The 150 Parables

An update on The 150 Parables...
All of the Stories have been transferred to the NRSV translation. We need to continue to edit, and Mike will add a tiny commentary to all of the Stories (I think!) which will just be a couple sentences to give the reader an idea of what the Story is about.

Places in Luke Story 5

Continuing on Luke Story 5 (2:1-20):

Follow yesterday’s post, the writer of this Story also has places associated with the events described yesterday.

The first, then, is associated with the expectation of the ‘birth of the Messiah’-- Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem,

The second is associated with the life, passion and death of Jesus-- to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah

The third is associated with the risen Jesus-Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing

If what I proposed to yesterday is correct, then we might be able to figure out why the writer has told us that the city of David is Bethlehem instead of Jerusalem in the Focus section of this Story.

I suggest that the coming of a prophet king who is a suffering servant has to be associated with Jerusalem. Think about Matthew 23:37, --“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!”

The second place associated with the expectation of the coming of the Messiah will of course be Bethlehem of Judea, Matthew 2:6, --“And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.”

The expectation of the Hebrew Scriptures giving birth to the Messiah would suggest the use of both names, the city of David and Bethlehem. And, it does.

The sign of the Messiah would be his life, passion and death, and that suggests Jerusalem as it’s location. This also matches.

The belief in the Messiah from believing Jesus’ words and seeing him after he had risen would suggest any number of locations including Jerusalem…but, since the location in the Scriptures for the birth of the Messiah, the Christ, is given as Bethlehem, this could be an all inclusive name for where the disciples would come to believe that he had risen. If so, then all the locations agree with the previous understanding of this Story that I’ve given you.

Continuing Luke's Story 5

Continuing Luke’s Story 5 (2:1-20)

There are three statements in this Story that address the child in the manger:

The first in the sS: And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger…

The second in the fW: This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.

And, the third in the sAW: The shepherds wanting to see this thing …went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.

Using what was developed on yesterday's post, the wW was expressed in this way: ‘on earth peace among those whom he favors,’ becomes, ‘on earth peace to the flock filled with the Spirit because Jesus has been glorified, and they have welcomed Jesus’ words and put them into practice.

Since this is a post-resurrection Story, I’m going to propose that the Mary represents the yearning of the Hebrew Scriptures to give birth to the Messiah, the risen Jesus. (In fact, I propose that all of the first seven Stories that we call the Infancy Narrative in Luke’s gospel are the yearning of the Hebrew Scriptures for the Messiah.)

I propose that the second statement addressing the child in the manger needs to be understood in relation to the word sign. For the shepherds are told that it will be a sign for them. I understand a sign in the gospels to mean that which Jesus says and or does led by the Spirit. So this then would be the shepherds/disciples remembering of the life, passion and death of Jesus.

I propose that the third statement is about believing in the risen Jesus, for that’s how I understand the writers use the word see in the gospels. Therefore the disciples return from their ‘terrifying’ experience of coming to believe in the risen Jesus by praising and glorifying God for all that they’ve seen and heard as they focus themselves on tending to their flocks, proclaiming Jesus’ words, baptizing with Jesus’ baptism, teaching the flocks to be the bread in the manger to others… and, the flock celebrates the Father’s peace as they understand the roots of their belief as the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures that yearned for the Messiah.

Luke's Story 5

In Luke’s Story 5 (2:1-20) why is the generosity of God being revealed by the ‘multitude of angels’ only to the shepherds, and why is it that these shepherds are the ones that are giving witness to this glorious event?

Think about the following:

The wisdom statement of the Appropriating the Wisdom section, the wAW, of Story 5 is this, ‘The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as had been told them.’ Well, who did they return to? Their flock! And who are these lambs?

Doesn’t this statement ‘as had been told them,’ sound familiar? After the resurrection we hear ‘an angel’ say in Mark’s gospel, ‘go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.”

The first time in Luke’s Story 5 that ‘an angel’ stood before the shepherds, they were terrified, in the same way, the disciples were terrified when the risen Jesus appears to the eleven in the last Story of The Gospel of Luke.

