12-27-2007, 11:39 PM
Shlama all--
The parable is a story--or a midrash--meant to dramatize in graphic terms a spiritual point. Y'shua, and Jewish teachers both before and after him, have raised this kind of storytelling to an art form. Even the Gospel writers themselves midrash often.
The main point of the story is the literal phrase, "he who can be trusted with little can be trusted with much, but he who can't be trusted with little, even what he has, will be taken from him." The men who doubled their money were trusted with more money in the hopes that they would make even more for their Master. In this parable, the "hard man" is YHWH Himself, the servants are the type of followers we could be (like the Sower) and the "money" represents the blessings YHWH has bestowed on us and made us stewards of.
But the servant who simply HID his gifts was WICKED because he did not give his gifts any chance to INCREASE. He put it IN THE GROUND where no one could benefit.
In the same way, we who are given gifts from above have a responsibility to YHWH to multiply those gifts for the benefit of the kingdom. If we don't we are no better than the wicked servant and our fate at the end might not be so pleasant. Just because the story is a parable doesn't mean its message isn't LITERAL.
And Y'shua is not being cruel at all. He is simply amplifying themes from Tanakh as a warning to us, so that we don't rob YHWH (Malachi 3). Just like the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man, the story's harsh nature is meant to "scare us straight". That is MERCY, but remember what Pastor David said, the kingdom of YHWH is LIKE this. That is, ONE ASPECT of the Kingdom is LIKE this, meaning it's metaphor.
Y'shua often tells us what the Kingdom is LIKE, or that it is HERE/AT HAND, or what it is NOT, but he never says what it is. Why? Because we can't comprehend all aspects of YHWH's infinite kingdom anymore than we can comprehend all aspects of YHWH Himself. No one can, except the Son who came down from heaven. So, instead, Y'shua roots that immense and inifinite truth in earthly expressions, things to "hang" his intended meanings upon, so we can get a good idea of his overall teaching. Doesn't make it easy though, and without Aramaic as a guide, I believe understanding these things is impossible.
Shlama w'burkate
Andrew Gabriel Roth
The parable is a story--or a midrash--meant to dramatize in graphic terms a spiritual point. Y'shua, and Jewish teachers both before and after him, have raised this kind of storytelling to an art form. Even the Gospel writers themselves midrash often.
The main point of the story is the literal phrase, "he who can be trusted with little can be trusted with much, but he who can't be trusted with little, even what he has, will be taken from him." The men who doubled their money were trusted with more money in the hopes that they would make even more for their Master. In this parable, the "hard man" is YHWH Himself, the servants are the type of followers we could be (like the Sower) and the "money" represents the blessings YHWH has bestowed on us and made us stewards of.
But the servant who simply HID his gifts was WICKED because he did not give his gifts any chance to INCREASE. He put it IN THE GROUND where no one could benefit.
In the same way, we who are given gifts from above have a responsibility to YHWH to multiply those gifts for the benefit of the kingdom. If we don't we are no better than the wicked servant and our fate at the end might not be so pleasant. Just because the story is a parable doesn't mean its message isn't LITERAL.
And Y'shua is not being cruel at all. He is simply amplifying themes from Tanakh as a warning to us, so that we don't rob YHWH (Malachi 3). Just like the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man, the story's harsh nature is meant to "scare us straight". That is MERCY, but remember what Pastor David said, the kingdom of YHWH is LIKE this. That is, ONE ASPECT of the Kingdom is LIKE this, meaning it's metaphor.
Y'shua often tells us what the Kingdom is LIKE, or that it is HERE/AT HAND, or what it is NOT, but he never says what it is. Why? Because we can't comprehend all aspects of YHWH's infinite kingdom anymore than we can comprehend all aspects of YHWH Himself. No one can, except the Son who came down from heaven. So, instead, Y'shua roots that immense and inifinite truth in earthly expressions, things to "hang" his intended meanings upon, so we can get a good idea of his overall teaching. Doesn't make it easy though, and without Aramaic as a guide, I believe understanding these things is impossible.
Shlama w'burkate
Andrew Gabriel Roth