Jesus always used stories and illustrations like these when speaking to the crowds. In fact, he never spoke to them without using such parables. This fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet: “I will speak to you in parables. I will explain things hidden since the creation of the world.” [Matthew 13:34-35 (NLT)]
Yesterday I wrote about Albert Einstein. The physicist was famous for his ability to replace complex scientific ideas with real-life scenarios called gedankenexperiments (thought experiments). For example, imagine that you have an identical twin. Immediately following birth, he is launched into space and travels through the universe nearly at the speed of light. When he returns, he’d be in his teens while you’d be planning your retirement. Time moved slower for your twin because the closer to the speed of light something travels the slower time moves for it. Never having studied physics (and not caring to start now), I think his scenario demonstrates the theory of relativity!
Gedankenexperiments is just a fancy German word for what Jesus did when he told parables; He took complex theological concepts and simplified them into everyday scenarios. When the Pharisees couldn’t understand why the ostracized, outcast and sinful were welcomed by Jesus as His followers, He could have given them a long-winded theological explanation. Instead, Jesus told them three parables. The first was about a shepherd who left his ninety-nine sheep safely in the sheepfold to search for one sheep that strayed. When the shepherd found it, he joyfully returned home with it and celebrated its rescue with friends. Jesus then told of a woman who lost one of her ten coins, searched carefully until she found it, and rejoiced when she did. Just in case the Pharisees didn’t get the point, He then told the parable of the lost son in which the rebellious son repents and returns home to his forgiving and loving father who also throws a party at the recovery of what had been lost. The second part of that parable, in which the elder brother begrudges the celebration welcoming his prodigal brother, was directed at the Pharisees. Did they see their resentment of the sinners at Jesus’s feet in the attitude of the self-righteous and unforgiving brother?
Like Einstein, Jesus used fictitious stories to illustrate a point or teach a lesson. That God doesn’t want to lose one of us, that He loves each of us so much that He seeks us, and that heaven rejoices at the repentance of one sinner were not new concepts to the Pharisees. Jesus presented these simple scenarios so they would understand that sinners are as valuable to God as lost sheep, money, and children are to shepherds, housewives, and fathers. Like Einstein’s thought experiments, however, His parables often weren’t understood. Their understanding, however, had nothing to do with either IQ or righteousness. Both Gedankenexperiments and Jesus’s parables were told in a way that only those who cared would ever understand them. The people who understood the parables, like those who understood Einstein, were the ones who cared enough to ask what they meant (which explains why the Pharisees never did get the point and I still don’t understand relativity!)
Christ taught in parables. Thereby the things of God were made more plain and easy to those willing to be taught, and at the same time more difficult and obscure to those who were willingly ignorant. [Matthew Henry]
Romper Room, a children’s program that first aired in 1953, was like a televised pre-school/kindergarten class. At the end of every show, the hostess would pick up her magic mirror and recite the words, “Magic Mirror, tell me today, did all my friends have fun at play?” Looking through an open frame shaped like a hand mirror, she’d then call out various children’s names: “I see Johnny had a special day today, Olivia had a special day yesterday, and I see Bonnie, Tammy and Gregory had special days, as well, and Brandon, you know I see you…” For forty years, small children patiently sat in front of their TVs hoping to hear their names called. While that illustrates the naiveté of youngsters back then, it also demonstrates how much we all want to be noticed and recognized.
Listen, O heavens, and I will speak! Hear, O earth, the words that I say! Let my teaching fall on you like rain; let my speech settle like dew. Let my words fall like rain on tender grass, like gentle showers on young plants. I will proclaim the name of the Lord; how glorious is our God! [Deuteronomy 32:1-3 (NLT)]
Every Saturday, our newspaper runs a guest editorial written by one of the local pastors. In one of these commentaries, the author shared that a ministerial colleague begins every pastoral prayer with, “O kind and loving God, fill us with your love.” There’s a whole lot of prayer packed into those few beautiful words. God doesn’t just love; He actually is love. So, when we ask God to fill us with His love, we’re inviting Him to fill us with His Holy Spirit, as well.
But if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and do not obey all the commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you… The Lord himself will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in everything you do, until at last you are completely destroyed for doing evil and abandoning me. [Deuteronomy 28:15,20 (NLT)]
In our house, we have an unwritten agreement to accept each other’s choices when it comes to giving. God had laid it on my heart to help a young family in our church through some difficult financial times. When I told my husband I’d written a generous check to them, he said I didn’t need to ask him. “I wasn’t asking,” I replied, adding that I hoped he was in agreement with me. Although that check was not dependent upon my husband’s authorization or approval, I still wanted him on board with my decision to write it.
