PARABLES OF ACTION: NOTES FROM CROSSAN'S IN PARABLES (Chapter Four)

Parables of Action

• The tendency in the tradition of parable interpretation is to look down upon the allegorizing of parables (i.e. Augustine's treatment of the Good Samaritan), but there is a general acceptance of moralizing the parables (i.e J. Jeremias).

Parables and Ethics

• There was a profound clash between Jesus and the Pharisees, but later Christian hostility has distorted the actual nature of this confrontation. The Pharisees are erroneously described as hypocrites (you must do what we won't) or uncaring legalists. In fact, the Pharisees were great moral teachers and guides, "But there precisely lay the problem which Jesus and Paul saw so clearly."

"When Christianity is no longer aware of what Jesus and Paul were fighting against in Pharisaic Judaism, it can hardly be conscious of a similar presence within itself. The debate did not concern good law as over against bad law or even internal and sincere law as over against external and hypocritical law. The challenge of Jesus and of Paul was this: obedience does not lead to God, but God leads one to obedience. The question is not God or law, covenant or commandment, faith or works, but, granting both, in which direction does the arrow fly from one to the other? It must be emphasized that this is not a debate between Judaism and Christianity but a conflict within them both, and a conflict ever ancient and ever new. So, according to Jesus and Paul, it was the gift of God's presence that made a good life possible, not a good life that made the reward of God's presence inevitable."

"The righteousness of God does not presuppose our obedience; it creates it." - Earnst Kasemann.

• The parables of Jesus seek to draw us into the Kingdom of God and to act by the gift received therein.
• Ethics seeks to form a logic mode of acting out the best possible way of Being. But parables subvert ethics. Parables leave us wondering what to do. They are not a clear program or list of instructions. We enter the Holy of Holies to find it empty.

The parables overthrow ethics, just as Matt. 5:39 overthrows the typical response to violence: "if any one strikes you on the right cheek turn to him the other also." "It intends us to experience how the logic of ethics is undermined by the mystery of God and that, if one can but accept it, is the most crucial moral experience of all.... Can we walk and act in utter serenity and in utter insecurity, in total concern and in total incertitude?"

The Action Parables: The Parable of the Treasure (Serves as a paradigmatic parable for Crossan; Matt. 13:44)

1. The Advent - The Finding of the Treasure
2. The Reversal - He Goes (altering his original plan)
3. The Action - The purchase of the field

• Gos of Thom 98:31-99:3: 1) No mention of the buyer selling everything he had to purchase the field. The treasure was found after he purchased the field and was found after plowing the field (It takes hard work for one to find their true Gnostic self); 2) It tells us what the buyer did with the treasure after he found it, "to lend money to whomever he wished."

"Jesus' parables challenge one to life and action within the Kingdom but they leave that life and that action as absolute in its call as it is unspecified in its detail."

Situations Depicted in Parables of Action

1. The Decision is Made - Friend at Midnight (Luke 11:5-8); The Unjust Judge (Luke 18:2-5)
2. The Decision is Not Made - Rich Fool (Luke 12:16-20; Gos. Thom. 92:3-10); The Man Who Lack a Wedding Garment (Matt. 22:11-14). The Bridesmaids depicts both #1 and #2 (Matt. 25:1-13).

The Servant Parables (Crossan discusses nine servant parables and groups them. This grouping is important for his conclusion, so I provide one example of each group).

Group A: The Parable of the Talents

      Matt. 25:14-30

• Matt. 25:16-18 does not appear in Luke, suggesting this portion came to Matthew through his source and supports originality. This passage functions as a way to draw listeners immediately into the world of the parable.
• Matt. 25:30 is not original because of its "allegorical character, explicit eschatological application, and Matthean vocabulary." The original ending is most likely in Matt. 25:28 because it functions to recall Matt. 25:20.

