Go and Do Likewise!: The Parables and Wisdom of Jesus

Jesus often spoke in parables, simple stories with a hint of strangeness intended to point to God’s nature and God’s kingdom. Often on first reading (or second or third), parables frustrate me. Why can’t Jesus be more to the point? However, when I imagine Jesus listing a bunch of rules, I imagine myself looking for loopholes and ways to bend what doesn’t feel comfortable. Jesus chose to tell parables, sacred stories with many right interpretations. Stories to be thrown alongside our life and wondered about. Sacred stories to return to over and over again.

In “Go and Do Likewise!: The Parables and Wisdom of Jesus,” John Hendrix invites us to wonder about several of Jesus’ parables through word and illustration. As a faith community, we read parables scattered throughout the year. We will read one of the parables about familial relationships (often referred to as “The Parable of the Prodigal Son”) on Sunday, March 27. (Luke 15:11-32) As I read “Go and Do Likewise!” I noticed how Hendrix interpreted each parable and wondered what I would keep and what I would change. I wondered who I most related to each parable. I wonder what you notice.

“Go and Do Likewise!: The Parables and Wisdom of Jesus,” by John Hendrix. Published by Harry N. Abrams in 2021.