With apologies to Jesus of Nazareth (who deserves better followers than he seems to have attracted over the years), I offer a parable. Once, there were two brothers who were fishermen. They worked together on a modest boat, and their catches were adequate to support themselves. As they grew older, they acquired wives and children and homes for them. Yet, their catches didn’t grow as quickly as their financial obligations.
So, they went to the moneylenders and borrowed to keep up with their responsibilities. Yet, every time they borrowed, more and more financial demands arose. Houses needed to grow as their children did, dowries were needed to marry them off. But the moneylenders never told them "no" because they always made their payments – even if they had to borrow from one to pay the other and even if some of the money was spent foolishly.
One day, a horrible storm came and smashed their boat to matchsticks. It also destroyed their houses. As they looked at the wreckage, one brother asked the other, "What shall we do? We have debts and no way to pay."
His brother said, "Let us go to the moneylenders, explain the situation and perhaps, we can work something out."
The first brother said, "No, no, we owe them too much already. I shall see if I can find some nets and fish a little to make ends meet. I will be poorer than I was, but that was all false wealth anyway. Eventually, I will pay off the debts. I can't leave that for my grandchildren."
The other brother failed to persuade him, so he went alone to the moneylenders. After seeing them, he moved to another village far away.
A few years past, and the brother who stayed was in broken health, casting his nets into the sea each day, barely feeding his family, and making only enough to pay off his debt bit by bit. His family slept under a canopy of palms where his house had stood. They ate whatever he caught that he didn’t need to sell.
One day, a fine ship pulled up to the old dock where the brothers used to moor their small fishing boat. The captain called the one brother by his name and said that his long-lost brother wished to see him, that he should bring his family and come aboard. After some persuading, the whole family embarked.
They were fed fine food and excellent wine during their journey. Eventually, they came to a huge palace by the sea. Waiting on the dock was the other brother, clothed in silk and smelling of sweet perfume.
"Welcome brother," he said, "To my home."
Astonished the poor brother asked, "How did you achieve all of this? The palace, the fine ship?"
"After the storm, I borrowed heavily from the moneylenders – ten times what I owed, but because we had always met our payments, they were happy to lend. I had a big fishing vessel built, and I manned it with a dozen fishermen. We caught more fish in a day than you and I used to catch in a month. And I made many times as much money."
"But your debt must have been huge! I am still barely able to pay off my share of our old debt."
"It was, but I spent so that I could make more than ever. Now, my debt is shrinking, and moneylenders come to me everyday asking if I need cash. And all of this wealth is truly mine."
Here endeth the lesson.
Yeah, I know, Jesus could probably have told this in about seven lines – I’m new at this.