A DARING PARABLE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21196, 29 November 1930, Page 27

A DARING PARABLE.

Written for the Otago’ Daily Times.

By the’ Rev. D. Gardner Miller.

__ The parables of Jesus form no inconsiderable portion of His teaching. They have a freshness and vigour, too, that neither time nor translations have withered. As stories, they are superb. As conveyers of moral and, spiritual truth they are unique, , We must always remember the distinction between a story, and a parable. A story merely depicts while a parable persuades and evokes a judgment. To read a parable is to be brought face to face, not with an alternative, but with the necessity of forming a definite opinion. The parable itself must be a well-balanced story bringing into relief .the main .ideas of the speaker. N Its effect upon the reader is to mqke him, form a judgment on the main ideas. If you read the parables of Jesus in that light you will find them of endless in--terest and of great spiritual insight and worth. You will also find yourself forming judgments on God and man and life that will not only help you to see and appraise things clearly, but will also, shape and mould_ your character. When Jesus, used the parable method to. convey a great truth which He desired His hearers to apprehend for themselves, He frequently brought into play the elements or irony and humour. Not only so, but with great insight He, more than once, made comparisons that were daring in the extreme. An instance of this is found in the parable of the (Unrighteous judge and the unfortunate widow. The woman had been wronged and had appealed to him for ’redress. But there was no chance of the judge getting a bribe, and so he dismissed Ithe appeal. She would, however, take no denial, but kept coming to-, him, until at- last, to be rid of her be yielded to her-. importunities. His reason for ■yielding is a brilliant instance of . THE HUMOUR OF JESUS. Though I fear not God nor regard man,” said the judge to himself, “ yet because this widow is a nuisance to me, I will redress her grievance, lest she keep on coming and end by giving me a black eye.” The New Testament version is toned down, but there is no reasonable doubt that the above translation is the nearest approach, in English, to the original. I knew there are people who hold up their hands in holy horror at the thought of Jesus making jOKGS, _ OF poking fun at people s (especially religious people). But why should humour be disassociated from holiness? The greatest saints I know have a rich vein of humour. As far as Jesus is concerned, He could not be to me all that He is if He were without the saving grace of humour. Ifaink of His playful humour about swallowing a camel, taking a "plank” out of your eye, squeezing through the eye of a needle 1 For heaven’s sake non t let us lose the grace and form of laughter. There ard far too many dull earnest Christiana. Humour is a gift , of God, but to see how some good, very good, people take a perfectly innocent joke one would think that humour was an eruption from the pit. But, in telling this parable, Jesus was intent upon something more than describing a humorous soliloquy. He was deliberately drawing A DARING COMPARISON. ; He compared the unrighteous judge with God. No one but Jesus would have dared to do such a thing. The people who heard the parable did not misunderstand Him. Ifnagine using the villainy of the judge to describe the character of Godi. ft seems incredible. The argument that Jesus used was similar to that He used on a previous occasion. “If ye , being ova, know how to giye good, gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give good things to them that ask Him ? ” The comparison, put into plain.language, means this: If this lazy, unrighteous judge, out .of sheer boredom and selfishness, yielded to this poor widow’s Insistent claims, how much more will God, not out of boredom but from the fullness of His love ; and tenderness and pity, listen .to your cry • ,u ee <l and, in His own good time (which is the right time for'you), help you out of your distress? ' . ' The daring comparison throws into relief the idea that .God is not indifferent to the cry of th? suppliant, and as such makes us form. a judgment of the motives that actuate both the judge and God—and therein lies the value of the parable. Only one who-was sure of God could have had the daring to. speak in such a way. ; But there is even more than a daring comparison in the parable.. It surely also reminds us that delays are a condition in the growth of faith. God is not deaf to our pleas, but, with Him, what matters is not so much meeting our pleas but how far our need and His response to it will further the growth of our character. The answer may be reserved, but it will not be denied that the prayer is answered when the moment arrives when the answer will render us the greatest good. He does not. reply because we bombard Him, but because iu His love for us and knowledge of us He waits until, when we have done all that wo can do to meet our own needs, our distress becomes our faith.