Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: New Patch/New Wine - Old Garment/Bottle (Matthew 9:16-17, Mark 2:21-22, Luke 5:36-39} (01/04/24)
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TITLE: Parable of a Parable | Previous Challenge Entry
By Barbara Culler
01/10/24 -
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“Yes?” responded Grandpa, stepping closer to the water.
Taking a deep breath and casting out his fishing line, the boy lisped through his missing front teeth.
“At church yesterday, I was bored, but Pastor Brian said something I didn’t understand. What did he mean?”
“Remind me again of what he said.” Grandpa shifted the fishing pole to his other hand.
Shrugging in confusion, Jimmy looked off into the distance before answering. “It was something about cloth and patches and wine and bottles.”
“ Oh, okay, that parable.” Grandpa set down his pole.
“What’s a parable?” The boy also set his pole down as they sat on the grass.
“A parable is a short story that illustrates a truth by comparing an unfamiliar idea with something you can understand.” The older man stretched his legs and changed positions.
“I’ll retell the story Pastor used in the sermon yesterday.” Drawing his knees to his chest, Grandpa began the lesson.
“Once upon a time, a young man thought himself unusually smart, but all the folks in his village knew otherwise. He believed his decisions made good sense, and he refused to listen to advice from his friends.
“He drove a nice truck— a Ford F-150. It was white, and he always kept it shiny clean. But one day, he hurriedly parked at the top of a sloping driveway. He failed to set the emergency brake, and it began to roll. At first, inching along, building momentum as the vehicle drifted across the grassy embankment.”
Splash! Grandpa made an explosive sound, throwing his arms into the air.
“Wow,” exclaimed Jimmy. “You mean it drove itself into the water?”
“Yup. The truck stopped moving when the yucky water came up over the tires.”
“Coooool!” Jimmy declared, looking over the pond, imagining the submerged car.
Looking incredulous, Grandpa responded: “Not cool. The standing water causes extensive damage to the motor.
“Anyway, back to the story. It was twenty-four hours later when the truck got towed out of the pond.”
“Were they able to fix it?” Jimmy picked up the fishing pole, twisting it in his hands.
“Well, now this is the part where the man who thought he was smart acted the fool. He wanted to rebuild his truck, although the insurance company said it should be totaled.”
“Wow.” Jimmy shook his head.
“After weeks of air-drying the undercarriage, the foolish man removed the engine. Wiping and cleaning out all the debris from the pond dunking. Then he installed a brand new engine, polishing all the chrome to a shiny finish.
“The interior black fabric had suffered water damage, yet he scrubbed down the seats and dashboard. The odor of mold remained despite the copious spraying of new-car-smell air freshener.
“Yuck, exclaimed Jimmy.”
“After some time and hard work, the man believed his truck was ready to drive. Twisting the key in the ignition, he anticipated the roar of a functioning vehicle, but nothing happened -- not even a click-click-click. Slapping the dashboard, he stormed out of the vehicle, forgetting to turn the car off.”
Using both hands, Grandpa pulled up some grass, tossing it into the air. “Kaboom! All his work and expenses exploded into a cloud of black smoke.”
“Wow.” The boy also grabbed a handful of grass, tossing it into the water.
“He should have known better. No one can mix new parts in a water-damaged truck and expect it to function as if driven off the dealer’s lot.”
“Great story. But what does that have to do with patches and bottles?” The boy wanted to know.
“That parable means that you aren’t supposed to put new stuff with old stuff because it won’t hold. It’s like when you replace batteries, you replace all of them, not just a part of them. Does that make sense?”
“Sort of. But who was doing that?” Gathering some pebbles, Jimmy tossed them into the pond.
Stowing away his fishing gear, Grandpa continued.
“Jesus was telling the Jewish people they could not claim to be a follower of Him while still practicing their old customs and beliefs. Basically, you cannot put new into old because old will ruin it, and the new will be useless. In other words, Christians don’t need to follow a bunch of man-made rituals and customs to follow Jesus.
“Make sense?”
“Uh huh,” Jimmy nodded. “I’m hungry.” And he raced to the car.
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