      Luke 19:12-27

• Note the common phrases between Matt. 18:24-29 and Luke 19:20-26.
• Luke 19:27 can be omitted since it is a part of the Throne Claimant and originally has nothing to do with the Parable of the Talents.
• Luke 19:24 matches Matt. 25:28 supporting this as the original ending of the parable.

"The main story is quiet clear as is its use of the standard folkloric threesome. Two servants are rewarded for their work and a third is punished for his prudent if useless inactivity."

Group B: The Vineyard Workers

      Matt. 20:1-13

• There is a consensus that 20:16 is the original ending. "So the last will be first, and the first last," is not original being a repeated phrase from 19:30, and 19:30 coming from Mark 10:31. Most scholars accept 1:1-15 as the basic original story. Crossan argues that the ending of this parable is the rhetorical question of vs. 13.

"The owner does not pay the first the least and the last the most. In that story the hearer would have to wonder at the clear 'injustice' of such an action. Jesus must create a story which is quite possible and which does not raise irrelevant moral considerations. It is reversal of expectation which is central: 'they thought' in 20:10."

"What comes across most forcibly within our present purpose is that this parable shatters utterly the normalcy of Group A and brings to a climax the drive of Group B and the Servant Parables."

Structure and Oral Tradition

People who live in a writing culture, the phrase 'ipsissma verba' means exactly that, 'the very words.' In contrast, in a culture that operates on a more oral tradition, 'ipsissma verba' addresses more of the structure of a story, and less the exact repetition of words. Thus, Jesus probably shared his teachings on multiple occasions, staying true to a general structure and not exact verbage. It is more accurate to speak of tradition than original parable.

Crossan agrees to a point, but states, "In so far as we can legitimately generalize from the case of the servant parables, then, it would seem that the parabolic creativity of Jesus consisted in variations of structure within the same theme and in variations of content within the same structure but not in variations of detail within the same content."

Interpretation of the Structure

While parables alone function as a way to present the Kingdom, Crossan argues that the very structure of the Servant Parables does the same. "Here it is not a short proverb or even a long parable which is in question. It is an entire parabolic theme which is developed in one set of parables (Group A) and then reversed and overthrown in another (Group B)." The block of parables of Group A set up the latter reversal performed by Group B.

"Like a wise and prudent servant calculating what he must do in the critical reckoning to which his master summons him, one must be ready and willing to respond in life and action to the eschatological advent of God. But, unfortunately, the eschatological advent of God will always be precisely that for which wise and prudent readiness is impossible because it shatters also our wisdom and our prudence."

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PARABLES OF REVERSAL: NOTES FROM CROSSAN'S IN PARABLES (Chapter Three)

The Good Samaritan (GS; Luke 10:30-37)

"The example of the despised half-breed was intended to teach him that no human being was beyond the range of charity. The law of love called him to be ready at any time to give his life for another's need." - J. Jeremias

"The story certainly leaves no doubt that what really matters is to act as the Samaritan did ... in the same simplicity ... governed completely by the need of the man who confronts us." - E. Linnemann

"The parable is not a pleasant tale about the Traveller Who Did His Good Deed: it is a damning indictment of social, racial, and religious superiority." - G.V. Jones

(1) The Meaning for Luke:

• Scholarly consensus has the GS as an 'example parable' (sets a good example for the audience). This is based on the parable's overture of Lk. 10:25-29 and the admonition in vs. 37, "'Go, and do likewise.'"
• Crossan's Thesis: The present context of the GS in 10:25-29 and 10:37 is not original and cannot be used in interpreting the meaning of the parable.
• Evidence of Thesis (summary): 1) The presence of the context but not the parable in Mark; 2) the divergent uses of the term 'neighbor' in context and parable in Luke.
• Four Units to the GS:

