For the past few weeks, Jesus has been on a roll, telling one parable after another in rapid-fire succession. Jesus knew how to use little slices of ordinary life to teach even complicated lessons to his followers. We know that Jesus was motivated to tell some of these stories to address the religious establishment, who were openly critical of him and his lifestyle. Instead of debating an issue, which was exactly what the Pharisees wanted him to do, Jesus would tell a story to make his point. I'm sure there were times when some of his listeners thought they knew where he was going with a particular story.
Some parables are comedies, where things are turned upside down and everything ends in surprise.
Other parables, like the one we're looking at today, are tragedies, where things don't end the way we'd like them to end, where we're forced to trust a God who sometimes doesn't deal with the world the way we think the world ought to be handled. She stopped by the vending machine and bought a bag of cookies, which she slipped into her purse. The she waited in line for a cup of coffee. After she got her coffee, she found a vacant chair at a table in the break room and sat down to enjoy these few brief minutes away from the office. After taking a sip of her coffee, she reached out and took a cookie from the bag.