As you know, a parable is a short story in an allegorical form that contains moral instruction. Most famous are the biblical parables told by Christ to his apostles and to the people who gathered around him to hear the Word of God, and those whose authorship is prescribed to King Solomon.
A summary of several parables about life and death is presented in this article. Many of them do not have an author, as they are the result of folk art.
The Parable of the Woman and Death: A Vain Sacrifice
In the environment of each person there is a couple of friends who enjoy the pity of others and gladly present themselves to everyone as a sacrifice. They are described in the parable of forgiveness.
Death comes to the Woman. She smiles happily at her and says she is ready. Death is surprised and asks: “Why?” Then the Woman replies that she is ready to go to God in Paradise. Death wonders why she thinks that the Lord is going to take her to her. Then her interlocutor replies that she deserved such mercy, as she suffered too much from early childhood.
Death asks the Woman to clarify what caused her suffering. In response, she hears a long list of grievances inflicted on her classmates, husband, children, boss, neighbors, etc.
The bony messenger of God asks what Woman has done good in her life. She replies that she took care of everyone, pulled everything on herself, believed in the Lord, went to church and prayed a lot.
Death records everything he heard and offers his interlocutor to sign one contract, after which she will be able to go to Paradise.
Who's guilty
The woman carefully reads the contract that Death brought her. She does not hide her indignation. After all, she was offered to put her signature on the phrase "I forgive my offenders and I apologize to those whom I myself offended."
Death is surprised why the Woman refuses to forgive them all and herself apologizes for her mistakes.
She replies that her offenders did not deserve forgiveness, and if she signs this document, they will not be punished, and this is unfair! As for herself, she did no harm to anyone, so she has nothing to ask for forgiveness for.
Surprised Death asks if the Woman is confident that she is sinless. In response, she hears the word “absolutely.”
Death asks his interlocutor to talk about her feelings for those who caused her so much pain. It turns out that the Woman feels anger, anger, resentment towards them!
Death wonders what will happen if her new friend forgives her wrongdoers. The woman is silent for some time and answers that then her emptiness will come inside!
And then death opens her eyes. She says that resentment and anger were what gave meaning to a woman’s life, although she didn’t even know about it.
The world begins with you!
Death wants to know what are the biggest claims of women to others. She replies that she always tried to do everything so that those whom she loved appreciated her. In the end, she was disappointed, as her parents, husband and children were completely ungrateful.
Here the main character of the parable “Death came to the Woman” reveals the greatest secret to mortals. She voices the last phrase that God said to his Son, releasing him to earth. It sounds like "The world begins with you!"
The woman does not understand what this means, and asks Death to explain to her the meaning of these words.
In response, she hears the phrase: "Suffer you or be happy - YOU CHOOSE!".
“Now explain who brought you so much pain?” Asks Death. A woman understands that she is to blame for all her troubles.
Death advises her to forgive herself, which means to admit her mistake and accept her imperfection.
She tells the woman that God in Paradise does not need evil fools and sufferers at all. He does not look like a soft-skinned old man and will never accept in his monastery those who have not learned to create a world in which love and care will reign. One who is not able to take care of himself cannot give anything to others.
Second chance
The woman begins to sob. She understands that she could not make happy those who were most dear to her, as she always wanted others to feel pity and compassion for her.
Death tells her that the most dangerous people are “victims,” that is, those who seek to arouse these feelings in others. They are mistaken in thinking that God needs their “offerings” in the form of warped personal destinies! He does not want to let such mortals into his abode, since they can only sow pain and suffering. God sends them back to earth so that they learn to live anew and correct mistakes made in the past.
Then the Woman closes her eyes and sets off on a new path, having now been born to other parents.
So ends the parable "Death came to the Woman." It is very relevant, since people tend to feel sorry for themselves and blame others for their troubles.
Inner source of life
Another parable about death tells of two dissimilar people of the same age who together came to the finish of their lives. One of them was simple and calm. He did not stand out from the crowd. But by his appearance it was clear that he knew something more. The second, always rushing about in search of meaning and happiness, felt the grace emanating from his companion in misfortune, and asked him why he was so calm. After all, he had lived all his life in a small town and did not really see anything, he had one wife, whom his parents shared with him, and nothing extraordinary had ever happened to him.
Then the hero of the eastern parable about life and death answered him that he did not regret at all that he had never cheated on his wife, and in general he was very pleased with everything that was in his destiny. He explained his calmness in the face of death by the presence of inner light within himself. “It was he who helped me reach the final line without tarnishing my soul, while you, having traveled the whole world and having changed many wives, could not find him inside you, looking for him in different women.
