A Good Story
Mark 4:10,13 When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables ... And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables?
You and I, we love a good story, particularly when it reaches into our realities and it touches us somewhere deep inside. That’s why we sometimes shed a tear during movies.
I’ve heard dry preaching that sounds rather like it’s straight out of a text book, and then I’ve heard preaching that somehow brings the realities of God alive in the middle of my life. I’m sure you have too, and you don’t have to be a genius to figure out which one of those two works best.
Jesus did a lot of His preaching through stories about farmers and grain and seeds and lamps and bushels and weddings. It must have seemed odd to the crowds compared to what they were used to down at the local synagogue – almost sacrilegious I suspect. And sometimes they didn’t even get what He was on about.
Mark 4:10,13 When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables … And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables?
Okay, so He explained this parable to His inner circle, but the rest of the crowd went home just as confused as these few disciples.
You can just see them around the dinner table that night, “What do you think He meant by that?” “Well, I think that…” There they were, chewing on His words, digesting them until the truth of what He was saying dropped into their hearts.
Some days God’s Word doesn’t seem to make much sense, so we give up all too easily.
But there is an alternative. Talk about it, chew it over, ask questions … and before you know it, the truth will drop into your heart as well.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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