AS I SEE MYSELF IN THE PARABLES (Part 2)

Children of the Bridegroom – Matthew 9:14, 15 – Mark 2:18-20 – Luke 5:33-35

Elements of parable: Reasons for fasting – Pharisees, Disciples of John, Disciples of the Bridegroom

The Savior seems to be relating this parable with the anticipation that his listeners understood two facts; First, the purpose for fasting is to help the person who is fasting to draw closer to God or feel His Spirit to a greater degree. Second, that when the bridegroom had arrived at the wedding no one would ever consider calling for a fast, but rather, would present a great feast in celebration of his presence.

Pharisees – As the Lord later states, their purpose for fasting was to be seen of men and to demonstrate how wonderful they were to put themselves through such suffering. It becomes evident to me that no matter how many things I deny myself of in the pretense of righteousness or in order to obtain the admiration of others, my fasting will serve no greater purpose than making me feel hungry or thirsty or unfulfilled. I may draw pity or critical glances or short term admiration, but I will seldom draw closer to the Lord when my motivations are self-serving.

Disciples of John – It seems that even before his birth into mortality John was imbued with the understanding that his role was that of an Elias. He taught his disciples that he was sent to be a preparer of the way. He had been sent to prepare the way for one who he would serve as the promised Messiah. Since being in the presence of John still put his followers at some distance from the presence of the Savior and Redeemer of mankind, there remained with all of them the necessity to fast often in an effort to draw closer to the Lord and as an aid in preparing them to be in his presence. It seems that no matter how many apostles and prophets we are blessed to hear and how much guidance they give us on the way to drawing closer to God, since we are not yet enjoying the wedding feast with the Bridegroom, we also remain with a great need to seek His presence and His Spirit by adhering to the principles of the fast.

Disciples of the Bridegroom – I suspect that most of us consider ourselves as disciples of the Bridegroom. The problem I see is that we have received an embossed invitation to come to the wedding feast, but for some reason the printer left the date of the event off the invitation and most of us consider it to be yet afar off. Since we are barely thinking about what clothing we will wash and have ready for the wedding, most of us find ourselves in the same need for fasting as the disciples of John. The great irony we often find ourselves living is that observing a proper fast often helps us draw closer to the Lord and feel His Spirit to a greater degree, then in that moment we seldom rejoice at being at the door of the synagogue where the wedding is to be held, but withdraw into some concern about the temporal problems of our lives. Like the Pharisees we dissolve our fast into the hope of some mortal success rather than remaining faithful to the appointed purpose of the fast. May we forevermore fast with the purpose of drawing closer to the Lord!

The Beam and the Mote – Luke 6:37-42

Elements of parable: Judging others – eyes, motes, beams

Mote – There is no doubt that the Lord deliberately used a miniscule particle to demonstrate what was in our brother’s eye. Is it possible that this minute particle represents the impossibility one faces, when they attempt to make themselves their neighbor’s judge, when even if they could see clearly they would hardly be able to make out the impurity? Somehow with our inadequacies we still think we are capable of determining what is really going on in the life of our neighbor. It also may be possible that in the Eternal scheme, what is going on in the life of our neighbor has almost nothing to do with our own personal progress or stumbling.

Beam – The extreme difference of the Savior’s examples would be laughable if it weren’t for the fact that he was speaking so vehemently about how we condemn one another when our real concern should be with a diligent effort to overcome our own faults. There is little doubt about the impossibility of being able to see clearly what remains for our neighbor to do, when our vision is dramatically blocked by the immensity of what we still lack. Because the beam disenabling our ability to make a righteous judgment about our neighbor is so large, the Savior is admonishing us to be about the heavy work of removing this obstacle and leaving the mote of our neighbor to their own designs.

Eye – We spend our lives using our eyes to bring the wonders of the world into our mind so they can be interpreted and given meaning in relationship to past similar stimuli. The Lord now instructs us to use the eye in a significantly new and exciting way. Somehow this new eye is to be turned inwardly so that we can make a comparison with what we are and what we should be becoming. The Savior is adamant about our need to be over generous in our allowances and tolerances when looking at the path our neighbor is traveling upon. Evidently, the amount of mercy which attends our ultimate judgment will correspond to the mercy with which we view our neighbor’s actions. I am sure that as I begin to chip away at the monstrous beam in my eye, I will little by little be able to see more clearly what I yet lack to accomplish during my mortal sojourn. Trusting in modern revelation judgments about our neighbor is possible if we make them righteously. I guess we have permission to be judgmental when we have completely whittled the beam away.

TO BE CONTINUED…