Jesus told them a story showing that it was necessary for them to pray consistently and never quit. Luke 18:1 (MSG)
The Seventy Faces – Widows and Judges Series – Part 1
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6
If you’re new to our devotions, it is my pleasure to introduce you to my love of parables. Those who have been journeying with us for a while know that I love unpacking these provocative tales and looking at them from different perspectives.
In the Rabbinic Tradition, it is said that there are at least seventy facets or faces to each word of scripture. Like a gem or a diamond. You have to turn it to see all the beauty found in each facet and face; every turn reveals something different to the last. That's where the beauty of gemstones is found: one stone sparkles in many different ways. We know there is a single light within the stone, but we see that light differently depending on which face we gaze upon, and in which light, and on what angle. One diamond becomes seventy different diamonds as it turns, but is of course but one (1).
You have to ‘turn the gem’ to see all the beauty.
“There is a divine intention underlying every text (scripture). But we cannot completely grasp that with our infinite minds. Therefore, we search out the meaning of the text in order to draw closer to the divine meaning – freed from the constraints of trying to find one correct meaning. Narratives by their very nature are multivalent; they have many meanings that touch different levels of our lives and address different issues brought by the hearer of the story. Too often religious communities assign one meaning or moral to the story and close out the other, deeper, truer possibilities.” (2.)
It's the same for our lives. I’ll explain: in the social media age, it's easy to read one line on Twitter and/or Instagram and sum a person/project/organization/issue up: simple, clear, sorted: affix the label and move on.
We do it offline, too. Maybe even more so.
But life is more complicated than that. We are more vast than that. I am a gem, as are you, with many facets. I can’t be figured out in a five-minute reading (Heck, thirty-five years and I still haven’t figured me out!). I’m not meant to be. And neither is Scripture. The more you think you know it, the more you realize there is yet still to know. And in the same way that pressure creates precious stones, when we apply the pressure of questions and context and more to the scriptures, it reveals more beauty.
The seventy facets or faces used metaphorically in this Rabbinic tradition of reading scripture (mentioned above) is kind of like when Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive, and Jesus said seventy times seven as a way of saying “however many times it takes.” It’s not actually seventy – it's a nondescript number: open and unending.
In the (modern) Christian tradition, we've read the Parables of Jesus (and scripture in its entirety) flat as if they're allegories: we need to find the key to unlock the meaning. But they’re not allegories. They don’t have one hidden meaning. Parables are (traditionally) designed and used to shake up one's worldview, to question the conventional, to reveal the hidden stuff in our hearts and lives, and to keep up us on our social, political, relational, and theological toes.
“We read it, and we let it read us. We dive into their story, discovering our story in the process.” (3.)
With that and the seventy faces of Scripture in mind, let’s “turn the gem” of the Parable of the Persistent Widow.
Her story only lasts a few lines, and it seems straight forward, simple, easy. Luke wrote that:
“Jesus told them a story showing that it was necessary for them to pray consistently and never quit.” (18:1)
So straight up, we know this is a parable about connection, flow, openness, and awareness (read previous devotions on prayer).
But what are we to be aware of?
Go to Part 2 – Grant Justice »
Written by Lizzy Milani
1. The Seventy Faces of Torah. By Stephen M Wylen.
2. God Stories: New Narratives from Sacred Texts. By H. Stephen Shoemaker.
3. What is the Bible? By Rob Bell.
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