Your Faith Journey - Finding God Through Words, Song And Praise

Jesus did not speak to them except in parables.  Yes, this was the form of teaching and communication Jesus used.  And, quite often, I think we misunderstand what parables are meant to do as we hear them.  You see, we are people who like to solve problems.  As we look at the parables of Jesus, we don’t have to go far to find interpretations of these stories that seem to suggest parables are often presented as problems to be solved—and that once solved they can offer us “instructions for living.”  However, as Pastor Nadia Bolz Weber suggests, “Parables are not neat little moralisms dressed in narrative. They are meant to be swallowed whole. Parables are living things meant to mess with our assumptions and subvert things we never even thought to question.”  And, as I have mentioned to you before, theologian, Eugene Peterson says, “Jesus’ parables are like explosive, narrative time bombs.  We hear them ticking away and we wonder about their meaning as they continue to go on ticking.  We think maybe we finally ha