Sermon and Worship Resources

Mark 4:30-34 · The Parable of the Mustard Seed

30 Again he said, "What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade."

33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

The Awesome Power of a Mustard Seed (Father's Day)

Mark 4:30-34

Sermon
by King Duncan

A man was out on the golf course. He spotted another man who seemingly had four caddies. “Why so many caddies?” the first man asked the second.

The second golfer replied, “It’s my wife’s idea. She thinks I should spend more time with the kids.”

Well, that’s one way of doing it. I suspect he’s the same Dad who was asked by his wife when they brought home their first baby to help with changing diapers.

“I’m busy,” he said, “I’ll do the next one.”

The next time came around and she asked again. The husband looked puzzled, “Oh! I didn’t mean the next diaper. I meant the next baby!”

If that doesn’t make you laugh, it’ll make you cry. Welcome on this Father’s Day 2012.

We lost a very popular cartoonist this past year Bill Keane of the Family Circus cartoon strip. In one of his most memorable cartoons we see Dad relaxing in his easy chair trying to read the paper. He turns to see little Billy carrying his ball, bat and glove. Billy says, “Anytime you’re ready, Daddy, I’ll be sitting outside growing older.”

Ooh, that hurts. It’s not easy being a Dad just as it is not easy being a Mom. Of course, there are times when dads come in handy.

I read recently about a beautiful wedding in which a radiant bride processed down the aisle on the arm of her father. They reached the altar where the smiling groom stood waiting. The bride kissed her father and placed something in his hand.

It was . . . his credit card. Sometimes dads do come in handy.

Comic Robin Fairbanks says, “I have an 18-year-old; her name is Alexis. I chose that name because if I hadn’t had her, I’d be driving one.” (1)

It’s not easy, particularly in today’s world, to be a Dad. Kids today expect so much. I personally like comedian Phyllis Diller’s comment. She said, “I want my children to have all the things I couldn’t afford. Then I want to move in with them.”

Just kidding, of course.

Our text for the day isn’t designed specifically for fathers. It is designed, rather, for followers, followers of Jesus Christ. The Master is talking about the kingdom of God and he speaks hopeful words about the days ahead. He says, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

Some of us may have a misconception about the plant which comes forth from a mustard seed. There is no such thing as a mustard tree. If you’re thinking of a tree like a mighty redwood emanating from a tiny mustard seed, you are mistaken. If Jesus had been teaching in California, he might have used a giant redwood and talked about the miracle of the acorn. The principle would have been the same. However, he was teaching in Palestine. And so he chose the mustard seed.

The mustard plant is a shrub, but in that part of the world it is the largest of all the shrubs. It is large enough for birds to nestle in its branches. The point of the parable is the same, however. From a tiny seed major accomplishments may emerge.

An example of that growth is the story of the early church. It began with only the Master and twelve disciples and an unknown number of women. We must not forget the women; they were there from the very beginning giving their support, sharing their witness. But look at how much that tiny group has grown.

It is estimated that there are now 2.1 billion (yes, billion) Christians in the world (about one third of the total population of the planet), and we are still growing. While it is true that churches in the West have slowed their growth, and some churches have actually declined, there are places, particularly in Asia and South America, where the Gospel is exploding. From the smallest of seeds, the mightiest of all plants has grown.

But the church is itself a seed. God planted us in the world to make a difference in the world. And even though we have been a flawed group of people through the ages, the influence that this group of people has had upon our world cannot be overstated.

Many of the values of Western civilization are rooted in Jesus and the Scriptures. For example, all the hospitals in America were originally Christian hospitals. All the colleges in America were originally Christian colleges. The civil rights movement had its origin in the Scriptures. We are continually reminded of how male-oriented the scriptures are, but tell me any religion on earth that has freed as many women as Jesus has.

As one observer has noted, even our system of government is a product of those values. Where did our Constitution come from? It was authored by Thomas Jefferson. Where did he get his ideas? The French Enlightenment. Where did the French Enlightenment get its ideas? The Renaissance. Where did the Renaissance get its ideas? The Reformation. Where did the Reformation get its ideas? From the Bible. (2)

A tiny seed planted more than two thousand years ago is slowly changing the world. Not as quickly as God would like. Sometimes Christian people are a barrier rather than a bridge to a better world. Still, that seed is growing until the day comes when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:8-11). There is indeed power in what we might call “mustard seed faith.”

