Ravens and Flowers is based upon Matthew 6.25-33
Parable or Not?
The first question is: are these even parables? Are they sayings instead? Some commentators (for example, Paula Gooder) place them in the ‘not-parables’ category. Birds and flowers, frankly, live in the real world. They don’t need to be placed in the narrative, ‘story’ world of the parables.
However, it depends on what a ‘parable’ is. The birds and the flowers certainly don’t follow the narrative pattern of ‘setting/action/results’ that the major parables use. In fact, the whole point of the flowers is that they don’t need to take any action: they just are. But I’d argue that these two little examples are, in fact, two ‘mini-parables’, that Jesus’ listeners were being invited to see the living world as parables told by God. There was no need for an imaginary setting for the ‘story’, because Jesus’ hearers were being invited to compare themselves to real creatures in the real world. The action would then be theirs; so would the result.
Old Testament Similes
Lilies can grow naturally in Israel, which is why I replaced ‘lily’ with ‘wildflower’ – in the UK, lilies are better known as a cultivated flower. Lilies in the Old Testament are frequently used as a simile – for example, the prophet Hosea says Israel will ‘blossom like the lily’ (Hosea 14:5). Changing lily to wildflower keeps the image of something that lives by just doing what God’s created it to do, without any human intervention, but it does lose that ‘lily = Israel’ connotation. I’d use wildflower where we expect to have one chance to tell people this passage, and keep lily for situations where we can explain the connection to Israel.
Ravens
In Matthew, Jesus says ‘birds’, but Luke 12:24 uses ‘ravens’. Ravens are an unclean bird, a bird that cannot be eaten – but in the Old Testament they bring food to Elijah (1 Kings 17:2-6). In Job 38:41 they’re mentioned again; this time as birds that God looks after. Why did Luke use ravens? Possibly because he was interested in those occasions when Jesus implied that Gentiles could be part of God’s nation. The ‘unclean’ birds both obey God’s commands and are part of his world, under his care.
Again, ravens are very common in the UK and are birds that survive without human intervention. An additional advantage is that they are very much seen as birds with a, shall we say, ‘otherworldly’ connection. From the Ravens at the Tower to old Celtic legends, it’s easy to accept ravens as being especially connected to God.
What’s clearest in these mini-parables is that Jesus is placing the requirement for action on us. Instead of Israel blossoming like a lily, we should actively try to be more lily like. When we look at God looking after baby ravens, we should try to have that same confidence. Not we are like the ravens, but we should be like the ravens.
Worrying about survival
It’s very tempting to think that things were simpler back then, but in fact worrying about paying the bills, feeding yourself and your children and having decent clothes were probably even more of a concern in Jesus’ day. Judea and Galilee were heavily taxed, going into debt could result in enslavement and even a simple linen shirt could cost nearly two years wages for a day-labourer. The temptation was to worry. Trusting in God was the difficult thing; in these mini-parables we’re left with a story of people who worry about survival – and then let those worries crowd out God.
As far as we know, ravens and flowers don’t worry. In a world where anxiety is one of our biggest problems, maybe we should be more like them.
Previous Parable: The Three Employees (Matthew 25:14-30)
Next Parable: The Two Daughters (Matthew 21:28-32)
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