16th Sunday of Ordinary Time (20.07.14)
Parable Enactment
Recently (5th Sunday of Easter / 18 May) the reflection focused on a Christian’s vocation to be a ‘living stone’ in God’s house. Matthew’s Gospel for this 16th Sunday (13:24-30, 36-43) invites a reflection on the role of the Baptised as contemporary enactors of parables for the people of our generation.
A parable always has human characters as opposed to a fable which features plants and inanimate objects. One reason for this is that the characters in parables often face moral dilemmas. Gospel parables explore ethical concepts in a spiritual setting. They also have sub-texts infering how a person should behave in the light of their beliefs.
Whereas street-theatre is a form of theatrical performance, parable enactment is not contrived. It is the natural and continuous expression of a personal, deeply held conviction. Its dual goals are the giving of praise to God while simultaneously enacting Jesus’ teaching for the purpose of public proclamation. The subject matter of parable enactment is always God’s ‘Truth and Justice’ as taught by Jesus.
Parable enactment does not necessitate props other than those in which the Christian woman or man finds her or himself. Nor is amplification of sound beyond the range of the human voice needed. Parable enactment does not require the Christian to have successfully completed a course at RADA. In fact, physical limitations and disability are no disbarment and may enhance the parable teaching.
Parable enactment is to be distinguished from more formal outdoor theatrical performances in a park or garden where there is space set-aside for a ticketed audience.
Whereas, in some locations, street theatre performers have to get a licence or specific permission in order to perform, parable-enactors require no civil permission in any country or location. They may need to exercise religious sensitivity with regards to the beliefs of others.
Parable enactment is an original form of catechetics dating back to the time of Jesus. One of the most interesting points about parable enactment is its sociopolitical role. People who may never have been into or felt able to enter a Catholic church can learn about Jesus’ teaching through a Catholic’s public parable enactment. The beauty of parable enactment is its availability; those who take notice of it are made up of anyone and everyone! It is free!
In the highly successful film/musical ‘Billy Elliot’, the young inexperienced Geordie ‘Billy’ is shown before the London interview panel for a place in the prestigious, world-class ballet school. What wins him a place is his throwaway answer as he is leaving the room after an unremarkable interview. Billy responds to a late question about what it feels like when he’s dancing – “It’s like I disappear into the movement and music” (or words to that effect).
The Baptised Christian’s waking life should reflect something of the same. Our ever-changing surroundings and circumstances, good or bad, happy or sad, are the ever-changing framework to our core, continuous, conscious commitment to Jesus, who is breathing life into us. Jesus invites us, as it were, to allow ourselves to disappear into the greater Truth, who is God himself.
In Matthew 6:25-33 Jesus gives a wonderfully supportive verbal ‘backdrop’ for all parable enactors. If you will allow me, I’ll quote it here, even though it does not form part of this Sunday’s Scripture.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