Of course, parents see the power of mustard seed faith all the time. A baby is born into a household. Can you imagine the significance of that event? Every baby born into this world represents hope for a new beginning.

It is said that Queen Victoria was fascinated by the brilliance of the scholars who made up England’s Royal Society. On one occasion she whispered to Prime Minister John Bright, “Where do all these learned men come from?”

Bright replied, “From babies, your Majesty, from babies.” Every time a baby is born into the world a potential mustard seed of greatness is planted.

It’s like a small church in rural Kentucky which over the years has produced several outstanding clergy. While interviewing a new slate of pastoral candidates, a member of the search committee mentioned the former pastors from that small church who had gone on to serve in prominent church positions one as president of a seminary and pastor of a large city church, another also as a seminary president, and a third as president of two denominational conventions and an international alliance.

“How in the world did you find that many potentially great men in this little church?” the astonished candidate asked.

“Find them!” said the committee member. “We didn’t find them. We made them!” (3)

And of course that committee member was right. Our children are our most important product as a church. That is why we must make our ministry to both our children and our youth all that those ministries can possibly be.

Don M. Aycock in his book Symbols of Salvation tells of an Italian film with the unusual title, “Tree of the Wooden Clogs.” This film portrays the plight of Italian peasants at the close of the nineteenth century. In one scene the village priest is shown talking with the parents of a 5-year-old boy. They are quite poor. The boy’s father wants the boy to stay at home, work around the farm and help support the family. The priest tells him the family must send the boy to school since God has given the boy the gift of intelligence. He explains that the potential of the whole world is wrapped up in that fuzzy-headed boy. The parents agree, at first reluctantly, to send the boy to school. They know the priest is right . . . children hold the world’s potential in their often dirty little hands. (4)

I love the way Pablo Casals, the world-renowned cellist, once described it: “What do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are? We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel! You are unique . . . there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel . . .” (5)

They are a marvel. Children are the primary mustard seed that our church is sowing. If we do our job right, they will be ambassadors of Christ making the Kingdom of God ever more of a reality in a world which badly needs saving.

This is to say that one way we can serve God is by helping our young ones know who they are and what God can do through them.

I guess this is turning into a Father’s Day message after all. But of course it’s not just for fathers. It is for everyone in this room. You don’t have to be a parent or a grandparent or an aunt or an uncle to influence a child’s life. Everyone in this room directly or indirectly influences our children whether you are a parent or not. Some of the finest teachers in the history of the Sunday School movement have had no children of their own.

Dr. Fred Craddock, the eminent retired seminary professor who has influenced so many pastors across our land once told of the teacher who most influenced him.

Her name was, “Miss Emma Sloan.” Miss Sloan was an elderly woman, single. She taught him in the primary department, and since there was nobody to teach his group as juniors, she went right on with them, and taught them for years. She gave him a Bible. She wrote in the front: “May this be a light to your feet, a lamp for your path. Emma Sloan.” She taught the children to memorize the Bible; she never tried to interpret it. Craddock says he doesn’t remember her ever explaining anything. She said, “Just put it in your heart, just put it in your heart.”

She used the alphabet, and they’d go around the room saying verses. “A A soft answer turns away wrath. B Be ye kind, one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, as God also in Christ has forgiven you. C Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden. D Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. E Every good and perfect gift . . . F For God so loved the world . . .”

He says he can still remember those verses. Miss Emma didn’t explain what the verses meant. She just sowed those seeds of Scripture from the King James Bible in their hearts. They learned those verses and then recited them before the adults on Sunday afternoon. “I can’t think of anything, anything in all my life that has made such a radical difference as those verses,” says Fred Craddock. “The Spirit of God brings them to my mind appropriately, time and time and time again.” (6)

You don’t have to be a parent to have an influence on children or youth. Every teacher, every adult who speaks a word of encouragement to a young person, every church officer who votes on the budget for our children’s or youth ministry makes a difference on how effective we are in ministering to children and youth.

