Jesus' Parables

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Because I was led to believe as a child that these were original - Jesus’ teachings - I have since found out differently after I converted to Judaism.
You misunderstood as a child. Jesus’ teachings were original in the sense that he amplified and clarified the Jewish teachings that all of his audience were familiar with. The style in which he taught - parables - was a traditional rabbinical method of teaching.

You may also have learned that most of what Jesus taught was paraphrases or allusions to teachings from the Hebrew scriptures (the Old Testament to us Christians). That is only fitting, since we believe Jesus himself was the one who gave those teachings to the OT prophets and other OT writers.

God bless you,
Paul
 
Content yes. Style no
Which is below? Content or Style?

Jesus’ famous statement, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5). Coulter might be surprised to learn that this verse seems to be derived directly from Psalms 37: "The meek shall inherit the earth, and delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

"Jesus’ teaching, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8) echoes Psalm 24: “Who shall ascend the mount of the Lord - the purehearted.”

Jesus’ instruction that “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matt. 5:39) is a restatement of Lamentations 3:30: "Let him offer his cheek to him who smites him.

"Jesus’ promise to his apostles to “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well,” (Matt. 6:33) is a reformulation of the pledge of Psalm 37: "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.

"And finally, Jesus’ teaching “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you,” (Matt. 7:7), is a repetition of an earlier pronouncement of Jeremiah: "When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart. (Jer. 29:13)

A much more famous example, however, is Jesus’ Golden Rule of Matthew 7: “Whatever you would that men would do to you, do you even so to them.” Jesus is here repeating the famous teaching of Hillel (b. 75 BC) “That which you hate don’t do unto others,” which is itself a reformulation of the biblical maxim (Lev. 19:18), “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

SIMILARLY, when Jesus instructs us to love our enemies, it is based on the biblical precedent of Exodus 23: 'If you meet your enemy’s ox or your enemy’s *** going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again."
 
You misunderstood as a child. Jesus’ teachings were original in the sense that he amplified and clarified the Jewish teachings that all of his audience were familiar with. The style in which he taught - parables - was a traditional rabbinical method of teaching.

You may also have learned that most of what Jesus taught was paraphrases or allusions to teachings from the Hebrew scriptures (the Old Testament to us Christians). That is only fitting, since we believe Jesus himself was the one who gave those teachings to the OT prophets and other OT writers.

God bless you,
Paul
thanks for the reply, Paul.

How so? How did Jesus give those teaching to the prophets?
 
Jesus was Jewish
By Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

A reply to Ann Coulter’s tv talk interview

do a google to get his full reply or visit my page where I pasted the info in my previous post . I failed to give my source.
 
Which is below? Content or Style?

J."
These aren’t parables.

I feel like your are laying a trap. Sorry to disappoint you but there is no spring in it. Jesus is God. He prepared well for His coming. All that you wrote was inspired by Him.
 
thanks for the reply, Paul.

How so? How did Jesus give those teaching to the prophets?
We believe that the Jehovah of the OT was God the Son, the 2nd person of the trinity, the pre-mortal Christ.

God bless,
Paul
 
We believe that the Jehovah of the OT was God the Son, the 2nd person of the trinity, the pre-mortal Christ.

God bless,
Paul
So Jesus who was not created yet physically was G-d speaking to Moses after his bris? And he was G-d speaking to Adam and Eve? I was taught that Jesus was the 2nd Adam.

Mind boggling but if that is what you believe … that’s what you believe.

Thanks for the reply, Paul. Peace to you.
 
These aren’t parables.

I feel like your are laying a trap. Sorry to disappoint you but there is no spring in it. Jesus is God. He prepared well for His coming. All that you wrote was inspired by Him.
OOOps, Adrift, thanks for pointing this out. Sorry, I thought I had posted the Rabbi’s whole rebuttal. Those above aphorisms are restatements of earlier biblical verses, and his allegories are mostly teachings of the rabbis that are found in the Talmud.