The wisdom statement of the Wisdom section, the wW, of Story 5, ‘On earth peace among those whom he favors,’ was revealed to the shepherds, by a ‘multitude of angels,’ Who does God favor? We are told that he is pleased in his Son when the Spirit has come to rest on him. But, the Spirit doesn’t come to rest on the ‘flock’ until after Jesus is glorified….

Since the literary form tells us that the wAW is how or why we put into practice wW, or wAW is why we believe wW, then:

The shepherds returned (to the flock), glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as had been told them, is why we believe, ‘on earth peace among those (the flock) whom he favors. I propose the Story is telling us the following about the shepherds:

This is a post resurrection Story! The shepherds (Peter, James, John…Paul) have ‘encountered’ the risen Christ, who is the suffering servant, the bread of life. They bring back to their flock, with praise and thanksgiving, the things they have seen and heard from Jesus, that is, his words and how he has put them into practice. This is how and why the lambs have responded to Jesus’ words and have received Jesus’ baptism and the outpouring of the Spirit—and God’s favor! This is why the peace is with them. ‘Peace be with you,’ was a resurrection greeting to his disciples.

Tomorrow we will continue Luke’s Story 5.

Continuing Luke's Story 5 (2:1-20)

Continuing Luke’s Story 5 (2:1-20), about the birth of Jesus: “Why do you think the Story begins with the statement that Joseph was taking Mary to the city of David called Bethlehem? Jesse, David’s father was from Bethlehem, but the city of David is not Bethlehem. It’s Jerusalem.

Perhaps Luke intended for us to ‘put flesh on this statement.’ Is he giving Jerusalem another name? Since Bethlehem was called the house of bread, Jerusalem will be known by Christians for bringing forth the bread of life that satisfies the hunger of our hearts... Jesus is presented to us in a feeding trough because he is the bread of life.

These questions will be addressed tomorrow:

Why is the generosity of God being revealed by the Spirit only to the shepherds in this Story, and why is it that these shepherds are the ones that are giving witness to this glorious event?

Merry Christmas

We had a nice Christmas and Laura and Chris' house. Chris is a busy guy with his work and family, but he takes care of The 150 Parables website for us. Thank you Chris!

May the Christmas spirit enfold us every day. Warmest blessings to our readers!

Luke 2:1-20, Luke Story 5

Luke's Story 5 (2:1-20) contains the verse that is popular on Christmas cards, Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace to men who enjoy his favor. But why do you think that the Story begins with the statement that Joseph was taking Mary to the city of David called Bethelehem? Yes, Jesse, David's father was from Bethelehem, but the city of David is not Bethelehem. It's Jerusalem. Could this Story be about something other than the birth of Jesus?
We'll talk about it tomorrow.

Merry Christmas!!

Another Insight into the diagramed Story 6 from John's Gospel

Another insight into the diagramed Story 6 from John’s gospel (3:22-4:14)

Logically, if the supporting statements in a Story written in the literary form of the parable (the focus, reflection and appropriating the wisdom statements) were removed from the Story, the "guts" of the Story would still remain. This is clearly seen when reading only the story and wisdom statements within the Story.

What's interesting is that the "supporting cast" also reads as a story in itself. It’s important that we read that story too because sometimes it gives important insight into the Story. Take a look at the focus, reflection and appropriating the wisdom statements in John's Story 6:


22 After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and people kept coming and were being baptized. 25 Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew. 27 John answered, 28 You yourselves are my witnesses that The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath. “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”

Wisdom Outline for John's Story 6

The following is a flow of the wisdom statements of John’s Story 6:


Focus
—John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison.

Story
“No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.

Reflection
For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.” 31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified this, that God is true. 34 He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands.

Wisdom
he would have given you living water.”


Appropriating the Wisdom
those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty.


In this Story, the writer of John’s gospel has placed a sentence at the beginning of the wR (wisdom statement of the Reflection section) that helps us see the flow of wisdom through these five statements: Jesus increases while John decreases. I personally think that this was the second step in how the disciples who were scribes formed each of the Stories written in the literary form of the parable. Certainly, in this initial wisdom outline it was necessary that the wAW (wisdom of the Appropriating the Wisdom section) is how or why the wW (wisdom statement of the Wisdom section) was put into practice. What do I think was the first step? The story statement of the Story section! Remember the purpose of any parable: We must first reflect on our story, the position of our heart. For only then, upon hearing the wisdom for doing so, can we put that wisdom into practice.

