Scripture: Matthew 13:24
Jesus put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field;
Thought for the Day: In an interview with scholar John Dominic Crossan, a question was asked about the relationship Jesus had with parables. Crossan responded:
Jesus wanted his stories to say very important things to people—and he wanted them to remember these stories and keep thinking about them for a long time. Even more than that, he wanted them to enter into these stories as they kept thinking.
Jesus’ teaching method was to lure people into participating in the stories—in the same way that many good stories get us to participate in them. You remember it and you carrying it home with you, still thinking about that story. You hear Jesus talking about a sower and you wonder: Who is this sower? Why did he cast the seed in this way? Imagine if you were among the people who heard these parables for the first time from Jesus. In the Bible we read today, the Gospel writers usually try to neatly explain the meaning after each parable, but Jesus used these participatory stories to leave people hanging as they went away.
Take a moment and think about a time when one of the parables of Jesus or one of the stories about Jesus lured you into its storyline. You were no longer simply an external observer, but a witness and participant, having the story shape you in the same way it shaped its original listeners and observers.
Prayer: Let me be drawn into your stories in the same way I am drawn into your love, O Creator of All. Your love redeems me, and your stories shape me as an instrument of redemption in the world. Continue to allow these gifts to make me the person you created me to be. Amen.
Coming Later This Spring
