PARABLES.
A par-a-ble is a sto-ry of some-thing in real life that will fix in our
minds and hearts the truth it is meant to teach.
Je-sus said the king-dom of heav-en was like the mas-ter of a house who
went out at morn to hire men to work in his vine-yard.
The price was fixed at a pen-ny a day, and those who would work for that
were sent out to the vine-yard.
At nine o'clock in the day he went out and saw men in the mar-ket place
who were out of work, and he said to them, Go ye to the vine-yard, and I
will pay you what is right. And they went their way.
He went out at noon, and at three o'clock, and found more men whom he
sent to work in his vine-yard. Later in the day, when it was near six
o'clock, he went out and saw more men, to whom he said, Why stand ye
here all the day i-dle?
They said to him, Be-cause no man has hired us.
He said, Go ye in-to the vine-yard, and what is right I will give thee.
So when night came, the lord of the vine-yard had the work-men called
in, and each one was paid a pen-ny.
When the first came they thought they should have more, and when they
were paid but a pen-ny they found fault, and said, These last have
wrought but one hour, and thou hast paid them the same as us who have
born the toil and heat of the day.
[Illustration: LA-BOR-ERS IN THE VINE-YARD.]
The mas-ter said, Friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst thou not say thou
wouldst work for me for a pen-ny a day? Take what is thine, and go thy
way; for I have a right to do as I will with mine own. And the last
shall be first and the first last.
Je-sus told them a par-a-ble of ten maids who went out to meet the
bride-groom. For in those days the man who was wed brought his bride
home at night, and some of his friends used to go out to meet him.
These ten maids had lit their lamps, and gone out to meet the
bride-groom. But he did not come as soon as they thought he would, and
as the hours went on they all fell a-sleep.
Now five of these maids were wise, and five were not. The wise ones had
brought oil with them, so that if their lamps should go out they could
fill them. Those who were not wise had no oil but that which was in
their lamps.
At mid-night those who were on the watch cried out, Lo, the bride-groom
comes! Go ye out to meet him.
And the five wise maids rose at once, and went to work to trim their
lamps.
The five who were not wise, stood by and said, Give us of your oil, for
our lamps have gone out.
But the wise ones said, Not so; for we have no more than we need. Go ye
and buy of those who have oil to sell.
And while they went out to buy, the bride-groom came, and those who were
in trim went in with him, and the door was shut.
Then the five maids who had been out to buy oil came to the door, and
cried out, Lord, Lord, let us in. But he said, I do not know you; and
would not let them in.
The bride-groom means Je-sus, who is to come at the last day. The ten
maids are those who claim to love him, and who set out to meet him on
that day. The oil is the love in our hearts, which burns and keeps our
faith bright. We are to watch and wait for him, for we know not the day
nor the hour when he will come.
[Illustration: THE FOOL-ISH VIR-GINS.]
Je-sus came to the town of Beth-a-ny, and they made a sup-per for him
there. In those days they did not sit at their meals on chairs as we do,
but lay down on a couch, or lounge, as high as the ta-ble, so that they
could rest on the left arm, and have the right hand and arm free to
use.
Mar-tha, Ma-ry, and Laz-a-rus were there, and while Je-sus sat at meat
Ma-ry came with a flask of rich oil, that was worth a great price. And
she broke the flask and poured the oil on the head of Je-sus.
And there were some there who found fault with this great waste, and
Ju-das--one of the twelve--said that the oil might have been sold for a
large sum that would have done the poor much good.
Je-sus said, Blame her not. She has done a good work on me. For the poor
you have with you all the time, and you may do them good when you
choose. But you will not have me al-ways.
Then Ju-das went to the chief priests and said, What will you give me if
I bring you to the place where Je-sus is, so that you may take him? They
said they would pay him well. And from that time he was on the watch to
catch Je-sus a-lone.
Je-sus said, There was a rich man, who wore fine clothes, and had great
feasts spread for him each day. And a beg-gar named Laz-a-rus lay at his
gate, full of sores; but the rich man gave him not so much as a crumb.
And the dogs came and licked his sores.
The beg-gar died, and was borne by the an-gels to A-bra-ham's bo-som.
The rich man died and was laid in the ground. And while in the pains of
hell he raised his eyes and saw A-bra-ham with Laz-a-rus on his bo-som,
and he cried and said, Fa-ther A-bra-ham, have mer-cy on me, and send
Laz-a-rus that he may dip the tip of his fin-ger in wa-ter and cool my
tongue, for this flame tor-ments me.
[Illustration: THE RICH MAN AND THE BEG-GAR.]
But A-bra-ham said, Son, thou in thy life-time had thy good things,
while Laz-a-rus was poor and had a hard lot. Now he has ease from all
his pains and thou art in tor-ments. And be-tween us and you there is a
great gulf; none can go from here to you, nor come from you to us.
Then the rich man said, I pray thee then send him to my fa-ther's house,
for I have five breth-ren, that he may speak to them, so that they come
not to this place of tor-ment.
A-bra-ham said, They have Mo-ses and the proph-ets, let them hear them.
And the rich man said, Nay, fa-ther A-bra-ham; but if one went to them
from the dead they will turn from their sins.
And he said to him, If they hear not Mo-ses and the proph-ets they will
not turn from their sins though one rose from the dead.