So many people ask, what great thing can I do for God? I can’t be an overseas missionary. I don’t have the resources to do much to feed the hungry. But every one of us can provide the proper environment for our children and our youth to grow in an atmosphere of love, support and spiritual guidance. Our children are the mustard seeds that God has provided us. We are to love them, nurture them and help them be all God intended them to be.

“What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

That is the story of the church. Someone summed up mustard seed faith like this: “The Son of Man grew up in a despised province; he did not appear in public until his thirtieth year; then taught for two or three years in neighboring villages, and occasionally at Jerusalem; made a few converts, chiefly among the poor and unlearned; and then falling into the hands of his enemies, died the shameful death of the cross; such, and so slight, was the commencement of the universal kingdom of God.” (7)

A tiny mustard seed sown in the ground. But God brought Christ forth from the grave. And then those who had learned from him spread his story. And today two thousand years later here we sit telling that story, sowing the seed again and again. Chief among our duties is to make certain that our children and young people are well steeped in the story so that they might make it their own and pass it to their children. What a grand privilege. What a purpose that is for a life.

Some of you probably saw the movie some years back, Oh, God! starring George Burns and John Denver. Burns played God. Denver played a grocery store manager named Jerry. One day God decides to communicate his love to the world through Jerry. Jerry, with much reluctance, holds a news conference to deliver God’s message. This lands him in a courtroom where God must take the stand in his defense.

Toward the end of the movie, the two evaluate the success of their mission. Denver, the manager, judges it to be a failure.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” says God. “You never know; a seed here and a seed there, something will catch hold and grow.”

And that’s the story of our faith a seed here, a seed there. But the Kingdom is growing. One way it is growing is our ministry to children and youth. There is power, unlimited and everlasting power in a tiny mustard seed.

1. Reader’s Digest

2. Edward F. Markquart, http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_c_the_mustard_seed.htm.

3. Patricia Bolen, “Worshipping God in all the small places,” Moody, September 1994, p. 54.

4. (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1982).

5. Dr. M. Norvel Young, Living Lights Shining Stars (West Monroe, LA: Howard Publishing Co., 1997).

6. Fred B. Craddock, Craddock Stories (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2001).

7. R. C. Trench, Notes on the Parables of our Lord.

ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., Dynamic Preaching Sermons Second Quarter 2012, by King Duncan

Overview and Insights · To Reveal and to Conceal (4:1–34)

For the first time in this Gospel, Mark gives us a sample of Jesus’s actual teaching. A parable (a term meaning “to throw alongside”) is a short story with two levels of meaning, where certain details in the story represent something else. Jesus’s parables in Mark …

The Baker Bible Handbook by , Baker Publishing Group, 2016

Mark 4:30-34 · The Parable of the Mustard Seed

Commentary · Three Short Parables

Mark includes three additional, shorter parables in the parable medley of chapter 4 (4:21–34); the first is about an oil lamp on a stand (4:21–25). The NIV makes the lamp the object of the verse, but the Greek makes it the subject; that is, “Does the lamp come in order to be placed under the bowl or bed?” In the Old Testament, a lamp can be a metaphor for God (2 Sam. 22:29) or the Messiah (2 Kings 8:19; Ps. 132:17). The unusual wording of verse 21 implies that Jesus is the lamp of God who has come to bring light and revelation (e.g., John 1:5; 8:12). True, the lamp may appear hidden or insignificant, in the same way that Jesus, the gospel, and the kingdom of God at first seem hidden or inconsequential (4:22). Nevertheless, God brings to light what is hidden, and he does so once again by the admonition to hear, to which Mark appeals three times in verses 23–24. Those who hear, like the “insiders” of 4:11, will receive the kingdom of God in greater measure, and those who do not will lose it altogether (4:24–25).

The final two parables once again liken the kingdom of God to seeds, the first parable (4:26–29) focusing on the process of growth. Who but Jesus would liken the sublime kingdom of God to the mundane subject of slow- growing seeds? A farmer plants a seed and then goes about life as usual. The seed grows imperceptibly, and even the farmer “does not know how” (4:27). The seed possesses a power of generation independent of the farmer, who can be absent and even ignorant, yet the seed grows. Humanity, likewise, goes about business as usual, but the kingdom of God is present and growing, even if small and unobserved. The kingdom is not dependent on human activity; indeed, apart from sowing, the only human activity noted in this parable is waiting in confidence that, in God’s time and power, the gospel will grow into a fruitful harvest.

