, and led to his own downfall, and perpetuated the systems of injustice that surrounded him. Continue reading

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Preachers, politicians, and parables

In St Paul’s finest moment, he asserts that “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will … Continue reading

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Parabolic

It is often said, but bears repeating, that we have a tendency to tame Jesus’ parables. Familiarity breeds, if not contempt, at least complacency. When we stop hearing them as stories, and instead hear only the interpretation and allegorization and reenactment … Continue reading

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Year C Proper 21: The rich man and Lazarus

So we have reached the finale of the season of rich man parables. You will remember that in these parables, the phrase “a rich man” is used to indicate not simply someone who has a lot of stuff, but someone … Continue reading

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