Parables, Women, & Gifts: Week Two Follow-Up
For the month of May, students have chosen between three separate series options for YBF: Parables of Jesus, Women in Scripture, and Spiritual Gifts. This last Sunday, Women in Scripture and Parables classes combined for a lesson on women in parables. See below for a quick look at week one lessons from each series.
Parables of about Women: Ten Maidens, the Unjust Judge, & the Lost Coin
This week, we looked at three parables that prominently feature women: the ten maidens and the wedding feast, the widow and the unjust judge, and the woman and her lost coin (Mt 25:1-13; Lk 18:1-8; Lk 15:8-10). Similar to last week's parable, we see Jesus using familiar images in unique ways to invite hearers to either puzzle over the meaning or walk away in confusion. Although women had little power or privilege during his time, readers and listeners find themselves identifying with, rooting for, and celebrating these women.
In the parable of the ten maidens, all believers identify with the young women waiting to join in the procession to the wedding banquet...will we be prepared when the party starts? In the widow and the unjust judge, the poor and unseen are encouraged to continually ask because God is good and will surely answer. If an unjust judge will respond, how much more should we persistently ask our good God? Finally, in the lost coin parable, God himself identifies with a woman so poor that she desperately searches for her lost coin and throws a party in joy and relief once it is found.
Questions for discussion:
- What does these parable speak to you?
- What do these parables tell us about Jesus' attitude toward women, particularly those who are overlooked and given few rights?
- In what ways are we invited to identify with the female characters in these parables?
Spiritual Gifts: Inventories
Students took spiritual gift inventories to help identify what gifts they see in their own lives. These assessments are not a "final say" regarding our gifts, but rather tools to help identify the gifts the Holy Spirit is giving us for ministry as we grow spiritually.
Questions for discussion:
- Why are spiritual gifts important for the life and ministry of the Church?
- How do we know the difference between spiritual gifts and natural talents?
- What gifts in Paul's lists are strange or unfamiliar to you? Why might they be important and useful for the Church?