Commentary

Commentary: The Leaflet Distributors (Matt. 20:1-16)

February 5, 2022 by P A Downs Leave a Comment

The Leaflet Distributors is based on Matthew 20: 1-16

The Original Setting

Nowadays, there are very few situations where someone would wait all day in a public place to be hired. Employers find employees by job ads, by advertising with an agency, by putting it their vacancy on an app.

The parable of the Workers in the Vineyard is a ‘kingdom of heaven’ parable. Not only is it introduced as one, ‘Come and work for me in my vineyard’ is quite blatantly building on the Old Testament’s frequent use of ‘vineyard’ as a metaphor for ‘Israel’. That metaphor is partly why I decided to change the job to ‘leafleting’; it’s quite common in mission work to go out leafleting. The other reason is that there are relatively few commercial vineyards in the UK; most of them are located in the South East of the country, where the climate is marginally suitable for grapes.

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Commentary: The Persistent Widow (Luke 18:2-8)

January 22, 2022 by P A Downs Leave a Comment

The Persistent Widow is based on Luke 18:2-8.

The judge’s job is to do justice, and by God, he will do justice by the time the widow is finished with him.
(Theology at Work Project: Persistence)

Who Would the Judge Be?

The judge in Jesus’ parable seems to be be someone who’d decide on disputes between neighbours. Other than that, it’s unclear whether he’s a ‘judge’ in the style of previous biblical judges, or a Roman appointee. The important points about him are that he doesn’t fear God (shocking, if he’s a biblical style judge) and doesn’t care what people think.

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Commentary: The Flower Seeds and the Pots (Luke 8:5-8)

January 8, 2022 by P A Downs Leave a Comment

Flowers in pots — Image by Pexels from Pixabay

The Flower Seeds and the Pots is based on Luke 8:5-8.

This was the first parable I retold, rather than just updated. I was writing a book which had a modern Jesus preaching in a modern London. It became very obvious, very quickly, that Jesus wouldn’t tell a parable based on First Century Middle Eastern farming practices to a bunch of modern East Enders – not if they had no previous experience of hearing it. The meaning of the parable would stay the same; the props and setting would be reset.

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Commentary – Outside the Gate (Luke 16:19-31)

December 25, 2021 by P A Downs Leave a Comment

Outside the Gate is based on Luke 16: 19-31

What is this parable about?

This parable is variously seen as a parable about rich and poor, about life after death, or about the Pharisees of Jesus’ time. The speculation that it’s about the Pharisees is mainly because this parable is told a few verses after Luke says that the Pharisees loved money.

There’s no real evidence that the Pharisees were particularly rich. The rich man in the parable has the kind of wealth that was more associated with the Sadducee group. What is possible is that Luke meant that the Pharisees bought into what we’d now call the ‘prosperity gospel’. That is, the idea that God blesses the very faithful with wealth and good health.

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Commentary – The Two Daughters (Matt. 21:28-32)

December 11, 2021 by P A Downs Leave a Comment

The Two Daughters is based upon Matthew 21.28-32

This is a very easy parable to retell in modern terms, because it uses a situation that repeats in every generation. The writer Paula Gooder jokingly calls it: ‘the parable of the wet towels’. We could even have it as: ‘the parable of the dirty socks’.

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Commentary: Ravens and Flowers

November 25, 2021 by P A Downs Leave a Comment

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.

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