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The Parable of the Fish and the Fishermen
Disclaimer: I am neither a writer, nor Jesus, thus the following parable is of shoddy craftsmanship, and barely sufficient to convey my point.
There was a rich man who had three sons. He decided that it was time his sons left his household to make their way into the world. Growing up rich, these sons never learned to provide for themselves, but still, their father told them it was time to make it on their own.
The three sons decided to move to a town known for its fisheries, under the impression that this was the best course of action to provide for both their stomachs and wallets. When they arrived at the town, the three sons went their own ways.
The first son was met by a local fisherman, who taught the son how to fish, thinking that he would then be able to provide for himself. But this son would run into days where he couldn’t catch sufficient fish to both feed himself and sell to make a living, so days went when the son starved.
The second son met a fisherman who agreed to provide enough fish for him to both eat and sell at market. On some days, however, this fisherman could not provide enough fish to support both the son and himself, so days went when the son starved.
The third son met a fisherman who taught him how to fish, and also offered to provide him fish on the days when the son was not able to bring in enough to get by. This son worked hard and was never forced to starve.
In these months when the donkey fights the elephant on the workings of the economy, it’s important for us to remember that neither teaching a man to fish nor giving a man a fish is enough to help that man out. We need to be able to do both.
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8 Responses to “The Parable of the Fish and the Fishermen”
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So many questions. Why fish, I don’t like fish? Why didn’t the third sons fisherman help out the other two sons? For that matter why didn’t the third son help them? They were his brothers. And where was the father, he was rich. And how did he get rich, fishing? Wheres the mama? Why not eat the elephant and sell the donkey? And doesn’t this fly in the face of “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man too fish and he eats every day” What about that guy? Didn’t you just ruin his way to make a living? And why a story anyway? Why not just say what you mean? This makes my head hurt. And does this lead to panhandling? Whats with this “give me” stuff?…. Hope this helps!
Cool. It’s actually not half bad. Now, of course, on your next entry you have to have someone ask you what it means, and then explain it.
But I would change the last part. Why is the third fishermen always able to provide, but the second one isn’t?
OBAMA ‘08–problem solved. Excellent parable, by the way.
The second one does not know how to fish! Pay attention! One fishes, two gets fish, and three is greedy.
Who knew you had so much in common with McCain?”
“We will prepare them for the jobs of today. We will use our community colleges to help train people for new opportunities in their communities. For workers in industries that have been hard hit, we’ll help make up part of the difference in wages between their old job and a temporary, lower-paid one while they receive retraining that will help them find secure new employment at a decent wage.” Feeding while teach to fish - great thought!!!
But seriously - here is question that I am not smart enough to answer (I too am not Jesus): If Jesus had the ability to completely end hunger and feed every person all the fish they needed - why didn’t He???? And PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don’t give me a trite “churchy” answer.
‘Course he knows how to fish. Unless he’s stealing other people’s fish, which is why he can only provide fish sometimes.
I would really like to see an answer to Confused in Canton’s question.
(Are you, like, totally annoyed that your blog has become a family forum?)
J. Peaslee…What…?????…. but you bring up a good point,..What about stealing???? That could solve the problem.Worked for Bush in 00 and 04. And for C in C…Who? Wasn’t he the first son? Thats covered already.
Dear Confused–Free will is what God gave us thru the L,D and R of Jesus. That is the very “churchy” answer that you don’t like to hear. Wasn’t that the point of the Shack? Isn’t that the point of the Bible? The story of the loaves and fishes tells us not that Christ is going to do it for us but humans that choose to be compassionate are going to do it for Him.