Watches and Feasts
David at “All Glory” wrote a great parable called “Watches“:
There was a man who admired fine Swiss timepieces. He absorbed the history of watchmaking, gloried in the intricate works, thrilled at the gentle sweep of the second hand in the finest watches.
Whenever he had 5, 10, or 20 bucks, he went out and bought an imitation of one of these beautiful watches. He ordered them online, he bought them from the streetcorner hoodlum. Sometimes when he got a little extra money, he’d buy a more expensive replica, even though its second hand lurched forward just like the cheap ones. He knew their works were far inferior to those of the Swiss watches he adored, and he freely admitted it, always pointing out to people how much he truly valued the real deal.
He kept buying the replicas. He probably had a thousand of them.
I’ve known many, many people who were content to collect replicas… living their lives in the shadow of the masterpiece that God has created.
David’s parable reminded me of a post that my friend Lew from “The Pursuit” wrote for “Life in the Journey” called “Looking for the Great Feast“. I think you’ll enjoy both posts.
Thanks for the link! I just I wasn’t so often that guy.
David,
I think we can all see ourselves in your parable. The question is this: do we keep chasing replicas, or start seeking only the real thing?
-Alan
I think it is really interesting that you put the two together, the watch parable and the feast comparison. I thought the watch parable to speak more of the world that hears and sees Jesus but collects the junk that tries to look like what Jesus has to offer. But then David didn’t expound on it, Jesus and impostors is what leapt into my mind. And I do believe that as Christians we can go around grabbing for imposters instead of Jesus, most often seen when we go to the self-help book shelf.
Joel Spencer is clear that the feast comparison he has set up is speaking of church meetings that are all hype and no substance. Been there done that, now we are out and not going back. I also think that you can try to go opposite the bells and whistles, magic show to the high brow alternative intellectual mental mastication sessions and it can be just as contrived and hollow. (and boring to boot).
Church ought to be real people, worshipping freely without constraints of ideals, sharing honestly and openly as directed by the Word as a body across the time and space continuum and by the Holy Spirit as individuals and individual groups, not competitively as to who is the best at either being really good or being really bad.
And yes, you were right, I did enjoy both posts. All four actually. Spencer’s and yours also.