Listening to the Parables of Jesus
Questions for Discussion

Introduction
Edward F. Beutner, The Haunt of the Parable
  1. Traditionally we have thought of Jesus as a teacher and the parables as his teaching. What is Beutner suggesting when he claims that parables’ purpose is to haunt?
  2. What does it mean to “drop a mouse” into a parable, rather than try to force meaning out if?

Chapter 1
Lane C. McGaughy, Jesus’ Parables and the Fiction of the Kingdom
  1. How does the two-storied universe of Greek myth support allegory?
  2. Since, in a metaphor, there is no direct connection between the subject and object, how is the connection made? For example, “My love is a red rose,” is not literally true. So how is it true?
  3. In allegory the characters of a story have a meaning or referent from outside the story. For example, the referent for master is God. If the parable is a metaphor, how does this change the meaning or how one finds the meaning?
  4. The parable as metaphor leads to an unexpected conclusion. How does this lead to an experience of a new reality in language?
  5. The unexpected conclusion of the parable makes it open-ended. It has no single interpretation but a multitude of interpretations. Of the various possible interpretations how do you know which ones are correct?

Chapter 2
Edward F. Beutner, How Jesus Took the Gist from Liturgist
  1. What does Beutner imply when he says that Jesus appears inordinately fond of hanging out? What is the implied contrast?
  2. What are some examples of modern “social maps” or “social scripts”?
  3. What would a “moralistic” interpretation of the parable of the Pharisee and tax collector look like?
  4. What, if anything, is wrong with the prayer of the Pharisee? Remember the trap of moralizing.
  5. In what way does the parable interpret the reader (hearer), rather than the reader (hearer) interpret the parable? Or is this just another parable?

Chapter 3
Bernard Brandon Scott, On the Road Again
  1. Make a list of violent acts that occur in Jesus’ parables. How does this list fit with the popular image of gentle Jesus. What does it tell us about the world Jesus lived in?
  2. In what way is Mark’s interpretation of the parable of the Leased Vineyard an allegory?
  3. If Jesus’ parable warns against the use of violence to claim or bring God’s kingdom, what myths or beliefs in the Jewish and Christian traditions does this reject?

Chapter 4
Edward F. Beutner, A Mercy Unextended
  1. How does the Robert Francis poem “Pitcher” help you understand Jesus the parable teller? Does it mislead you in any way?
  2. Why does Beutner argue that God is “cast outside the parable”?
  3. How is the behavior of the king (drug lord) different from that of God?
  4. Does this essay show how Jesus was betrayed by his speech, as Beutner’s opening paragraph notes?

Chapter 5
Paul Verhoeven, The First Will Be First
  1. Verhoeven argues that originally the parable started with the payment of those hired first. How strong do you think his argument is? What are its weaknesses? If you were voting in the Jesus Seminar, what color would you give his reconstruction? Red? Pink? Gray? or Black?
  2. If Verhoeven is correct in his reordering of the payment, why would Matthew have changed it?
  3. What effect does Verhoeven’s re-ordering of the payment have on the parable’s interpretation or meaning?
  4. Why does Miller insist that the owner is generous if a denarius a day is the standard wage?
  5. What are the various reasons for the master to return to the marketplace to hire more workers?
  6. After following the discussion between Verhoeven and Miller, do you think the master is good or bad?
  7. Miller says, “the key question is whether Jesus’ audience starts the story identifying with the owner or with the workers.” Traditionally, readers have identified with the master. Why? Remember: allegory. Why is this a key question? What do you think?

Chapter 6
Edward F. Beutner, Comedy with a Tragic Turn
  1. How does Beutner’s suggestion that this parable is a comedy shift or change your previous view of the parable?
  2. Beutner suggests that the parable is addressed to Galilean peasants who would see both the master and the manager as above them in social class. What effect has your social class had on your viewing of the actions of characters?

Chapter 7
Robert J. Miller, The Pearl, the Treasure, the Fool, and the Cross
  1. If the merchant sells everything to buy the pearl, what is his next step? What are the implications of that step?
  2. Miller points to two explanations for man’s immoral behavior in the parable of the Treasure. The first looks for events in Jesus’ life; the second points to Jesus’ frequent use of characters who behave immorally. Which of these two do you find most convincing? Why do you think so many of the characters in the parables behave in problematic ways?
  3. Given that the man has purchased, under false pretensions, a field with a treasure hidden it, what are his options?
  4. In what ways is the basileia (kingdom) of God political? Why is proclaiming it dangerous?
  5. In Miller’s interpretation of the Treasure as reflecting Jesus’ life, the accent falls on the joy of pursuing the kingdom. How, then, does one deal with the man’s immoral behavior in buying the field?

Chapter 8
Edward F. Beutner, Jesus after Hamlet
  1. In comparing Jesus and Hamlet, Beutner maintains that for both, “the method of metaphor delivers their listeners from the madness of myth.” What does this mean? Give an example of it both from Jesus and from Hamlet?
  2. Hamlet is a fictional character, a creation of Shakespeare. In what sense is Jesus also a fictional character?

Chapter 9
Robert W. Funk, Jesus of Nazareth
  1. Funk describes Jesus as “the first standup Jewish comic.” How is Jesus a comic?
  2. Funk constructs a negative list of what Jesus was not. Can you construct a positive list of what Jesus was or was about?

Chapter 10
Bernard Brandon Scott, The Reappearance of Parables
  1. Various authors in this volume have struggled with how to translate the basileia of God: kingdom, reign, imperial rule, ruling activity, empire. How do you evaluate these proposals? Which one do you prefer? Why?
  2. To say that God is unclean is an oxymoron, a contradiction. How then can it generate a new insight into the divine?
  3. If the empire of God cannot be pointed to, but is in your midst, within and without, how does one know what and where it is?
  4. What does an empire not built on contest and aggression look like? In what sense is it an empire?
  5. Scott argues that Jesus’ language offers an alternative vision, a counter world. Is this world real or imaginary?

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