Christianity retold
The Big Parade is based on Matthew 25:1-12
God’s nation will be like ten girls from a girl’s marching band who were in the welcome parade for a royal visit. Now, five of them were thoughtless and five of them were sensible. The five thoughtless ones left their enormous flags in the band’s van, the five sensible ones took their flags with them.
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Counting the Cost is based on Luke 14: 28-33
This section of Luke’s Gospel comprises two mini-parables. We don’t know whether Jesus always told them together, or whether he sometimes split them up. Both are about the cost of discipleship – one about losing all our money, the other about losing our lives, families and homes.
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Counting the Cost is based on Luke 14: 28-33
Suppose one of you wants to build a gated community? Won’t you first sit down with your plans and your calculator and figure out an estimate for the cost? Won’t you see if you have enough money to see the project through?
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The Teacher’s Voice is based on John 10:1-5
The country I live in has been shaped by over a thousand years of Christianity. One result is that the image of the shepherd-leader is very familiar. Another is that – even in an urban environment – the image of the shepherd is very popular. TV programmes about shepherds, for example, get reasonable viewing figures.
That creates a problem for parables about shepherds, because shepherding in the modern UK is very different from shepherding in Judea and Galilee. In the UK, like much of Northern Europe, pasture is easy to find. Like much of Northern Europe, wool was historically a major (and very profitable) industry. The Northern European shepherd doesn’t have to search for pasture; instead, they walk behind the flock, driving them in the direction they need to go.
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The Teacher’s Voice is based on John 10:1-5
Look, I’m telling you, someone who doesn’t go in to school by the gate, but climbs over the fence: they’re a thief – or worse. Who comes in by the gate? The teacher! The receptionist is glad to let him in! Then he goes and calls his class by name; he leads them, whether it’s in school or out on a school trip.
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The Coffee Shop Assistant is based on Luke 17: 7-10
This master-servant parable can no longer be told without an explanation. Without some kind of commentary, sermon, or discussion, the hearers are likely to think that the master is cruel and demanding. The poor servant is both unfairly treated and downtrodden, with no sense of self-worth.
When there is time to unpack the parable, this is fine. When there isn’t time to unpack, to show that this isn’t the case, an ‘instantly understandable’ version might get closer to Jesus’ meaning.
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