#the parable of the treasure

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Pictures of the Kingdom

31 Another parable He put before them. "The Kingdom of the Heavens," He said, "is like a mustard-seed, which a man takes and sows in his ground. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, and yet when full-grown it is larger than any herb and forms a tree, so that the birds come and build in its branches." 33 Another parable He spoke to them. "The Kingdom of the Heavens," He said, "is like yeast which a woman takes and buries in a bushel of flour, for it to work there till the whole mass has risen."

44 "The Kingdom of the Heavens is like treasure buried in the open country, which a man finds, but buries again, and, in his joy about it, goes and sells all he has and buys that piece of ground. 45 "Again the Kingdom of the Heavens is like a jewel merchant who is in quest of choice pearls. 46 He finds one most costly pearl; he goes away; and though it costs all he has, he buys it. 47 "Again the Kingdom of the Heavens is like a draw-net let down into the sea, which encloses fish of all sorts. 48 When full, they haul it up on the beach, and sit down and collect the good fish in baskets, while the worthless they throw away. 49 So will it be at the Close of the Age. The angels will go forth and separate the wicked from among the righteous, 50 and will throw them into the fiery furnace. There will be the weeping aloud and the gnashing of teeth." 51 "Have you understood all this?" He asked. "Yes," they said. 52 "Therefore," He said, "remember that every Scribe well trained for the Kingdom of the Heavens is like a householder who brings out of his storehouse new things and old." — Matthew 13:31-33 and 44-52 | Weymouth New Testament (WNT) The Weymouth New Testament Bible is in the public domain Cross References: Genesis 18:6; Judges 6:19; Job 28:13; Psalm 104:12; Proverbs 2:4; Song of Solomon 7:13; Ezekiel 17:23; Ezekiel 47:10; Daniel 3:6; Matthew 4:18; Matthew 7:6; Matthew 8:12; Matthew 13:24; Matthew 13:53; Matthew 17:20; Matthew 25:32; Revelation 18:12

[squuote]

hey i love ur narrator design. On a side note I found like a months old note that said "Narrator squuote take off mask to reveal Loss pattern." I didnt draw it, so I thought I might as well mention it (if u dont like the loss pattern meme uh....) (i cast gift of gab dnd)

AAAGHAA TY ive been obsessed with this ask since i got it. i drew a scribble with it*EXPLOES

[lexumpysfunland]

I bet in a bucket filled with shiny stuff that Walter holds Stanley like

his shiny treasure... Walter is not really the kind to collect shiny stuff, so technically it would be only Stanley in the bucket- yeah no he will not put centipedes in the bucket because Stanley is afraid of them-

[fly-in-butter]

Collection of probably my most favorite characters

[the-narrator-tsp]

01110011 01100101 01110100 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 01110011 00100000 01110000 01100101 01110010 01110011 01101111 01101110 00100000 01100100 01101111 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 00100000 01100001 00100000 01110011 01110100 01101001 01101101 00100000 01110100 01101111 01111001 00100000 00111111

Where did that come from...?

[dwuerch-blog]

Using our Talents

Jesus told the Parable of the Talents to remind us of the importance of using the gifts and talents He’s given us. In the story, the servants who wisely used their talents were praised with, “Well done, good and faithful servants… enter into the joy of the Lord!” (Matthew 25:23) But the one who buried his talents? Not so much. It’s not about the amount we are given but how we use what we have…

[shamballalin]

LEADERSHIP ... To Be Led by a Tyrant is to Sell Yourself and Those You Love Into Slavery

Thank you, Joy Reid. Namaste

[the-big-picture-bible-blog]

Who is the pearl of great price? (Matthew 13:45-46)

Who is the pearl of great price? (Matthew 13:45-46) Not who. What. The pearl of great price is the Millennial Kingdom. Let’s look at the scripture passage below. Mat 13:43-46 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. (44) Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found,…

[suetravelblog]

Czartoryski Museum Kraków Poland

[stanthonywalnuttree]

Homily-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Galilee In today’s Gospel reading, we see Jesus taking a moment to teach his disciples about the Kingdom of Heaven. Like he did when he was preaching to the crowds earlier, he was speaking to them in parables. A parable was usually a short fictional story that illustrates a moral or spiritual truth. When Jesus was alone with his disciples, He was teaching them something more deeper, then…

[friarmusings]

Two Parables

This coming Sunday is the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it. Matthew apparently intends the parable of the treasure to be interpreted together with the parable of the pearl, which immediately follows. The two parables do have common features:…

[preacheroftruthblog]

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure

Matthew 13:44 (ESV)44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. How would you react if you were on a hike one day and you happened to come across a lot of money? That’s the scenario Jesus presents in this parable to illustrate the value of Christianity. The term parable…

[preacherpollard]

A Surprising Find

Thursday’s Column: Captain’s Blog Carl Pollard I recently read a news article about a bargain hunter that went to an estate sale in Portland, Maine, to find a KitchenAid mixer. Rather than finding his kitchen appliance, he ended up walking away with a 700 year old treasure. Will Sideri stumbled upon a framed document hanging on a wall that caught his eye. It had an elaborate script in Latin,…

[writer-at-the-table]

Marriage Contract by Ben Shahn, 1961, Ink, watercolor, paint, and graphite on paper

Most decorated Jewish marriage contracts use ornamental motifs as framing devices for their written Aramaic text. Ben Shahn's Ketubbah is a marked departure from this model. In the superb execution of this document, the artist has integrated floral and foliate decorations within his lyrical Hebrew calligraphy, the predominant design element.

