Daily Scripture: Mark 4:33-34, Matthew 13:33 With many parables like these he spoke the message to them, to the extent that they were capable of hearing it. 34 He did not say a thing to them without using a parable; when he was alone with his own talmidim he explained everything to them.
34 All these things Yeshua said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without using a parable. 35 This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet,
“I will open my mouth in parables,
I will say what has been hidden since the creation of the universe.”[Matthew 13:35 Psalm 78:2]
Reflection Questions:
Jesus taught with many “parables” (Greek parabolē). The Greek word (and its rough Hebrew equivalentmāšal) had a broader meaning than the English “parable.” They meant a variety of ways of speaking that used images to get hearers thinking. Scholar N. T. Wright said, “Jesus didn’t tell parables to provide friendly little illustrations of abstract theology. He told parables because what he was doing was so different, so explosive, and so dangerous, that the only way he could talk about it was to use stories.”- Jesus didn’t invent this way of teaching. For example, when King David lost his moral compass (the sad story is in 2 Samuel 11), Nathan the prophet used a parable to deftly show the king how he had abused his power (cf. 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13). His parable invited King David to judge himself. When has a Bible story, sermon illustration or life observation given you insight into yourself? How can stories sometimes reach your heart when a lecture won’t get through?
- What’s the difference between a “parable” and an “allegory”? Parables were shorter and simpler, making one or two major points. Allegories (e.g. Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress) are more like a coded message, in which nearly every detail has a meaning for the reader to decipher. How can focusing on the main message of Jesus' parables, rather than on every little detail, help us find the point Jesus intended, rather than inventing our own ingenious meanings?
Melanie Hill is the Guest Connections Program Director at Resurrection.
I love stories. As far back as I can remember I’ve loved stories, whether listening to my mother read the Chronicles of Narnia aloud to us as children or picking up a good book to read myself. I love what a story can do. It can entertain and it can educate. It can make you laugh and move you to tears. As an avid reader, it is not uncommon for me to mourn the ending of a good story. Stories are powerful.
In fact Jonathan Gottscall, a researcher and writer, says this about story:
Perhaps the thing I love most about stories is that each of us is invited to live out our own. The idea that my life is a story worth telling is both humbling and daunting. One of my favorite authors, Brene Brown, says “Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we’ll ever do.” You have a unique story to share with the world. You bring something to the table that no one else does. If your life is your message to the world what will you share?
I leave you with one last quote from Donald Miller:
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13720 Roe Avenue
I love stories. As far back as I can remember I’ve loved stories, whether listening to my mother read the Chronicles of Narnia aloud to us as children or picking up a good book to read myself. I love what a story can do. It can entertain and it can educate. It can make you laugh and move you to tears. As an avid reader, it is not uncommon for me to mourn the ending of a good story. Stories are powerful.
In fact Jonathan Gottscall, a researcher and writer, says this about story:
- “Until recently we’ve only been able to speculate about story’s persuasive effects. But over the last several decades psychology has begun a serious study of how story affects the human mind. Results repeatedly show that our attitudes, fears, hopes, and values are strongly influenced by story. In fact, fiction seems to be more effective at changing beliefs than writing that is specifically designed to persuade through argument and evidence.”
Perhaps the thing I love most about stories is that each of us is invited to live out our own. The idea that my life is a story worth telling is both humbling and daunting. One of my favorite authors, Brene Brown, says “Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we’ll ever do.” You have a unique story to share with the world. You bring something to the table that no one else does. If your life is your message to the world what will you share?
I leave you with one last quote from Donald Miller:
- “And so my prayer is that your story will have involved some leaving and some coming home, some summer and some winter, some roses blooming out like children in a play. My hope is your story will be about changing, about getting something beautiful born inside of you, about learning to love a woman or a man, about learning to love a child, about moving yourself around water, around mountains, around friends, about learning to love others more than we love ourselves, about learning oneness as a way of understanding God. We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and the resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn’t it? It might be time for you to go. It might be time to change, to shine out.”
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224 United States
913.897.0120
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