“They were like my second family and I was always looking forward to going on tour. The support of the team got her through the hardest time in her life. She had to return to the States and carry on as if everything was fine.īetsy had recently been selected in the Football Ferns squad for the first time. When her mum died, Betsy was home on a summer break. She had recently moved to America to take up a scholarship at the University of California. But I know she’ll be there in spirit.”īetsy was only 19 when her mum passed away. She would’ve been there at this World Cup, so it’s pretty sad for me that she won’t be around for it. “If she was still alive now, she would be at every single game and supporting me every minute. “She was an amazing woman,” says Betsy, who has played over 140 internationals for New Zealand. It’s been 13 years since Betsy lost her mum. It’s a moment she’s been waiting for her whole life – the chance to star for her country at the FIFA Women’s World Cup on home soil.Ī global audience is watching and four million New Zealanders are behind the team – but someone is missing. This is a book I will return to again and take copious notes to remind myself of what Jesus said to his followers.Midfielder Betsy Hassett is picturing herself walking down the tunnel to a sold-out Eden Park. I hope that it will turn into something delightful in me. After each chapter, I was compelled to let it marinade or percolate. For this reason, it took me a while to complete my reading of this book. They were challenging me to look at myself and my attitudes and beliefs and ask if I was doing as Jesus illustrated. I have been uncomfortable because they were challenging me to understand and do as Jesus said. I find myself quite uncomfortable with the interpretations that the author presented about some of the parables, even now. Perhaps we lose something by not knowing about the patron-client system of Rome, but that does not change what the basic facts of the parable are. We don’t want to consider that Jesus was calling on the community to take care of the community. But why have I not? I would guess I have not heard it because we are very uncomfortable with the thought that Jesus might want us to pay our workers a fair wage. I had not heard The Laborers in the Vineyard presented as a study in economics. Why not consider ourselves the older brother or father? Why not consider how like we are to the Samaritan? Often, we limit our view to the son, for example, in The Prodigal Son or to the injured man in The Good Samaritan. The author also challenges us to identify with all of the key players in the parables. It is when we read the parable for what it actually says that we can appreciate the lesson that Jesus presented. Often, we seem to add to the parables many uninvited details. I most enjoyed how Levine striped away all that was not in the parable. In the end I had no need to worry – I don’t think I would have offended this fine New Testament scholar with what I have to say about the parable. Having written extensively of the Prodigal Son, I was hesitant to see what Prof.

I must say that I was so caught up in reading each chapter that I hardly noticed but cannot question the academic study behind what she presented. Levine’s presentation of misunderstood parables and her own interpretations are well researched. Others were allegories, and Levine points out that parables are their own literary form and different from allegory this too we should set aside. As Levine points out, Jesus was a Jew, he would not have likely put down his own race. Some of the erroneous understandings of the parables were so far fetched I wondered where they came from! I was quite glad that I had not heard them – many were anti-Jewish. Short Stories by Jesus analyzes parables of the kingdom of heaven, first Levine’s translation of the the parable is presented, then common erroneous interpretations are addressed and finally Levine presents her own interpretation. I continue to be as struck by her written teachings as I was by her video. I don’t recall what the topic was, but I knew I needed to get my hands on what she had to say.Īmy-Jill Levine is a renowned New Testament scholar and professor of NT and Early Christianity.

She appeared stern with her dark, grey-streaked hair pulled back in a low bun but spoke with such interest and added a bit of humor to temper her words. I was introduced to Levine through a YouTube video that I somehow stumbled across. Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi, by Amy-Jill Levine Author background

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