The final parable stresses the contrast between the insignificant beginning and inconceivable end of a mustard seed (4:30–32). The Old Testament celebrated the mighty cedar as a symbol of God’s power and splendor (Ps. 80:10; Zech. 11:2; Jer. 22:23). Jesus, however, likens the kingdom of God to a mustard seed, so small that it is practically invisible. From insignificance and obscurity, God’s kingdom grows into a bush or tree that provides refuge for “the birds of the air” (NASB, RSV)—which may imply the inclusion of all the nations in God’s coming kingdom.

Mark’s concluding explanation of parables in verses 33–34 resembles verses 10–12 and resumes the theme of insiders-outsiders. Jesus spoke “many similar parables,” of which the parables of chapter 4 are but a sampling. By parables, Jesus spoke “as much as they [outsiders] could understand” (4:33)—and understanding depends on hearing, which Mark includes for the tenth and final time in the chapter. But in private, Jesus, who is himself the living parable of God, “explained everything” to insiders, his disciples (4:34).

The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary by Gary M. Burge, Baker Publishing Group, 2016

Big Idea: The kingdom is guaranteed by God to grow exponentially, and its concealed realities are soon to be brought to light; so now is the time to open our hearts and minds to its truths.

Understanding the Text

The basic theme for the parables in this chapter has already been established in 4:1–20: hearing and obeying the word of God by making certain that we are receptive to the kingdom truths. In the four parables that follow in 4:21–34 this is explored further in two ways. First, the lamp and the measure (vv. 21–25) add material to verses 10–12 and tell more about the purpose of parables: through them the present hidden truths of the kingdom (vv. 10–12) are about to be exposed (vv. 21–25), and all people should respond by hearing them clearly. Second, the two seed parables in verses 26–32 tell us that God is responsible for the growth of the kingdom, and its greatness is assured. The “ears to hear” saying in verse 23 repeats verse 9 and interprets all four parables: the only viable reaction is to hear and obey God’s truths in Jesus.

Interpretive Insights

4:21 you bring in a lamp . . . you put it on its stand. Jesus continues to address both the crowds and his followers (4:1–2, 10) and now speaks of the kingdom as a lamp (a small, oil-burning clay vessel) meant to light up a room. While the lamp could refer just to the previous parable and its “hidden” meaning or to the coming of Jesus, it is best seen as the kingdom that has arrived in Jesus. The point here is that it is not meant to be hidden under a “bowl” (a two-gallon-size grain measuring bowl) or a bed, where its light will not be seen and may be extinguished. It obviously is intended to be placed on a lampstand to illuminate the whole room.

4:22 whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed. As in 4:11, the “mysteries” (the hidden realities of the kingdom) are in the process of being revealed to Jesus’s followers. Some say that this verse refers to our hidden thoughts and actions that will be revealed when Christ returns, but that does not fit the context. The time of hiddenness was the present time, the time of parables and rejection when the truth of Jesus and his kingdom teaching was “hidden” from the outsiders (4:11b–12), and throughout Jesus’s life the forces of the world would be used by God to bring about his atoning death. The time of manifestation and light probably has two interdependent thrusts. First, at Jesus’s resurrection will come the turning point when his lamp will light up the world (John 8:12), and his true reality as the Messiah and Son of God will be manifest in the universal mission. Second, this will not come to complete fruition until the parousia (second advent), when his glory will universally be revealed and “every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Phil. 2:10).

4:24 With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. This begins with the third repetition of the basic command of the parable discourse. “Consider carefully (pay close attention) to what you hear” (see also vv. 9, 23). The parable of the measure was a common Jewish proverb (cf. Matt. 7:2) stemming from commerce. It was a scoop used to “measure” out grain or goods purchased to assure fairness in the sale. This is the principle of lex talionis (the law of retribution or reciprocity), also central to Revelation (on the absolute justice of God). What we do for God we will also receive from God (note the divine passive “will be measured” here). Here it means that careful hearing of Jesus’s teaching will be rewarded by God. Then Jesus adds that by the grace of God the reward will exceed the effort. God will give us even more understanding. There is a superabundance of riches for those who search the Word carefully.

