Amy-Jill Levine -- Short Stories By Jesus

p. 3

Religion has been defined as designed to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. We do well to think of the parables of Jesus as doing the afflicting. Therefore, if we hear a parable and think, “I really like that” or, worse, fail to take any challenge, we are not listening well enough.

p. 13

What is infectiously appealing about Jesus is that He likes to celebrate. He is consistently meeting people not at the altar but at table, whether as host, guest, or the body and blood to be consumed.... He is indiscriminate in his dining companions, who include Pharisees, tax collectors, sinners, and even an upscale family consisting of two sisters and a formerly dead brother. The Feeding of the Five Thousand is the one miracle story recounted in all four Gospels. To be in his presence is not only to be challenged and comforted; it is to celebrate at table.

Lost Sheep
p.41

The parable [Lost Sheep] presents a main figure—the owner, not the sheep—who realizes he has lost something of value to him. He notices the single missing sheep among the ninety-nine in the wilderness. For him, the missing sheep, whether it is one of a hundred or a million, makes the flock incomplete. He engages in an exaggerated search, and when he has found the sheep, he engages in an equally exaggerated sense of rejoicing, first by himself and then with his friends and neighbors. If this fellow can experience such joy in finding one of a hundred sheep, what joy do we experience when we find what we have lost? More, if he can realize that one of his hundred has gone missing, do we know what or whom we have lost? When was the last time we took stock, or counted up up who was present rather than simply counted on their presence? Will we take responsibility for the losing, and what effort will we make to find it—or him or her—again?

p.43-44

As the flock of one hundred is incomplete at ninety-nine, so the silver coin collection is incomplete at nine. It is easier to notice one item missing from a collection of ten than one out of a hundred, but it is still difficult to distinguish nine coins from ten in a pile. the woman, like the owner of the flock, counted. When she found a coin missing, she went all out for the search.

Lost Son(s)
p.69

If we hold in abeyance, at least for the moment, the rush to read repenting and forgiving in to the parable, then it does something more profound than repeat well-known messages. It provokes us with simple exhortations. Recognize that the one you have lost may be right in your own household. Do whatever it takes to find the lost and then celebrate with others, both so that you can share the joy and so that the others will help prevent the recovered from ever being lost again. Don’t wait until you receive an apology; you may never get one. Don’t wait until you can muster the ability to forgive; may may never find it. Don’t stew in your sense of being ignored, for there is nothing that can be done to retrieve the past.

Instead, go have lunch. Go celebrate, and invite others to join you. If the repenting and the forgiving come later, so much the better. And if not, you still will have done what is necessary. You will have begun a process that might lead to reconciliation. You will have opened a second chance for wholeness. Take advantage of resurrection—it is unlikely to happen twice.

Good Samaritan
p.93-94

[Regarding the possibility that the priest in the Good Samaritan story avoided the corpse due to uncleaness laws]
Josephus sees Jews as expected to attend to a corpse on the roadside, not to pass it by.

The Mishnah, Nazir 7.1, reads: “A high priest or a Nazerite [a person under a vow of utmost purity] may not contract uncleanness because of their dead [relatives], but they may contract uncleanness because of a neglected corpse.” The Babylonian Talmud is even stronger: “As long as there are no other people to look after the burial of a corpse, the duty is incumbent on the first Jew that passes by, without exception, to perform the burial” (Nazir 43b; Jerusalem Talmud, Nazir 56a). Judaism still takes this mandate seriously. That is why Jews stood vigil at Ground Zero until every corpse was recovered. Burying the dead is one of the highest mitzvot, most important commandments in Judasim, for it is one of the few acts that cannot be repaid by the person who benefits from it.

Dutch Sheets -- Watchman Prayer

p. 141—a paraphrase of Hebrew 4:12-13

“The Word of God is alive—actively alive—it is filled with the life of God and is full of His energy. It toils and works in us and is operative and effectual. It is sharp enough and fully competent (adequate, sufficient, ample, has enough ability) to channel itself through the various areas of the soul and spirit, reaching its desired end and attaining its desired goal. It is fully adequate! It will arrive and will accomplish its goal once it gets there! It will divide between the soul and spirit, apportioning to each what is needed as it critiques the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” ... “when necessary it lays the knife to the throat of anything found in the soul that is contrary to His Word.”