Jesus often spoke in parables, presenting truths in story form so that we might be more likely to listen and think. These can be blunt truths, almost sardonic. Notice these three.
A farmer’s land was productive.Why? Perhaps it had a little to do with farming practices and human industry. Certainly it had much to do with the Creator’s goodness who sends rain on both the wicked and the righteous. The profits and purchases from his produce fill many barns. And then, after another banner year, he tears down his big barns to build even bigger. He is condemned by Jesus, for in focusing on his material possessions, he has forgotten to care for his soul.
Who would do that? How could anyone be so stupid as to get so involved with temporal possessions that he would neglect his eternal soul? Well, that question illustrates the meaning of “sardonic.”
A rich man loads his table daily with sumptuous foods.What is left is tossed out the back gate to be consumed by dogs and beggars. One beggar, Lazarus, dies. Well, so does the rich man. From the heat of Sheol, the rich man directs Abraham to send the beggar to cool his tongue with a drink of water. Abraham says, “It doesn’t work that way.”
What kind of rich man thinks he can run the world, even from the pit of hell? Who, from the realm of death, has enough dollars to direct Abraham, rich in faith, dwelling now in the land of the forever living? Or what man would think that he can lord it over the poor, even when eternally enslaved in the throes of divine punishment? Who would do that? Sardonic.
Two men went up to the temple to pray.One, with fanfare and fatuity, prays, “I, I, I, I.” “Thank you that I’m better than others.” Who would do that? Who would dare enter God’s presence with such pride and presumption? The other man, in the shadows, prays quietly with head bowed, “God be merciful to me, the sinner.” One of these two went home justified.
I’ll ask you, sardonically, can you guess which one?
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