A Timeless Literature

My posts of late have been sparse. As I have made the excuse before, school takes up a lot of my time. And the depressing amount of spare time I do have is used for doing laundry, grocery shopping, cooking something other than Top Ramen, working in church callings, or sometimes (okay, maybe more than sometimes) taking a nap… Learning is hard work! But, I still love to read. I still love to study words and still find so much meaning in telling the stories of our lives and experiencing the events of others.

With this post, I am taking a slight turn in the topics of discussion. I am currently living in Las Vegas, Nevada. Quite a change from the small town Rexburg, Idaho where I completed my university education. I am student teaching in an honors English class and taking an online religion class with it. In the class, I am participating in guided study of The New Testament in the King James version of The Holy Bible. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know The Bible to be the word of God as I know The Book of Mormon to be another testament of Christ and truth as well. I am excited to be taking this class because in all of the time I have studied the scriptures, I have never read The New Testament cover to cover. That is my goal here.

Each week, part of my assignment will be to make a blog post on the week’s topic. The Bible is a slightly different genre than my blog is used to being filled with, but it is one of the greatest works of literature of all time.

(My favorite picture of Christ. "Prince of Peace" by Liz Lemon Swindle)

Today’s topic: Parables

1.       During Christ’s ministry, his teaching strategy of choice was often parables. Parables were an effective tool in His situation because they teach deep and important messages while requiring an honest desire and learned ability to understand. A parable is a story used to teach a specific principle. Christ explained to his apostles that he only taught in parables because those who didn’t understand, were not ready to understand. The bible dictionary aptly explains, “Thus it is that the parable exhibits the condition of all true knowledge. Only he who seeks finds.” True knowledge and understanding requires work, and through that work the meaning and personal application is deepened and implanted in one’s memory.

2.       The parable of the tares can explain one reason why the Church sends out so many missionaries. The parable of the tares involves a sower of good seeds (representing the Son of God sending His children and angels to the earth) and an “enemy” who secretly sowed seeds that are destructive to the original wheat seeds, tares. The man’s servants ask if they should pull the tares out to save the wheat and he replies that they should wait until they are grown, harvest the wheat and separate it from the tares, then burn the tares and bring the wheat to his barn. Missionaries are sent out to all corners of the world to bring the gospel and knowledge of Christ to those who do not have it. Followers of Christ continue his work here on earth and join his army in the fight against the evil influences trying to thwart his work. Being “brought into His barn” is representative of being with Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father in eternal happiness. 

3.       The parable of the treasure and the pearl of great price in Matthew 13 describes a man who gave up his worldly possessions in search of something of greater value, the pearl of great price. The pearl that holds great value can represent the gospel. It is the thing that means the most in life and is the most important to understand and to hold on to. Those who are willing to sacrifice worldly wealth and recognition in order to maintain their relationship with God understand that this life is not the life that matters. What we choose to do here matters because that is what creates our character, what we take with us. But the events and glories of this life are not as important as becoming who God would have us be and keeping a real relationship with our Father in Heaven.