In Matthew 9, Jesus offers his harvest parable: “The (work of) harvesting is great and the workers are few. Ask the owner of the harvest to bring (more) workers for the work of the harvesting.” What does this cryptic saying mean? This saying of Jesus derives from a well-known collection of rabbinic proverbs, “Ethics of the Fathers.” It reads (2:15): “The day is short and the work is great, the workers are lazy; the wages are high and the master is in a hurry.”

The implication of the parable is that life is short and there is so much virtuous work to do. God rewards you greatly for the good you do, and He is in a hurry to banish evil from the world and establish the reign of righteousness. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people are lazy. They exchange a life devoted to justice for a life devoted to the pursuit of pleasure. There are not enough “workers” to get the job, the harvest, done.

The whole rebuttal is on my blog or you can google
 
In Matthew 9, Jesus offers his harvest parable: “The (work of) harvesting is great and the workers are few. Ask the owner of the harvest to bring (more) workers for the work of the harvesting.” What does this cryptic saying mean? This saying of Jesus derives from a well-known collection of rabbinic proverbs, “Ethics of the Fathers.” It reads (2:15): “The day is short and the work is great, the workers are lazy; the wages are high and the master is in a hurry.”

The implication of the parable is that life is short and there is so much virtuous work to do. God rewards you greatly for the good you do, and He is in a hurry to banish evil from the world and establish the reign of righteousness. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people are lazy. They exchange a life devoted to justice for a life devoted to the pursuit of pleasure. There are not enough “workers” to get the job, the harvest, done.

The whole rebuttal is on my blog or you can google
This parable does not come from Matthew 9. I do know what is being referred to even though it is badly mangled. I don’t have time right now to find the correct passage. I will look it up and get back to you when I have more time. The topics sound similar but with different points being made.
 
In Matthew 9, Jesus offers his harvest parable: “The (work of) harvesting is great and the workers are few. Ask the owner of the harvest to bring (more) workers for the work of the harvesting.” What does this cryptic saying mean? This saying of Jesus derives from a well-known collection of rabbinic proverbs, “Ethics of the Fathers.” It reads (2:15): “The day is short and the work is great, the workers are lazy; the wages are high and the master is in a hurry.”

The implication of the parable is that life is short and there is so much virtuous work to do. God rewards you greatly for the good you do, and He is in a hurry to banish evil from the world and establish the reign of righteousness. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people are lazy. They exchange a life devoted to justice for a life devoted to the pursuit of pleasure. There are not enough “workers” to get the job, the harvest, done.

The whole rebuttal is on my blog or you can google
They have different points the point Jesus was making was the following
23 It presupposes that only God (the master of the harvest) can take the initiative in sending out preachers of the gospel, whereas in Matthew’s setting it leads into Matthew 10 where Jesus does so.
Again I wouldn’t qualify this as a parable
Code:
Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness.
36
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, 22 like sheep without a shepherd.
37
23 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
38
so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
 
So Jesus who was not created yet physically was G-d speaking to Moses after his bris? And he was G-d speaking to Adam and Eve? I was taught that Jesus was the 2nd Adam.

Mind boggling but if that is what you believe … that’s what you believe.

Thanks for the reply, Paul. Peace to you.
All religion is mind boggling. Thank God.
 
Well, I think the main point was addressed earlier on when Zahava clarified that ‘as a child’ --and apparently either a child undergoing Christian teaching, or at least being ‘told’ of Christian teachings, she ‘understood’ that the ‘parables’ --not the teachings themselves, but the ‘form’ of parables, was a ‘new’ and "Christian’ teaching.

A simple reading of the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 13, v13-15 tells us that Christ spoke in the form of parables to fulfill a prophetic passage of the old testament, specifically from Isaiah. Obviously ‘speaking in parables’ was a teaching style well known and well used by Jewish people --not rabbis alone–so it is sad that either Zahava didn’t try to question this ‘understanding’ of hers by further discussion with whomever she ‘received it from’ right from the start so that if the mistake were ‘imposed’ on her by another she could have quickly found the correct and authentic acknowledgement that “parables” as a style are not ‘new Christian teaching’, and that if the mistake were hers, she would not have gone so ‘long’ with misapprehensions.
 
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