Kyle Dresback

Friends,

When you think of Jesus’ parables, what springs to mind? With such a vivid world of imagery—sheep, wine, coins, seeds, weddings, vineyards—the options are almost endless. The parables showcase Jesus’ ability to teach without lecturing, inviting us into messages of both reassurance and warning, of grace and judgment.

Growing up, the value of memorizing scripture was impressed upon me at an early age. We memorized a lot of it. But even if you grew up in a tradition like mine, I would wager that you never memorized a parable. I didn’t. Somehow memorizing it would feel like a category mistake, robbing the parable of its vitality.

Sometimes Jesus intended to teach his followers something worth memorizing. “Lord, teach us to pray” comes to mind. 

But often we need to know how to feel —toward our neighbor, our enemy, toward the coming kingdom, and, in this case, toward a brother who has wronged us: “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”

Admittedly, Jesus does respond with a number. But in case we’re tempted to make it formulaic, he immediately follows up with a story that plays out the act of forgiveness (and its opposite) in miniature so we can feel the contrast.

We may stray if we treat these parables as literal or as theologically load-bearing, as if the point were to teach us at what number we should stop forgiving (seventy times seven?) or to show us a literal portrayal of God (merciful at first but then angry?). 

Rather, like all stories, Jesus’ parables train us in the ways of the kingdom, not by memorizing the rules of that kingdom but by helping us to feel the injustice of, for instance, a servant who both begs for forgiveness and refuses to give it.

In this brief parable, any person of any time and status can find themselves compelled by the mercy of a king and repelled by the unjust servant. It requires no advanced degree or special privileged position to ask the obvious question: How have I experienced forgiveness and what does it mean for me to forgive today?

In Christ,

—Kyle