More concerning John's Story 6

Looking at John's Story 6 again...

Yesterday we observed how two statements within one section related to each other. Today we'll observe how the story statment of this Reflection section reflects on the story statement of the Story section. The wisdom statement of this Reflection section reflects on the wisdom statement of the Story section as well.

In the story statement of the Reflection section, John's testimony that he is not the Messiah, but the one sent to prepare his way reflects on the story statement of the Story section where John's disciples and a Jew are discussing with John about Jesus who is not only baptizing but all are going to him.

If you take a look at the wisdom statement of the Reflection section, you'll see that it reflects on the wisdom statement of the Story section. (refer to John's Story 6 from two days ago.)

John Story 6, Relfection Section

Building on yesterday’s entry of John’s Story 6

Reflection Section
focus statement
28 You yourselves are my witnesses that
story statement
I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ 29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom.
reflection statement
The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice.
wisdom statement
For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.” 31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted his testimony has certifiedn this, that God is true. 34 He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands.
appropriating the wisdom statement
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life;



One of the other relationships in the literary form is that the reflection statement of each section has us reflect on its story statement. In this reflection statement John is presented as the best man of the bridegroom, the messiah, in the story statement. A best man prepares the way for the bridegroom: his purpose is to serve him and to announce his coming to bride and bridesmaids who wait in anticipation of his coming.


One of the other relationships in the literary form of the parable is that the wisdom statement of each section gives meaning to its story statement. The bridegroom who speaks the words of God and gives the Spirit without measure gives meaning to John’s mission in the story statement of being the one to announce the coming of the messiah.

John Story 6, John 3:22-4:14

We’ve had a request for a Story from John’s gospel. Before you read this Story, realize that the blue story and wisdom statements can be read together as a story in themselves. (There is a flow of this Story from the previous Story 5 and into Story 7.) I suggest that you read these blue statements first.)

But, so that you know that this Story is diagramed correctly, read now the focus, reflection and appropriating the wisdom statements. (These statements are in black.) You’ll recognize that they are also a story in themselves!

The theme of John’s Story 6, put simply, is this: Jesus, the bridegroom, has come to prepare his bride, and John the Baptist welcomes this. A short commentary using one part of the literary form on John’s Story 6 comes after the diagramed presentation.


John, Story 6 (3:22-4:14) NRSV

Focus
22 After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and
he spent some time there with them and baptized. 23 John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there; and
people kept coming and were being baptized 24
—John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison.

Story
25 Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew.
26 They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.”
27 John answered,
“No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.

Reflection
28 You yourselves are my witnesses that
I said, ‘I am not the Messiah,l but I have been sent ahead of him.’ 29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom.
The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice.
For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.” 31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted his testimony has certifiedn this, that God is true. 34 He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands.
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life;

Wisdom
whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath.
4 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John” 2 —although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized— 3 he left Judea and started back to Galilee. 4 But he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. 7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)b 10 Jesus answered her, “
If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and
he would have given you living water.”

Appropriating the Wisdom
11 The woman said to him, “Sir,
you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?”
13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but
those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty.
The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”


Here are what I call the two critical relationships:
(All of the relationships of the literary form will not be shown.)

First, Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman, ‘he would have given living water,’ (the wisdom statement of the Wisdom section) gives specific meaning to, Jesus’ baptism, ‘he is baptizing, and all are going to him,’ (the story statement of the Story section).

It seems logical to assume that the literary form is showing us that these living waters come forth from Jesus' baptism. This is how the Samaritan woman’s spiritual thirst will be satisfied.

I understand baptism as a faith response to Jesus’ words. This implies that Jesus’ words bring forth the faith, itself, by the power of the Holy Spirit. When one chooses to follow Jesus, to live their baptism, they choose to put his words into practice, again by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Secondly, ‘Those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty,’ (the wisdom statement of the Appropriating the Wisdom section) is why, ‘he would have given living water,’ (the wisdom statement of the Wisdom section) is put into practice.

