Fresh Eyes and Ears on the Parables of Jesus

 During a walk yesterday with Ruth, my wife, I shared some of the revelations from the book Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi, yet another insightful volume by Amy-Jill Levine. Levine is a Jewish New Testament professor, which means that she brings a remarkable and challenging perspective to the study of Christian scriptures. In Short Stories by Jesus Levine gets us to grapple with a dozen of the parables of Jesus. 

As I've read in preparation I realize that these stories, some of which are lengthier while others are not much more than a few phrases have been "hidden in plain sight" because of Christian assumptions. Jesus the Jew would have known that he wasn't inventing parables -- they are part of the Jewish tradition -- and he wasn't intending to denigrate his faith tradition. Unfortunately that's the way parables are often presented from Christian pulpits, for which we should repent. 

Levine wants us to appreciate the genius of Jesus's parables and how they were meant to "afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted." This book is ten years old so is not directly addressed to growing anti-Judaism, nor to our societial bewilderment with how to address the growing issues of poverty, homelessness, and addiction. It is timely, just the same, and the parables can serve as a corrective to suspicion, disdain, and hatred. 

In another time, Lent was a period when priests and other clerics often encouraged conspiracy theories about Jews, sometimes inviting violence. This Lenten study is an opportunity to tell a different story about Jews and Judaism, to experience the parables in ways that move beyond our supposed familiarity. Ruth observed that she's at a stage of life when she welcomes the shake-up of preconceived notions, and I would have to agree.