The twelfth episode of the third season of the Retelling the Bible Podcast is posted today (September 15, 2019). You can listen to the episode and subscribe to the podcast by following one of these links or by searching for the podcast on your favourite platform:

Show Notes

This episode is based on Luke 15:1-10 in the New Testament of the Bible. (Click the references to read the original texts). Any direct biblical quotations in the episode are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.

Here are a few of my thoughts on the episode:

Jesus the storyteller

It seems pretty clear that, as a public speaker, Jesus of Nazareth was most famous for his stories and parables. There are several longer discourses that have been recorded in the gospels — most especially in the Gospel of John — but the parables seem to have been best remembered and passed down, as Matthew makes a point of saying.

The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’ Matthew 13:13

The power of the parable is that the interpretation and meaning are largely left up to the listener or reader. There are times when the gospel writers step into the narrative and tell us what individual parables are supposed to mean. These interpretations can range from full allegorical interpretations of every detail in the parable like we have in the case of the Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:10-20), or simple comments on why Jesus told the parables like we have in the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin. In addition, various churches and denominations have developed standard interpretations of favourite parables and assured believers that they have accurately stated exactly what Jesus meant by them. But all of this is really contrary to the spirit of parables.

That is why I personally think that it is very helpful to retell Jesus’ parables in ways that might help to break us away from the ways that we have always heard them and the interpretations that we have always taken for granted. That is what I have attempted to do in this episode.

My Inspiration

As some might guess from my cover art, the inspiration for this particular take on the parables came from a number of incidents that have recently gone viral where certain (generally white) people have been lambasted on social media for calling the police on other people (generally racial minorities) who were doing things that were not illegal or that were minor infractions that are generally not enforced. These callers have been given popular names like “BBQ Betty, Permit Patty and Cornerstore Caroline depending what they were reporting.

This popular meme seemed to apply rather aptly to the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin when you consider that Jesus told these two parables with central characters who were generally despised within his society. Shepherds were looked down upon for being dirty, smelly and notorious thieves. Poor women were despised, well, for being women and for being poor.

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE

“AhDah” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

“Your Call” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/