About a meeting
This parable of Death talks about her conversation with her majesty Life. The latter one day realized that she was greatly exaggerating her own power. Life was very upset and decided to do everything so that no one would ever know about it. To protect myself, I decided to create a convincing legend. Life came up with the image of the insidious Death - the Messenger of Evil Forces, which took away the souls of people from her. She exposed herself as a savior, bravely fighting for each of them. Soon, she herself believed in her legend and successfully used it to explain all her limitations.
People believed her parables about Death. They began to bless Life for its “intercession”. This did not last long ...
Talk of Life and Death
Satisfied with her invention, she remained in a great mood until one day she met Death. Life was horrified and exclaimed:
“But you do not exist!” I invented you myself!
Death chuckled and said that the one who is believed in simply cannot not exist.
“You need me, but you have to understand that I need you too.” Let everyone think that we are inseparable, since everything that has a beginning has an end.
However, Life did not believe Death, deciding that it was the Evil Forces that wanted to point her in her place. She suffered very much from the fact that Death puts the last point behind her. Then Life began to tell everyone that it was not alone. According to her new legend, people were expected to continue beyond the last line. So people believed in Eternal Life.
The parable "Why death spit"
One blacksmith worked in his forge when he heard a female voice behind him. He wanted to reprimand a stranger who unceremoniously invaded his workshop, but was stunned when he realized that Death was standing in front of him.
Then the uninvited guest took the initiative in her hands and very politely asked him to straighten her braid.
The blacksmith, it was, decided that Death had come for him, but she hastened to reassure him, saying that he was interested in her because of his profession, and not as another victim.
Human sins
Further, in the parable of Death and the blacksmith, their conversation is described. The blacksmith asked the guest how many victims died from the weapons that she brought to him for repairs. Death was offended and said that she did not kill a single person. The man was very surprised, and in his eyes she saw doubt. Then Death told Kuznets that she did not need to kill people, since they themselves coped with it perfectly. Moreover, the ominous guest told the blacksmith that she used to be a beautiful young girl who met the souls of the dead with flowers and escorted them to the place where they were to continue their existence after they parted with the earth's shell. However, according to her, it was a very, very long time ago when people had not yet killed each other because of pieces of paper and did not exterminate children and adults for the sake of politicians. Meeting the souls of the dead, Death learned from them about the crimes they had become victims of. She sobbed, seeing how a mother kills her child, and a brother plunges a knife into her brother’s heart. Her hair turned gray with emotion, and her eyes faded with tears. So Death turned into a bony ugly old woman. However, the worst was yet to come. People accused her of all sins and began to believe that she was taking her life.
The road to heaven
Having finished her mournful tale, the uninvited guest from the parable of death tore her sharpened braid from the hands of a blacksmith and headed for the exit. Then he asked permission to ask the last question. However, Death has guessed what will be discussed. She said: “Do you want to know why I need a braid? It's simple: the road to paradise is overgrown with grass. ”
And so ended the famous parable of death and the scythe. Its meaning can be interpreted in different ways. However, almost everyone who hears it agrees that deep meaning is hidden in this story.
The righteous and the sinner
Widespread Christian parables. They talk about death in different ways. Here is one such instructive story.
A certain rich man who was known throughout the world as a great sinner died. As expected, he was given a magnificent funeral, attended by a bishop and many priests. A few days later, a righteous hermit was torn to pieces in the desert. The monk who witnessed the solemn farewell to the last journey of the rich sinner, and saw the remains of the righteous, wept with a cry: “Oh Lord! Why did you give the ungodly man a prosperous life and a good death, and the unhappy existence of the poor righteous ended even more bitterly?” Then the Angel of God appeared to him and said that the sinful rich man did only one good deed in his life, and the hermit committed only one sin. With a lavish funeral, the Lord wanted to repay the unjust rich for the only good deed and show that he had nothing more to expect. After sending a terrible death to the righteous, God allowed him to blot out his only sin on earth, so that afterwards he would be fully rewarded in heaven.
Do not be jealous of the Lord for the villains and do not envy those who do lawlessness, for he knows how to reward the righteous and punish sinners.
Now you know what the parable about Death and the road to Paradise is about, about a woman who considered herself a victim, etc. Everyone can find in them something that will make them take a fresh look at their lives.