1. The Question Concerning Eternal Life (10:25-28): The question concerning eternal life is similar to the question of the greatest commandment in Mark 12:28-31 and Matt. 23:34-40, indicating that a citation of Deut 6:5 and Lev. 19:18 (the two great commandments) was present in both Q and Mark. Matthew conflates Q and Mark, while Luke prefers Q over Mark (compare synoptic passages already cited).   
2. The Question Regarding One's Neighbor (10:29): In 10:25-28 the neighbor is still the one who receive the help; the recipient, not the helper. "And who is my neighbor?" 10:29 does not exist in Mark or Matthew. "Mark does not know this second question and Matthew does not accept it from Q."   
3. The Parable of the GS (10:30-35): Logical inconsistency between the meaning of 'neighbor' in 10:27,29 and in 10:36. The parable is pulled in two directions. In 27,29 the neighbor is the recipient of the helper (the man on the roadside). In 36 the neighbor is the helper who provides assistant to the recipient (the samaritan). Indicates inauthenticity of the dialogue between Jesus and the questioner. Crossan proposes that 10:25-28(29) and 10:30-36(37) were two seperate units combined by Luke because of their common theme of 'neighbor'. The disharmony of these two units is a remnant of their once separateness.     
4. The Conclusion with Question and Final Admonition (10:36-37): The question of 10:36 serves as an excellent rhetorical question to end the parable. "the change from this unanswered rhetorical question in 10:36 to the question-and-answer format in 10:36-37a is an obvious change as soon as the questioner became identified as an individual lawyer or scribe. This would argue that the original ending was 10:36." The final answer of 10:37 serves as a nice ending to the question of the lawyer in 10:25.

• Summary: "This is not an authentic dialogue between a lawyer and Jesus in 10:30-37; neither is it two original controversy dialogues in 10:25-28 and 10:29-37 word-linked by 'neighbor.'" The single controversy of 10:25-28 has been expanded to include the parable of 10:30-37. The parable of the GS was originally independent of its present context.   

(2) The Meaning for Jesus:

• What does GS mean without the surrounding context? What if it's just 10:30-36?
• First climax comes in the reaction of the priest and Levite/saw/passed by on the other side, juxtaposed with the Samaritan/saw/had compassion. The Second climax is in the final rhetorical question, "Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor ...?"
• At the second climax the details of the Samaritan's actions come into importance. "When the hearer is confronted with the rhetorical question in 10:36 he might negate the entire process by simply denying that any Samaritan would so act. So, before the question can be put, the hearer must see, feel, and hear the goodness of the Samaritan for himself."  
• The Importance of 'Samaritan': "Most importantly, if he [Jesus] wanted to inculcate love of one's enemies, it would have been radical enough to have a Jewish person stop and assist a wounded Samaritan. But when the story is read as one told by the Jewish Jesus to a Jewish audience, and presumably in a Jerusalem setting, this original historical context demands that the 'Samaritan' be intended and heard as the socio-religious outcast which he was... The whole thrust of the story demands that one say what cannot be said, what is a contradiction in terms: Good + Samaritan... But when good (clerics) and bad (Samaritan) become, respectively, bad and good, a world is being challenged and we are faced with polar reversal" (emphasis mine).
• From Parable to Example: "The literal point confronted the hearers with the necessity of saying the impossible and having their world turned upside down and radically questioned in its presuppositions. The metaphorical point is that just so does the Kingdom of God break abruptly into human consciousness and demand the overturn of prior values, closed options, set judgments, and established conclusions... The hearer struggling with the contradictory dualism of Good/Samaritan is actually experiencing in and through this the inbreaking of the Kingdom."

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PARABLES OF ADVENT: CROSSAN'S IN PARABLES (Chapter Two)

Parables of Advent: Parables functioning to describe the coming of the Kingdom of God.

1. Discovery and Joy: The Parable of the Hidden Treasure (Matt. 13:44); The Lost Sheep (Matt. 18:12-13; Luke 15:4-6; Gos. Thom. 98:22-27); The Lost Coin (Luke 15:8-9). "These parables imagine what we must find even if it is true that it is a finding of that by which we were already and always found."
2. Hiddenness and Mystery: The Parable of the Fig Tree (Mark 13:28; Matt. 24:32; Luke 21:29-30); The Leaven (Matt:13:33; Luke 13:20-21; Gos. Thom. 97:3-6). One cannot see the leaven (hidden) "but the swelling of the bread makes it evident to all that it was there."
3. Gift and Surprise: Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:3-8; Matt. 13:3-8; Luke 8:5-8; Gos. Thom. 82:3-13).

