A Kierkegaard Parable for the Week of 4.15.24

A Kierkegaard Parable for the Week of 4.15.24

Two thieves broke into a jewelry store one night. They didn’t steal anything, however. Instead they took the price tags off some pieces of costume jewelry and put them on expensive pieces of jewelry and replaced the expensive tags on the costume jewelry.

The thieves then left the store to see what would happen. It took some months before anyone caught on to what had happened. The store’s sales remained constant so the owner saw nothing wrong. But some customers began to look over their costume jewelry purchases and wonder why they were so expensive. And others who bought what they thought to be expensive began to realize their merchandise was cheap. Both raced to the store to complain to the owner. But it too late. All had been fooled by the thieves’ ploy.  

What do you think Kierkegaard wants us to get from this parable? Remember it is a parable and not an allegory. That is, we don’t have to assign a meaning to every element of the story. Rather, we want to focus on the main point.

Here’s what I see. We live in a world which has been perverted so that what is truly valuable is what is not have become (maliciously, demonically?) mixed up and our capacity to see through the appearance to the reality does not function properly.

I remember a children’s sermon I gave where I told the kids to search all around the chancel because I had put a $100 bill somewhere up there. They scurried excitedly around the place with visions of $$$ gleaming in their eyes. Finally, one little boy found it tucked inside the cover of a hymnal. His joy immediately turned to a disappointed “ahh” as he pulled a $100 bill of Monopoly money out.  I went on to tell them that real money does the same thing to adults. If you spend your life trying to get more and more of it, it will disappoint you because it will not bring you true joy or happiness even if you get it.

We have to find that elsewhere and resist the temptation to let worldly values and appearances deceive us.

I did not realize it at the time but I guess that was my version of SK’s parable for the kids (and many adults too!).