Sunday 1 December 2013

The Parable of the Friend

The Parable of the Friend
 
The Teacher said "Simon, I have something to tell you"
 
Simon said, "Teacher, say on."
 
"A certain lender had two debtors. The one owed five hundred denarii, and the other , who was a friend, fifty. When they couldn't pay, he forgave the friend, and had the other thrown into a debtors prison. Which of them therefore will love him most?"
 
Simon answered
 
"He, I suppose, who was his friend, because for the sake of their friendship, he cancelled their debt as if it had never happened."
 
The teacher turned to him:
 
"You have judged correctly. To whom little is forgiven, the same is usually a friend. Therefore I tell you, their sins, which were many, are forgiven, for it would not do to have a scandal among friends."
 
And he said to them:
 
"Greater love hath no man, that he put a friend before a stranger".

3 comments:

Church Survivor said...

hello Tony, what does the parable mean today? HG

TonyTheProf said...

It's about how friendship, while we think of as being good (and it often is) can be corrupted, so that friendship (or knowing someone) means more than justice - treating people fairly whether you know them or not, and not letting friendship be above that.

Or as the well known cliche has it "It's not what you know, it's who you know".

Church Survivor said...

aha, an important parable for Jersey, I guess. HG