It again seems logical to assume that the literary form is showing us that those who satisfy the spiritual hunger of their heart by living the gift of the Holy Spirit that comes from welcoming and putting into practice Jesus’ words, is why they put into practice Jesus’ baptism.

The Purpose of a Parable, or a Story written in the Literary form of a Parable:

God wants us to be the best we can be. Every once in a while we'll hear or read about another person's story, and it causes us to reflect on our story and we get inspired to be better people.

A parable is like that. It lets us as readers or listeners see someone else's story. Then we can identify ourselves in their story and decide whether we want to continue on our same course, or choose another way, which is more whole and filled with God's love. Each parable or Story written in the literary form of a parable shows us someone's story, shows us a specific wisdom, and shows us how or why the wisdom is appropriated. So parables are like teaching tools. They teach us how to be Christ in ourselves and to be Christ to our neighbors.

So the purpose of a parable is that we reflect on our own story, for only then upon seeing the wisdom for doing so, can we become enlightened...which is putting the wisdom of the parable into practice.

Because of a request, tomorrow we'll post a Story from John on this blog.

Mark 8:19-21, The Mission

When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect? They said to him, "Twelve." And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect? And they said to him, "Seven." Then he said to them, "Do you not yet understand?"

These three verses from Mark are one of the many themes in Another 50 Parables. The two meals describe the two missions given by Jesus to his disciples (to the Jews and to the gentiles.) It is the reason that Mark's gospel consists of 31 Stories, for the words of Jesus presented by Mark in his 31 Stories is what will be used by the disciples of Jesus in the mission that Mark's gospel describes.

John's gospel has 31 Stories, for it is a book-end to Mark's gospel.


(Another 50 Parables is under revision, and will be out in early 2006.)

The Literary Form was Sacred

A parable of Jesus is never used as a Story in itself, instead the parables are incorporated into the Stories. This was done for "security" to keep the literary form sacred. If they would have used a parable as a Story in itself, the literary form would be easy to recognize, and therefore easily duplicated, which would allow "anyone" to write in this same way.

By hiding the literary form, the integrity of the Scriptures were preserved.

Only certain people understood the literary form of the parable; it was not common knowledge that the Christian Scriptures were written in this way.

Scribes who had become disciples of Jesus

The scribes of the Hebrew Scriptures who had become disciples of Jesus chose to form the Christan Scriptures using one of the narrative traditions of the Hebrew Scriptures--The Literary form of the Parable. In doing so, they had a holy agenda. Why would the scribes have done such a thing, unless they were inspired to do so? Certainly this literary form must have been regarded as sacred by the Jewish scholars, and yet the scribes that were disciples of Jesus did not hesitate to use it.

Those scholars who were not disciples of Jesus must have been shocked and outraged. The intention of the New Testament writers was to present the teachings of Jesus as coming from God--with a status equal to the earlier Jewish Scriptures. The status of the gospels, for example, being Scripture had to have been immediate--it didn't take hundreds of years to come to this conclusion. This helps us understand an analogy used in John's gospel several times--the Hebrew Scriptures giving birth to the Christian Scriptures. Certainly the ancestry of Jesus shown in the gospels of Matthew and Luke are presenting the same theme to us--the 'old' narratives are giving birth to the "new" ones.

Go to The 150 Parables to learn more about the Literary form of the Parable.

John 7:53-8:11, Dr. Ehrman on NPR radio

My dad and I were just listening to NPR's interview with Bart Ehrman about his new book, Misquoting Jesus.

Dr. Ehrman talked about scribes making changes in the texts, and in particular the change in John (7:53-8:11) regarding the woman being accused of adultry. If it was indeed a scribe who decided to make that change, it would have had to have been a very educated scribe, one who knew the literary form. Perhaps someone with authority within the church suggested or authorized the change.

The person who made the alterations masterfully made the addition to John's Story 12.

The big question: Why was this story about the adulterous woman placed in this part of John's gospel?

