Parables

Class 4 have been considering Parables in Religious Education.
Read the story and then think:

What does George's soap represent?

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THE PARABLE OF THE SOAP



Once upon a time, in a land far, far-away, a young man named George announced the discovery of a marvellous new kind of soap.

People were not sure at first, but they soon found that this new soap made everyone very happy because it got them so clean. Because it was so powerful, it got rid of dirt and stains that had been around for years.

Because George's soap worked so well, men found that they had more time to spend with their wives and children. Marriages got better, people were happier, and everybody admired the young man who had given them the soap. George refused to charge for the soap and gave it away to all who asked for it. This bothered some rich people, but the poor loved it. Not surprisingly, the manufacturers of rival kinds of soap soon became very angry because their business was being hurt badly.

Before long, George had followers who were travelling around the country, giving away the new soap to all who asked for it. Of course, this new soap was an instant success because the people of George's country had been trying for years to make themselves clean with their own homemade soap. Thousands became great fans of the new soap, and they formed small groups to spread its use. The other soap manufacturers became desperate and tried to get George to charge for his soap, but he refused. He said, "I prefer to give it away, because no money would be adequate payment for a soap as perfect and complete as this one is."

When the soap manufacturers found that this tactic wouldn't work, they started a smear, a gossip, campaign against George and his followers. They said that the soap made cleaning too easy - that you should have to work harder to get things clean. They also said that George and his followers were bad people because they had been seen in the company of the dirtiest people in the world. George smiled when he heard these charges, and said, "Although everybody needs soap, it is the dirty people who need the soap the most!" These unkind acusations didn't work because the ordinary people realised that George truly loved them and that is why his soap was free.

Since their other tactics failed, the rival soap manufacturers plotted to kill the young man. They paid someone to betray George and then arrested him. They paid witnesses to tell lies in court, and finally they were able to have George convicted of trumped up "crimes" and executed.
The soap manufacturers were certain that this would take care of the problem, but to their consternation George's friends and followers continued to distribute the soap. Bullying of the followers didn't work either, for George's followers kept spreading to new areas and kept giving away the soap.
Strangely, after all these problems hundreds of years have gone by, and George's soap is still available free, and people are still getting clean and being happy. In fact there are millions of people in every part of the world being washed by this amazing soap every day. And it still costs nothing!