A stew-ard is one who takes charge of a house or lands, pays bills,
hires work-men, and is the mas-ter's right-hand man.
Je-sus said, There was a rich man who had a stew-ard. And word was
brought to him that this stew-ard made a bad use of his mas-ter's
wealth. So the rich man said to him, What is this that I hear of thee?
Let me know how thou hast done thy work, if thou wouldst keep thy place.
The stew-ard said to him-self, What shall I do if my lord takes my place
from me? I can-not dig, and am too proud to beg. I have made up my mind
to do some-thing that will put me on good terms with the rich, so that
they will not close their doors to me should I lose my place here as
stew-ard.
So he sent for all those who were in debt to his lord. And he said to
the first, How much dost thou owe? And he said, A hun-dred mea-sures of
oil. The stew-ard said, Take thy bill, and sit down and write fif-ty.
Then said he to the next one, How much dost thou owe? The man said, A
hun-dred mea-sures of wheat. The stew-ard said to him, Take thy bill,
and write four-score.
[Illustration: THE UN-JUST STEW-ARD.]
And the lord praised the un-just stew-ard, for he thought he had done a
wise thing.
Je-sus said we were to use our wealth so as to make friends who will
take us in their homes should we be-come poor.
He that is faith-ful in small things is faith-ful al-so in large ones.
And he that is un-just in the least, is un-just in much more.
No man can serve two mas-ters.
As Je-sus drew near to Je-ru-sa-lem those who were with him thought that
the king-dom he spoke of was close at hand.
He said to them, A rich man had to go to a far land, so he called his
ten ser-vants that he might leave his goods in their charge. To the
first one he gave five tal-ents. A tal-ent is a large sum in sil-ver. To
the next he gave two tal-ents; and to the third one. And he said to
them, Make a good use of these gifts till I come back; and then went on
his way.
Then he that had five tal-ents went out and bought and sold and made
five tal-ents more. And the one that had two did the same. But he that
had one dug a hole in the earth and hid his lord's mon-ey.
When the rich man came back he sent for his ser-vants that they might
tell him what they had done while he was gone. So he that had had five
tal-ents came and said, Lord, thou didst give me five tal-ents, and
see--I have gained five more.
His lord said to him, Well done, good and faith-ful ser-vant, thou hast
been faith-ful o-ver a few things, I will make thee ru-ler o-ver ma-ny
things; en-ter thou in-to the joy of thy lord.
Then he that had two tal-ents came and said, Lord, thou didst give me
two tal-ents and I have gained two more.
His lord said to him, Well done, good and faith-ful ser-vant, thou hast
been faith-ful o-ver a few things, I will make thee ru-ler o-ver ma-ny
things; en-ter thou in-to the joy of thy lord.
[Illustration: THE TAL-ENTS.]
Then he who had but the one tal-ent came and said, Lord, I knew that
thou wert a hard man, and didst reap where thou hast not sown, and
gleaned where thou hast not strewn; and, for fear I should lose it, I
hid thy tal-ent in the earth, and here it is.
His lord said, Thou wick-ed and la-zy ser-vant, if thou didst know me to
be such a harsh man thou shouldst have lent my mo-ney to those who would
pay for its use, so that when I came back I should have my own and more
with it. Take there-fore the one tal-ent from him and give it to him
that hath ten tal-ents. For to him that hath much shall more be giv-en;
but from him that hath not, shall be ta-ken a-way all that he hath. And
cast ye the use-less ser-vant in-to out-er dark-ness, where shall be
weep-ing and gnash-ing of teeth.
Christ meant to teach by this that we were to make use of the gifts or
tal-ents that God gave us, and add to them as much as we could. Then
when we die God will say to us, Well done, and bid us share in the joy
that our lord has in store for us.
If we have but one gift we must use that and serve God with it, or at
the last day he will take that from us, and we shall have no part in the
joy of our lord.
Je-sus said, The good news is like a king who made a wed-ding feast for
his son. And he sent his ser-vants to call in those who were bid to the
feast. But they would not come. Then he sent out more ser-vants to urge
them to come to the wed-ding. But they made light of it, and went their
ways, to their farms or shops; and some fell on the king's ser-vants
and slew them.
When the king heard of this he was wroth, and he said to his ser-vants,
Go ye out to the high-ways and bring in to the wed-ding those ye find
there.
And the ser-vants did so, and brought in both bad and good, so there was
no lack of guests at the wed-ding.
[Illustration: WED-DING GAR-MENT.]
When the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who had not
on a wed-ding gar-ment. And he said to him, Friend, why art thou here
with-out a wed-ding gar-ment. And the man spoke not.
Then said the king to the ser-vants, Bind him hand and foot and take him
off, and cast him in-to out-er dark-ness. For ma-ny are called but few
are cho-sen.
God is the king who made the feast for Je-sus Christ, his son, to which
all are bid. The wed-ding gar-ment we need is a true heart, full of love
to Je-sus. The good news is for all, yet those who think more of this
world than they do of heav-en, Christ does not choose for his own, and
they are lost.
Je-sus said the good news is like un-to leav-en or yeast, which a wo-man
took and hid in some meal till the whole of it was light.
[Illustration: LEAV-EN.]