The wisdom statement of the Wisdom section of John's Story 12 is: "If you knew me, you would know my Father also." nrsv. Following the literary form, the wisdom statement of the wisdom section must give specific meaning to the story statement of the story section. The story statement of John's Story 12 is " and making her stand before them all, they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultry. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such woman. Now what do you say? They said this to test him." nrsv

In Exodus 31:18, the tablets given to Moses were inscribed by the finger of God.
Moses threw down the tablets when he saw the Isrealits had broken the first commandment. In the story statement of the story section, the Pharisees are quoting a lesser law to kill the woman. Jesus gives meaning to it in the wisdom statement of that section by bending down and writing with his finger in the ground. Jesus is identifying himself with the Father, who has forgiven the Israelites. (The literary form also tells us that the wisdom statement within each section must give specific meaning to its story statement.)

So, getting back to Dr. Erhman. He said that the addition was found in the margin of a manuscript. Why was this done? The person who wrote in the margin did so because he had and execllent example to make the point: "If you knew me, you would know my Father also," (the wisdom statement of the wisdom section). The person who wrote in the margin of the manuscript knew the literary form of the parable in which John's gospel was written, and someone cleverly placed it so that the integrity of the Story was preserved.

Narratology

Today I was reading Speaking of Jesus, Essays on Biblical Language, Gospel Narrative and Historical Jesus. It was written by Dr. Willem S. Vorster who was an eminant scholar in South Africa. He was Director of the Research Institute for Theology and Religion at UNISA, Pretoria, until his death at age 51 in 1994.

He writes that it would be fitting if scholars to study the gospels, acts and the Revelation of John as narratives. Instead of emphasizing the growth and origin of the text, focus should be on looking at the actual text and study how the material is organized, because it was the actual document, and not the origins that have been left as a legacy.

Historically-minded people may be challenged to do so, but when the documents are viewed as narratives, then the texts can be seen in a whole new way. He said the form of the texts will provide scholars insight into the creative imagination of those who were committed to the story of Jesus.

Dr. Vorster also mentioned history as being like a narrative. It's not written exactly as it happened...I heard almost this identical thing at SBL in the Mapping and Memory section. History can be as different as the person telling it.

When I was reading Dr. Vorster's book, I imagined him at my shoulder smiling. I think he'd especially appreciate knowing about the literary form of the parable...

Matthew 13:52

"every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out from his treasure new and old things"



When looking at this verse within the context of its Story, written in the Literary form of the Parable, we know that this verse is how the words of Jesus are to be put into practice. The job discription of these scribes would have been to copy the word of God. Their treasure had to have been the word of God, both the old and the new. Now as disciples, they would write the words of Jesus in the narrative tradition of the Hebrew Scriptures as Stories written in the Literary form of the Parable.

Mark 1:1

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (nrsv)

Many things have been written regarding Mark 1:1. The computer picks it up in green since it's not an independent clause, in fact, it's not a clause of any type. Why did the writer of Mark put it there?
Since it doesn't contain a verb, it was the writer's intention that it's not to be included as the first statement of the first section of his first Story. Instead of being called Mark 1:1, we should look at it as the title for his work.

The Bible with Sources Revealed

A couple days ago my dad and I read a nice article in the Fall Bible Review entitled "Taking the Biblical Text Apart" by Richard Elliott Friedman. Today we ordered Friedman's "The Bible With Sources Revealed", so we can look to see if the "Literary form of the Parable" is found in more than one narrative tradition.

Matthew 17:24-27, Temple Tax

Hi, Anne again...

James McLaren spoke about shekels at the SBL conference, and while he was speaking, I could help but recall my dad's excitement a couple months earlier. We even got out a book and looked up shekels, and I found a couple for sale on e-bay! My dad was working on the Stories, and had an epiphany which he eagerly told me about right away. We both loved it, and I suggested that he post it to an e-list that he was on. It's worth repeating, so I'll share it here:


I think you will enjoy this.

I was just reading Matthew 17:24-27 on the temple tax. After all these years of being dumbfounded, it’s nice to finally understand what the author intended! And it is beautiful.

