Blog Post #5: Parables

What things did you learn from your group's parable and the parables that were presented by the other groups? Which moral lesson impacted you the most? What would it be like if Jesus were in our society today?

From my group's parable, The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, I learned that we should forgive as we have been forgiven. If someone forgives you for a small mistake then you should forgive others for also making a small mistake. In the parable, although not all of us can be like the king, most of us are the servant. However, instead of being unforgiving, we are and should be forgiving. I also learned that you should be forgiving, whether you're wealthy or poor. Another thing I learned is that its not just forgive as you have been forgiven, but it can also be love as you have been loved or give as you have been given. It can be any of these as long as its in a positive way and not, for instance, punish as you have been punished.

From the other presented parables I learned many other important messages or moral lessons. Specifically, in The Laborer's in the Vineyard, a man hired workers in the beginning of the day and agreed to pay them a certain amount, but later on he hired more workers and agreed to pay them the same amount even though it seemed unfair. From this story, I learned that a deal is a deal once made as well as it matters how hard you work, not how long you work. I also learned moral lessons from the other parables like The Prodigal Son, in which it was similar to that of the Unforgiving Servant, forgive those that ask for forgiveness. People make mistakes and sometimes don't realize until a long time has passed, so we should forgive them. Lastly, the moral lesson of The Rich Man and Lazarus was that we should help those in need unlike the rich man in the story who then ended up punished.

I was impacted the most by the moral lesson in The Rich Man and Lazarus because I found it interesting in the story how the rich man was punished when he died, long after he refused to help Lazarus. I'd imagine that he would have been punished once he refused to help but instead he was punished after he lived. This story showed me that karma can come back to you any time. Although you may think that for the rest of your life you can live on peacefully as long as you are good, but sometimes your unforgiven mistakes from long ago can still come back to you. We should all follow the moral lesson of the story, to help those in need, because it can be rewarding. If the rich man had helped Lazarus, he might have gone to Heaven once he died but no one can know for sure.

If Jesus was in our society today, I think he would try to bring peace within the world because there is so much violence and destruction going on. Although he couldn't just end all violence, he could help spread a message to people and it would at least decrease the amount of violence that is occurring. In our time, all violence couldn't end right away. However, if we started to do something and try to prevent violence from happening then we could make a change, big or small. Jesus would probable also try to help the earth as well. However, to help the earth, he would have to start by helping people to live a healthy lifestyle that will help the earth. Earth is being mistreated by us so we have to change in order for Earth to change.

Works Cited

calendar.fiu.edu/index.php/event/celebrate-diversity-and-community-event/.

“‘Forgive Them, for They Don't Know What They Are Doing.’” Whisper, whisper.sh/whisper/050ae0b1fed0257720054426d0b189f1c09032/Forgive-them-for-they-dont-know-what-they-are-doing.

“Google Slides - Create and Edit Presentations Online, for Free.” Google, Google, docs.google.com/presentation/d/1A80BrsFYmR53dWOkZTj5Q8fMDejyqIfuUvwyf5zOatY/edit#slide=id.g283d73fedf_0_49.

“Google Slides - Create and Edit Presentations Online, for Free.” Google, Google, docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FOuEs7uEQzdNM7Nl0eNalxB5Oet2fN63GDyM0cbCO1Q/edit.

“Google Slides - Create and Edit Presentations Online, for Free.” Google, Google, docs.google.com/presentation/d/1L5b-DkHB4-JyWxVcASvRSOCKuQVW9gSu0qgmGe0RVig/edit#slide=id.p.