The Parable of the Sower (Matt. 13:3-8; Luke 8:5-8; Mark 4:3-8; Gos. Thom. 82:3-13)

• Note the singular 'seed' in vss. 4,5,7, and the plural 'seeds' in vs. 8.
• Best to translate this distinction as "some ... other ... other ... the others (=the rest)."
• The contrast of singular and plural is underlined by the phrase 'it yielded no grain,' reflecting back on the seed amongst the thorns as well as the wasted seed in 4:3-7. This is in comparison to the fruit yeilding  seed in 4:8. "There is even a third formal feature of contrast in that three degrees of loss lead to three degrees of gain. All of this means that there is not an even emphasis on four situations (path, rocks, thorns, good ground), but a formal balance and contrast between three situations of waste and failure and three situations of gain and success."
• "The major problem will be to determine if the Markan text shows any signs of expansion over a pre-Markan earlier version."

Five Elements in the Sower

1. The Opening (4:3)
2. The Path (4:4)
3. The Rocks (4:5-6): Longest section, triple repetition of the lack of ground, two conflicting images are presented. In 4:6 the seed does not survive the scorching of the sun, but in 4:5,6b, the image is of a seed that grows and then withers.
4. The Thorns (4:7)
5. The Good Ground (4:8)

Reactions of Matthew and Luke

• Matt. 13:5-6 - Matthew accepts Mark's version of the parable.
• Matt. 13:4,5,7,8 - Provides a consistent plurality of seeds with 'others seeds.'
• Luke 8:6 - Luke makes revisions. Luke replaces the redundancy of the lack of soil with, "because it had no moisture." He has the seed fall on the rock, removing the need of the sun to scortch it. Crossan argues that Luke 'prunes' Mark's version back to a pre-Markan version. The insertion of the sun in 4:6 is evidenced by the redactor's use of "since it had no ..." as a frame for the insertion.  
• Luke 8:5,6,7,8 - Provides a consistent singularity of seeds with 'some.' 
• The second expansion in Mark 4:8 'growing and increasing' is omitted in both Matt. 13:8 and Luke 8:8.

The Interpretation

1. "The insertion of the sun in 4:6a with the attendant litarary dislocutions in 4:5-6 can be explained as an effect of the interpretation's presence within the situation of the Markan community The one who inserted the sudden arrival of the scorching sun in 4:6a wished to underline most forcibly what the advent of 'tribulation or persecution.'" In comparison with Luke 8:6,13 wherein the sun is removed and only 'time of temptation' is mentioned, the imagery changes; "temptation withers, persecution scorches."
2. Differences in Markan text with Gos. Thom. 82:3-13: 1) No mention of the sun; 2) No mention of growth and increase as in Mark 4:8; 3) Gos. Thom does not have the twofold contrast of wasted seed and the frutiful seed, but retains the fourfold division of singularity and plurality of 'seed' as in Mark; 4) In Mark, the yield of the harvest (30,60,100) and in Gos. Thom. (60, 120). Mark's yielding of the fruit is more original being more poetic, providing a closural effect with a round 100, instead of the 120 in Gos. of Thom.
3. The original version of the Parable of the Sower is best reflected in the pre-Markan text, that is, in Mark 4:3-8 without the insertions in 4:5-6 and 4:8. It contrasts three degrees of waste (path, rocks, thorns) with three degrees of fruitfulness (30,60,100). What does this parable mean for Jesus?

Conclusion

"We tend to think of sowing and harvesting, or of seed and shrub, in terms of organic growth and normal biological development. The biblical mind knew also about growth and development but, more importantly, it took very seriously the God who gave them both as gift."

