I wish Jesus had had a dog for a pet. Can you imagine the parables Jesus would have been able to tell if his constant companion was Fluffy or Rex and not Peter, James, John, and the others?
Oh, the images of unconditional love that would have been displayed in such parables! Being happily greeted at the door, tail wagging, and tongue eagerly waiting for a welcome greeting. Such a greeting would occur had Jesus stepped out for only a moment to get the Jerusalem Times from his doorstep or been out on the road teaching for a week or so.
Curling up for the night to read the Torah after a hard day of being accused of eating with tax collectors and sinners, along comes Rover to share the moment. Going outside to work on the garden (don’t be surprised, Jesus after all talked about lilies in the field and seeds), his dog Haboob (picture a dust-colored Toy Poodle) tags along with Jesus just as she does as Jesus travels about the house.
So many possible images for God’s love of God’s people could be displayed in parables by Jesus talking describing the relationship of Jesus’ dog with Jesus! If only! Dog lovers I am sure would concur. Now for cat lovers, I’m sure there would have been parables about independence, aloofness, etc. but that is for another writing.
Yet Jesus chose instead to hang with those who misunderstood, who blundered and disappointed, who faltered, denied and even betrayed him. This, of course, is good news to us who too often do much of the same. This is why there are also parables about the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, the Ten Virgins, and The Rich Man, and Lazarus. These are parables who do not show all their characters as acting in ways God would approve. These are parables that display the truth of living as humans, with humans in a world more complicated than any dog can understand.
When I was installed at a previous church, in his sermon the Bishop said, “Gary, you are not here to be loved. If you want to be loved, get a Black Lab, they will love you to death.” Well, we went and got a Maltese instead. It worked out just fine. I almost never had a reference in a sermon or writing to one of our dogs. Such pastoral parables would have been more of the fantasy and fairy tale world variety than that of the real world in which we actually live.
Ours is not a world of a fantasy world. Ours is a world where people do hurtful things and we are among those who contribute to hurtful things through our very actions, our inaction, and our participation in systems that cause strife for some others. Jesus tells parables about such a world and tells them into such a world for those living in it to hear.
Jesus tells such parables to bring comfort and to bring awareness in the hope of correction. Jesus walked about in the world with his eyes wide open and his determination to be in such a world unwavering. We may dare say it is because he walked about with such open eyes he was determined to be there and do something for it.
Do we only look for a world that responds like an eager and loving dog? Or do we allow ourselves as followers of Jesus to have our eyes open to both the sins of the world and our own participation in them to be determined to bring the Good News of Jesus into those places and those people in need of what we have to share?
Go ahead, get a Black Lab, a Toy Poodle, or even a mutt. (Get it from a shelter). Use Lassie or Queenie as a respite from the hurts of the world. Just do not see the way your dog treats you as the way everyone is apt to respond to you and each other. Look to your dog for love, but to Jesus for help and guidance to navigate this all too often very real world in which we live. Jesus, after all, tells these stories for us…for you!
