SteveF wrote:Ok RND, let me take another shot at summarizing what I think you might be saying:
1. The “rich man” in the first parable was an illustration involving material wealth and then followed by Jesus’ rebuke of the Pharisees for their misuse of it.
Close. Spiritual wealth.
2. Jesus then told then warned them they would not have the “true riches” since they could not be trusted with material wealth.
No. The metaphor speaks that if they couldn't be trusted with a "little" given from God's Kingdom, then they would be trusted with much, i.e. Jesus.
3. The second parable, although using material wealth as an illustration, is actually a picture of the spiritual failure of the Pharisees. The opulent clothing of the rich man is actually the rich spiritual blessing given to the Pharisees.
The opulent clothing of the rich man are actually the same garments that t sanctuary priest would wear.
4. The gentiles are represented by Lazarus who had not received spiritual blessing as of yet.
Close. The "gentiles" are represented as the "dogs."
Mat 15:22 And, behold,
a woman of Canaan (worse than even a Samaritan) came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, [thou] Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. 23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. 24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. 26 But he (Jesus) answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast [it] to dogs. (Jesus called this woman a dog!) 27 And she said, Truth, Lord:
yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. 28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great [is] thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
5. The end result is the true riches are taken from the unfaithful Pharisees and given to unsuspecting gentiles.
Am I getting closer?
Not even in the same ballpark!.
If this is your understanding, I think you should retract your strong statement that kaufmannphillips' explanation is flaccid. I think his is a more natural reading and far from flaccid. Although it seems that yours is possible (at first blush) it requires more "reading into the passage" than his.
I guess I don't have to retract anything as yet! Whew! And I would definitely agree that what I read into the parables of Luke 15 and 16 is probably a little bit more than the average guy. For example, in the parable of the lost coin what do you think the missing coin out of 10 represents? How about the woman?
Luke 15:8 Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find [it]? 9 And when she hath found [it], she calleth [her] friends and [her] neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.