For example, 1 Cor. 15:35-44, wherein Paul utilizes the sowing image to express the mystery of continuity, "and also a paradox of discontinuity between the body one has here on earth and the body one will have in heaven." The change Paul describes is not done through normal growth processes, but through a miracle of God.

Likewise the Sower juxtaposes two states: 1) Three instances of sowing losses; 2) Three instances of harvest gain. "[T]he diptych of juxtaposition does not wish to emphasize growth but miracle, not organic and biological development but the gift-like nature, the graciousness and the surprise of the ordinary, the advent of bountiful harvest despite the losses of sowing, the large shade despite the small seed [in reference to the Mustard Seed]. It is like this that the Kingdom is in advent. It is surprise and it is gift."

"It is one thing to communicate to others conclusions and admonitions based on one own's profound spiritual experience. It was this that Pharisaic theology did so admirably at the time of Jesus. It is quite another thing to try and communicate that experience itself, or, better, to assist people to find their own ultimate encounter. This is what Jesus' parables seek to do: to help others into their own experience of the Kingdom and to draw from that experience their own way of life."

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WHY PARABLES?: SUMMARY OF CROSSAN'S IN PARABLES (Chapter One)

As a part of my class I am reading Crossan's In Parables: The Challenge of the Historical Jesus. In this post I provide three points of the first chapter. This is a helpful way for me to digest the material and I hope it is helpful in comprehending the parables themselves.

1) Poetic Metaphor: Crossan describes the parables generally as 'poetic metaphor.' Crossan keeps the non-poetic (me) afloat by explaining the relationship between the experience and the expression. The experience (life; existence) which leads to the expression (parable; poetic metaphor; words) are in a circular relation to each other. To illustrate this circular nature Crossan quotes T.S. Eliot:

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time

Only by exploring the expression can one grasp the experience and through the expression both audience and poet confront the experience anew. Again, Crossan: "The metaphor here contains a new possibility of world and of language so that any information one might obtain from it can only be received after one has participated through the metaphor in its new and alien referential world." The newness conveyed in the expression (parable) creates a newness to the world. Thus, the parable as it refers to an experience can only be understood if one is drawn into the world it illustrates. Crossan writes "A great poet or a great artist is one who establishes in and by and through his work new criteria for artistic or poetic greatness by establishing a new world in which it is such." Indeed, within the poetic power of Jesus' parables the foreign is brought to the common. We are drawn into it, experiencing something new of a world Jesus conveys through parable.

2) The Kingdom of God: This new world in poetic metaphor is the Kingdom of God. Crossan avoids a definition that would make the Kingdom of God a location and instead insists that the Kingdom of God is "the action of God in which kingly rule and dominion was clearly manifested" (emphasis mine; Psalm 145:11-12). The Kingdom is power and deed, and Jesus is the advent of God's kingdom. The Kingdom of God is the central topic of Jesus' parables.

Three key parables of Jesus concerning the kingdom: 1) The Treasure (Matt 13:44); The Pearl (Matt 13:45-46); and the Great Fish (Gospel of Thomas 8). The Kingdom-movement exemplified in these parables is three-fold: advent-reversal-action. For example, in the Parable of the Treasure the main verbs are finds-sells-buys. The main character of the parable finds a treasure (advent of the kingdom), which alters his plans and creates a dramatic change for the future (reversal) and leads to the unexpected action of buying the field (action).  Thus, the parable is the the expression of the experience of the Kingdom of God: advent-reversal-action.

3) Past-Present-Future:  In the experience of God's Kingdom as expressed through the parables, one's past ceases to define the present because both are consumed  in the experience. The future cannot remain the same. Something new is happening, altering paradigm and place. The individual moves to redefine the future in reverence to the advent. 

"The one who plans, projects, and programs a future, even and especially if one covers the denial of finitude by calling it God's future disclosed or disclosable to oneself, is in idolatry against the sovereign freedom of God's advent to create one's time and establish one's historicity. This is the central challenge of Jesus." - Crossan

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