A parable is a story, a teaching story. Please do not be concerned that any fig trees were injured in the course of these events.

Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals. Not blessed are those who do this or that, but cursed. Cursed for trusting in mere mortals. The decisions of mortals, the actions of mortals. Those who trust in others. Those who trust in themselves. For the judgements of mortals, yours, mine and others; are not to be trusted.

This is a vision or a dream. A dream Isaiah is said to have had about his purpose as a prophet. And yet Isaiah in the dream questions his worthiness for the task. “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Fuller’s soap was used to clean wool for weaving – it was like bleach, sometimes made from ashes and water, sometimes made from far less pleasant things. Refiners would smelt metal to make it pure, leaving behind precious silver and gold. The idea is that the one predicted to come would bring about purity, making others righteous as well. The wool bright and white, the gold and silver pure and shining.

A holy day, a day of celebration. The Book of Nehemiah tells the story of the return of the people of Israel to their homeland. This moment depicts the reading of the law to a people who have been without it for some time, separated across a foreign empire, broken apart as a community.