tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27139233.post3954308879910432780..comments2023-12-22T19:01:28.512-08:00Comments on Holy Nativity Orthodox Church: Going The Extra MileFr. Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16981965403145920704noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27139233.post-41657641043355443152013-02-20T11:38:15.559-08:002013-02-20T11:38:15.559-08:00Dear Peter,
This is an excellent point. I think o...Dear Peter,<br />This is an excellent point. I think one of the purposes of such parables is to (by allegory) say that God is not predictable, not manageable. The God with whom we have to do is both harsher and more merciful that we expect: A paradox that we can let work on us and that might just break through our theological boxes and introduce us to the Living God.Fr. Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16981965403145920704noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27139233.post-15159367087825422252013-02-19T14:25:50.415-08:002013-02-19T14:25:50.415-08:00I'm not sure how I'd connect this to the o...I'm not sure how I'd connect this to the other parables, but it has long seemed to me that the Parable of the Talents needs to be read in light of the fact that Jewish law forbade the collecting of interest (at least among fellow Jews) -- and this does, indeed, cast the Master of that Parable in a rather harsher light than we find in most traditional interpretations of the parable.<br /><br />The Master looks even harsher when we consider that Luke's version of this parable (the Parable of the Minas) draws a pretty explicit parallel between this Master and the murderous Herodian dynasty.<br /><br />So when the Master says, "Whoever has will be given more, and whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them," it is hard not to hear that as just another version of "The rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer."<br /><br />None of this is to suggest that the Master couldn't possibly be a stand-in for God, on some level; Jesus also told parables in which he compared God to an unjust judge, etc. And there is certainly a long tradition (going back to the New Testament itself) of applying new meanings to the scriptures that the authors of those scriptures never would have imagined.<br /><br />But I'm reluctant to breeze past the primary meanings, and I wonder how an awareness of the more difficult parts of this parable might illuminate the others with which it is grouped here. (For example, I have long thought that it wouldn't be too hard to link this parable to the sheep-and-goats passage through a sort of "social justice" lens.)<br /><br />Plus, I think ignoring the Jewish laws against interest while reading this parable would make about as much sense as ignoring the Jewish laws against pork while reading the Parable of the Prodigal Son. It might not be the detail that the parable hinges on, but without knowing what the Old Testament says about such things, you miss an important nuance.Peter T Chattawayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07395937367596387523noreply@blogger.com