It’s easy for us to understand that Jesus isn’t expected to pay for his “Father’s house,” so he is exempt from the Temple tax. So, what could he give in its place?

Remembering that Peter is no longer a fisherman for fish, think about this:

Peter is told to cast a “hook” and take up the “first fish” that comes up. Let’s understand it this way…knowing that Peter is going fishing for men, he shares Jesus’ words to “hook” that man. And after sharing the Word, the person he draws up out of the water is now a newly baptized man. Since this man is newly baptized that which comes forth from the man’s mouth is led by the Spirit. The “coin,” an offering due for the Father’s house that comes forth from the man’s mouth, is the glorious praise of God. This glorious praise of God is what Jesus desires to give to his Father. “…We give to God what is God’s.”

Mike Carrell

Reading the diagramed Stories

Hi, this is Anne again...

When you read and study the diagramed Stories, you may want to consider these things:

1. Study the wisdom statements. Feel the wisdom. Watch how the wisdom statements progress throughout each diagramed Story. The wisdom statements can be read continuously throughout the entire book, letter or gospel. The wisdom statements were probably written first, then the story statements. (I'll have my dad correct me later, if I got that backwards...)

2. Look at the story statements. Feel the "story" of each section.

You may be wondering why the Stories are diagramed as they are. Why weren't the sections and statements separated at other places? It has taken over 4 years to understand exactly where the separations are to be made. All of the writers of the Stories follow specific "rules" when writing the respective statements within each section. This is why this literary form is so well-defined and invariable. Not only does the literary form of the parable have 5 sections and 4-5 statements within each section, but the writers follow certain "rules" when writing each statement. (Those rules will be published, so scholars can study them.)

First Post

Hi, This is Mike's daughter, Anne. Both my dad and I will be posting on this blog.

My dad and I were at the SBL Conference last month. It was our first time, and wow were we worn out! I really enjoyed the Formation Luke-Acts Section. In closing, Dr. Thomas Brodie told us that scholars should be looking for a literary backbone that is expressed throughout the New Testament. He said it would take years to find, but that it was there. He said it would be verifiable, and that (I think he said) it would be found in the Hebrew Scriptures. I probably took him by surprise when I told him that my dad had found the literary backbone that he was looking for. I talked to him after the session and he said he'd look at it in print, so I'll be contacting him once The 150 Parables (revised edition) is out.

Another session I enjoyed was Mapping and Memory: Tradition, Texts and Identity. I got a chance to talk with Dr. Kelber for a minute afterwards because I felt like he'd like to hear about the literary form, and he said that he had felt that Mark was written in a parablic way. So that was nice to hear. I think he'll take a look at my dad's work once it's out.

I also went to the blog session to get me motivated to do this blog!! That was the most fun session I attended since it was laid back and we had a break to get up and stretch! I enjoyed the panel and discussion very much.

For those of you who have visited The 150 Parables website in the past, you've probably noticed a big change. My dad used to call "The Literary form of the Parable," "The Literary form of the Parables of Jesus." While at the SBL, my dad and I talked with a prominant scholar who urged him to find earlier writings that used this literary form. (My dad had been wanting to do that, but he has been quite busy and hadn't focused on it. He had identified a later piece of literature that used that literary form, but nothing earlier.) At the hotel that night my dad and I found the literary form in the Old Testament! So now we know that the literary form had been around for quite some time before the New Testament writers ever came along...and that's why the name change from the "literary form of the parables of Jesus", to the "literary form of the parable."

As far as what the hold up is regarding the books:

1. We now have permission to use the NRSV to show the diagramed Stories, so we're changing out the Stories from the public domain translation to the NRSV.

2. In October 2005, my dad found one last element of the literary form. This last element shows how to verify that the Stories are diagramed correctly. So my dad is making corrections where necessary, so the diagramed Stories are accurate. This is the most important change in the book/s.

3. My dad will add a chapter to The 150 Parables with examples of the literary form used in the Old Testament.

I have told some of you that the book would be out by now. I apologize! It's taking longer than we thought. We'll keep you posted on this blog as to its progress. If you have purchased a book in the past, let me know and I can get you a revised copy once it's out.