Hiroshima and Nagasaki Remembrance Day
Dr. Gary Paul Nabhan describes how Jesus’ parables invited listeners to find wisdom in their daily agricultural circumstances:
When we look afresh at the parables through the eyes of Middle Eastern farmers, fishers, herders, and orchard keepers … we can clearly see that Jesus was offering them both the intangible gift of hope and tangible options for survival. Jesus guided his hearers into rethinking for themselves how to survive and build community at the very moment that they felt overwhelmed by unprecedented pressures.…
The imagery and cadence we find in the aphorisms and parables of Jesus are those of a gifted storyteller who reached his listeners through colorful but cryptic symbols, curious riddles, and circular plots that engaged listeners as participants in the process of making the story whole. There was no need for Jesus to stand behind a podium or pulpit to pontificate. Instead, he interacted with his listeners’ hearts and minds in a manner that became integral to the story itself. The only way the story could be made whole and would make wounded listeners whole was by engaging them with deep participation.
Nabhan helps us hear Jesus’ lively, earthy storytelling in his retelling of the parable of the Sower and the Seed:
Hey! Listen up, those of you who think you have ears!…
A farmer went out to sow,
and from his hand he would throw…
[Jesus] gestured with his hand, as if flinging seeds out toward them in every which way.
…a broadcasting of the seeds,
but most of them landed
far from the sower and too close to the barren road….
Some of the seed they cast out
fell where bedrock reached the surface.
He knelt upon the stony ground before them, knocking his knuckles against the hardened earth to demonstrate its impermeability. They heard a low thud. They knew all too well that seeds cannot penetrate very far into compacted earth….
Others of the seeds he sowed
landed among some thorny brush….
He grabbed a branch of spiny, tangled crucifixion thorn and forced his fist up through its barbs until the skin on his hand dripped with blood. The people themselves had felt their own arms and legs scratched and bloodied by the piercing of these thorns….
At last, the sower came to a place
where the earth felt welcoming, full of tilth,
where he could gently fling some seeds into sweet spots
where they made their way to deeper, richer soil.
He knelt down again and used his bloody hand as a trowel, but this time, he brought up fragrant, richly textured, glistening humus from beneath the stones on the surface. He raised it up, then he bowed to the fellaheen [food producers] who had gathered to hear him. He stretched out his other arm out toward them and opened his hand in deference, as if to remind them that they themselves were essential elements for sustaining the fecundity and generative energy of this earth.
Reference:
Gary Paul Nabhan, Jesus for Farmers and Fishers: Justice for All Those Marginalized by Our Food System (Broadleaf, 2021), 29, 33, 34–37.
Image credit and inspiration: Mishal Ibrahim, untitled (detail), 2022, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. Jesus found wisdom in the transformative truths of everyday life.
Story from Our Community:
As an 85-year-old woman, I no longer respect the church’s male-dominated hierarchy…. I am increasingly finding solace and a deeper understanding of Jesus’ love, mercy, and presence through my participation in centering prayer groups and a small, intentional Eucharistic community. Through contemplative prayer, I’ve been graced with the gift of detachment from my past and early indoctrination in the institutional Church. I’m committed to taking full responsibility for my own spiritual path and relationships with other seekers. With God’s help, I find my faith is stronger than ever.
—Gina S.
