The LINK: 9/22
Dear Church Family,
This fall I look forward to preaching a series on the parables of Jesus where were stories he told using everyday things to illustrate spiritual truth. A farmer and his seeds, a father and his sons, a shepherd and his sheep - these were things people knew about from their everyday lives. While Jesus’ parables led to deeper understanding of spiritual truth in some, they also illustrated the lack of spiritual understanding in others.
“His disciples came and asked him, ‘Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?’ He replied, ‘You are permitted to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. That is why I use these parables, for they look, but they don’t really see. They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand.’”
These are revealing words. Jesus didn’t come to make us all feel good about ourselves, but to bring us the truth of God and His salvation, mercy, and grace. He preached freedom, not comfort while we languish in the darkness of our spiritual prison cells. When the Light of Truth enters our hearts, then we will know the Truth, and the Truth will set us free.
The practical illustrations that Jesus uses in his parables reveal spiritual truth, regardless of whether or not tending sheep relates to us personally in our everyday lives, and the parables invite us to dig deeper into an understanding of the spiritual life and what Jesus meant by living in the Kingdom of Heaven. As we will see, even those in closest proximity to Jesus - his disciples - found his parables hard to understand, and we can be grateful for those times when Jesus’ chose to explain his teachings. Whether or not the meaning of a particular parable is disclosed in Scripture, we have been given the Holy Spirit whose purpose in our lives includes leading us into all Truth. Join me in asking for the Spirit’s wisdom as we delve deeper into these unique teachings of Jesus in teh coming months.
Yours in Christ,