Parables and Movies

The Bible isn't a collection of stories nor is it just a book you can read. I've come to believe that there are only two ways you can "read" the Bible, you can either study or you can meditate on it. Last week I made a comment that you should "get out of the commentaries" and get into the Bible (in an attempt to encourage study). That may have been a true statement but it doesn't make it necessarily right. If you've never been taught how to study the Bible then a commentary can be a good source of information. But with only reading a commentary your foundation for your faith is rooted in someone else's thoughts and interpretations. You run the risk of understanding theology without it actually meaning anything to you or having an affect on your life.

With that, I'm going to outline a technique, I learned on my SBS, for studying the parables found in the Gospels.
Parables were a generally accepted style of teaching in the 1st Century. They were meant to stress a particular point. They are NOT meant to be obscure or have hidden meanings. They were told to a particular audience they were NOT told in a vacuum.
There are three different types of parables; we are going to focus on one called a true parable. True parables are stories with a beginning, plot, and ending. "The Good Samaritan" would be considered a true parable (Luke 10:25).

To interpret a parable you ask a few questions; all of your answers will lead to the heart attitude of the audience.
1. Who is the audience?
2. What is the background to the story... what was Jesus doing before he told the story? What was the audience doing before Jesus told the story?
3. Who are the characters in the story?
4. What is the unexpected turn to the story? Consider this the surprise of the story. The surprise reveals the heart attitude of those surprised.
5. Who was surprised?

Once you understand who is surprised and why, you know the response Jesus is calling for. That response applies not only to the original hearer but also to us.
A quick look at The Good Samaritan:
1. 72 disciples, 12 disciples, lawyer (what is a lawyer in the 1st century? where else are lawyers mentioned in the bible? who are they often hanging around?)
2. Lawyer's questions in verses 10:25-28. Definition of who priests are, Levites, and Samaritan. What is a denarii worth?
3. priest, Levite, Samaritan, half dead man, innkeeper
4. It was the Samaritan who took care of the half dead man. (if Jesus doesn't make the surprise obvious than an additional look into the history of the characters, audience, and setting of the story should help)
5. Everyone, especially the lawyer.

The lawyer asked who his neighbor was... Jesus response, everyone. Jesus is calling for the lawyer to love everyone.
Jesus is calling us to do the same. We are to love those who may be different race, gender, social class, etc. The next logical question, what is Jesus' definition of love? I'll leave you with the opportunity to study and meditate on that.

If you remember that parables were meant to make one point you will do well. Don't over spiritualize every detail of the verse, don't assign identities or situations to the parable that the original hearer wouldn't have understood.

Now for Aubrey's 13th month movies! (note: turn off blog music at bottom of page).

Aubrey coming to understand the power of God through the waves of the ocean.



Aubrey demonstrating a few things she's learned in her first 13 months of life.