While Shahn's artistic personality emerged through the religious themes in his illustrations for the 1931 Haggadah for Passover, he would not return to such subjects for many years. The artist spent most of the 1930s and 1940s as a social realist painter. Along with so many other painters and sculptors during those difficult years, Shahn felt that art could help right the inequities of society. His terse visual commentaries on such topical subjects as the Sacco and Vanzetti case, Nazism, poverty, and labor problems brought him great recognition as both a humanitarian and an artist. It was after World War II that he turned inward through what has been called his transition from social to personal realism. During this period he incorporated allegory and religious and philosophical symbolism in his work, often based on his own cultural heritage.

Shahn's updating of the traditional ketubbah results from his changing stylistic and subjective concerns. He became fascinated with letters, both Hebrew and English, which became essential elements in his work. This calligraphic preoccupation led to his 1954 illustrations for The Alphabet of Creation, a book which related a parable of the origin of the Hebrew alphabet. His own combination of these twenty-two letters become a personal stamp and appears on most of his prints and drawings after 1960, including this Ketubbah.

Like the butterfly stamp of James Whistler and the Japonist monogram of Toulouse-Lautrec, this symbol shows Shahn's stylistic inspiration as coming from outside mainstream Western culture. The expressive style of Shahn's Hebrew characters changes with the meaning of each theme he depicts. For this Ketubbah, which is presented at the joyous celebration of marriage, he develops a commanding but elegant Hebrew appropriate to the legal nature of the document and the solemnity of the moment-a calligraphy markedly different from the flame-like evanescences in his tribute to the Feast of Lights, Hanukkah. As had been the custom of Hebrew scribes throughout the ages, Shahn adds eccentric elements to certain letters. Most notable here is the oft-repeated, stylized Star of David.

Shahn's meandering floral and foliate forms refer to Psalm 128:3, a common visual allusion in Jewish marriage contracts: "Thy wife is a fruitful vine in the midst of thy house, thy children are as young olive trees set around thy table." (Kleeblatt, Norman L., and Vivian B. Mann. TREASURES OF THE JEWISH MUSEUM. New York: Universe Books, 1986, pp. 192-193.)

[fly-in-butter]

Has a neat doodle session with friendos on discord :DDD

[nerdygaymormon]

Luke 15:1-7 - Parable of the Lost Sheep

The Pharisees and teachers of the law accuse Jesus of welcoming sinners and eating with them. Jesus responds by telling 3 stories about redemption. The parable of the lost sheep is the first of these stories, and is followed by stories of a lost coin and a lost son (usually referred to as "the prodigal son").

This first story is about a man who leaves his flock of ninety-nine sheep in order to find the one which is lost.

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This parable is usually taught as showing how much God loves repentant sinners. But that misses how Jesus is using this story as a dig at the Pharisees. They were complaining about Jesus eating with sinners, yet this parable illustrates they should be seeking those who are viewed as "sinners" rather than rejecting them.

This reminds me of many who run for political office who too often cloak themselves in “Christian values” and focus on damning those who don't fit the candidate's beliefs & practices, while ignoring any part of the Bible that says things like “Be good to foreigners living in your country” and “clothe the naked, feed the hungry.”

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A point that many miss is that every single one of those 99 sheep is a sinner but they think they're saved and only that one sheep is lost, and they're resentful of the shepherd going off to rescue those who choose to wander off.

God seeks reconciliation with each and every person, including those 99 in the fold. The idea is laughable that there could be 99 righteous people, let alone one person, who needs no repentance. The 99 sheep are sinners and lost, but they think it’s just the one.

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Many queer "sheep" leave to escape the cruelty of the flock, as sheep are known to reject those who are too different. The sheep who is "lost" is not conforming with what the other 99 are doing but still has a relationship with the shepherd.

The parable can be interpreted as a call to recognize how we exclude others and to value God's diversity just as the shepherd values the "lost" sheep. The shepherd rejoicing in the lost sheep stands in contrast to Christian culture's rejection of queer people. Queer sheep need to be valued.

The story also suggests that those who think they are found are actually lost, and that the lost sheep is truly found at the heart of God.

Embracing LGBTQ+ people is similar to finding the lost sheep, and this is a theme of the parable. God’s queer sheep are not only not to be kicked out, their/our true and full identities are to be valued as treasures of God and greeted with great rejoicing.

Just as there is diversity in human sexual and gender identities, there are more than 1000 distinct sheep breeds in the world. How crazy would it be to treat all sheep as if there were only two authentic types, as some still try to do with human sexual and gender identities.

God is like a loving shepherd calling us to find ways to be in relationship with one another, to expand who gets to be included in the flock and make it a place of safety for them.

Denying core parts of ourselves is a way to lose ourselves and denies the wonderful way God created us. Could we say this is a sin? The word for “repent” in the Greek is “metanoeite” (Μετανοεῖτε) which means “Turn around!”

If the greatest of all commandments are to Love God, Love Others and Love Ourselves, part of repenting for a queer person would not be denial of self but loving ourselves. "Turning round," is more like "coming out" in that it's a recognition of one’s true self and one’s infinite value. We find ourselves and no longer are lost. The supposedly lost are the ones who are actually found as they find themselves infinitely loved, just as they are, in eternal love.

This parable can be interpreted for us to value queer people, repent of denying how God has made them to be, and rejoice in them and be full of joy that they are loved by God, now and always. We are to "turn round" to the fullness of God’s all-embracing love, which for queer people can include letting go of shame and pain we have at being LGBTQ.