To say this parable is difficult to hear, much less interpret, is an understatement. To those who have ears to hear, it will make you wince and perhaps wish to throw up at the ending. But, listeners take heart: that very human reaction should not deter us from the considerable challenge of listening to this parable with the hope that we will be sufficiently unsettled to learn from it. In fact, Amy-Jill Levine, the Orthodox Jew who teaches New Testament at Vanderbilt University, argues that we should welcome the discomfort of the parables, particularly this one. Reminding us of Mark’s comment that Jesus would speak only in parables (Mark 4:33-34), she says, “What makes the parables mysterious, or difficult, is that they challenge us to look into hidden aspects of our own values, our own liv…