I'm sure some of you have seen The Passion. I have not. I didn't want to see it for a number of reasons--mainly because I thought it would be too gory for me. Well, I have been reading The Case For Christ to answer my friend Sadie's questions, and I came upon a description of the experience of crucifixion that was enough in itself. I was left in tears, crying out to God, "Why, oh why, did you go through that for us?!!"

::shudders:: I was going to write it in here... But never mind. I don't want to go through it again.

Instead I will write something interesting I discovered while reading a book required for my Biblical Studies class.

The parables Jesus told were for the purpose of catching the people they were told to by surprise. For example, the parable of the Good Samaritan. It was told to a teacher of the law, one who despised Samaritans... Thought them no more than wretches... And so the ending of the story suprised him.

Parables like this one kind of lose that quality of "catching" us because we have heard them so many times, and we know the outcomes and everything. So in my book they gave an example of one of the parables rewritten in today's language to retrieve that "catching" quality. This is for all you churchgoers:

"A family of disheveled, unkempt individuals was stranded by the side of a major road on a Sunday morning. They were in obvious distress. The mother was sitting on a tattered suitcase, hair uncombed, clothes in disarray, with a glazed look to her eyes, holding a smelly, poorly clad, crying baby. The father was unshaved, dressed in coveralls, a look of despair on his face as he tried to corral two other youngsters. Beside them was a run-down old car that had obviously just given up the ghost.

"Down the road came a car driven by the local bishop; he was on his way to church. And though the father of the family waved frantically, the bishop could not hold up his parishioners, so he acted as though he didn't see them.

"Soon came another car, and again the father waved furiously. But the car was driven by the president of the Kiwanis Club, and he was late for a statewide meeting of Kiwanis presidents in a nearby city. He,too, acted as though he did not see them and kept his eyes straight on the road ahead of him.

"The next car that came by was driven by an outspoken local atheist, who had never been to church in his life. When he saw the family's distress, he took them into his own car. After inquiring as to their need, he took them to a local motel, where he paid for a week's lodging while the father found work. He also paid for the father to rent a car so he could look for work and gave the mother cash for food and new clothes."

Did it "catch" you? It sure caught me!

-Stephanie

previous || next

Miss Something?

Social Anxiety with Guys - February 07, 2024

Education Expo with an ADHD Kid - February 03, 2024

Lovely Church Experience - October 22, 2023

Seek Out Community in Christ - August 29, 2023

Grieving Lost Friendships - May 08, 2023