4:25 whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. The warning is quite clear, spelling out the two sides of the principle of reciprocity in 4:24. Those who “have ears to hear” (4:9, 23, 24a) the parables are the fruitful soil from 4:8, 20 and receive “even more” teaching and understanding (thirtyfold, sixtyfold, a hundredfold). Those who do not open their hearts to the kingdom truths (like the first three soils in the opening parable) lose even what little understanding and blessing they originally possessed. This would be especially tragic in this Jewish context because those Jews who reject Jesus lose their covenant place in the olive tree (Rom. 11:17).

4:26–27 A man scatters seed . . . whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows. This second agricultural parable of the chapter might be called “the parable of the seed growing on its own,” centering on the fact that a farmer does not control the crop but has to wait for nature to take its course. As in 4:1–8, the seed is the kingdom teaching (the sower here is likely us rather than Jesus). The central point is that it is God who accounts for the kingdom growth, not us. The account is deliberately unnatural; no farmer would fail to work the ground or weed the plot. The point here is that in the final analysis the farmer’s activity cannot cause the growth of the plant. It is nature/God that determines the final outcome. The detailed description of the sowing and the step-by-step growth of the plant (the stalk, the head [the grain appearing], the full kernel [the ripe grain ready for harvest]) means that every stage of the proclamation of the gospel is sovereignly controlled and guaranteed by God. This does not mean that God’s people can stand by and do nothing. In the action of the farmer the saints are part of the process. The point is that we sow the seed and wait for God, who superintends the process, to produce the harvest. “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow” (1 Cor. 3:6).

4:31–32 a mustard seed . . . smallest of all seeds . . . grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants. The parable of the mustard seed provides a proper conclusion to these farming stories. The mustard seed is not actually the smallest of all seeds (the orchid seed is smaller), but this is deliberate hyperbole to emphasize the smallness of the new messianic community in Jesus’s time. It is the smallest seed that produces so large a bush, and thus it is a perfect model for the growth of the church. The seed is so small that you could not really see it in the palm of your hand, yet the bush is ten to twelve feet tall.

with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade. This is a detail that emphasizes further how large the bush is. In addition, this refers to Ezekiel 17:23; 31:6; Daniel 4:21 and the image of God’s cosmic tree in which the Gentiles will find rest.1Thus this continues the idea of the universal mission as proving the future greatness of the future harvest.

4:33 many similar parables . . . as much as they could understand. The “many similar parables” in this verse repeats 4:2 and frames the chapter (inclusion), showing that these stories are representative of the many that Jesus used to teach the crowds and disciples. In this light, the phrase “as much as they could understand” must refer to the differences between the disciples (given the mysteries) and the crowds (given only the concealed parables [cf. 4:11]). Parables demand careful investigation and response, and both the leaders and the crowds had a negative response. Only when some in the crowds open themselves to “hearing” them can there be understanding and growth. Until then they will not “be able” (dynamai, be enabled by God) to understand.

4:34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. As in 4:11b–12, Jesus uses parables to conceal truth from those unreceptive to the kingdom. There is hyperbole in this because Jesus is seen in Mark teaching the crowds without parables (e.g., 1:15; 8:34–9:1); Mark emphasizes the deliberate “riddle-like nature of much of Jesus’s teaching.”2 The disciples still struggle to understand their meaning, but they are receptive, so Jesus explains their meaning (as in 4:13–20). They are the insiders and thus are privileged to receive the whole truth of Jesus’s kingdom principles.

Teaching the Text

1. The true meaning of the kingdom is revealed only in Jesus. Jesus came not only to bring the kingdom but also to introduce a kingdom reality that was the polar opposite of what was expected. The Jewish people expected a conquering king who would destroy their enemies and in effect give the world over to them. Jesus, however, came to be the Suffering Servant and provide a spiritual kingdom that demanded humility and holy living on the part of his followers. The only way into this kingdom is to believe in Jesus and to become Christlike in following him. God’s reign has arrived but in a completely unexpected way and with totally unexpected beginnings. It has begun with obscurity and rejection. The hosts of heaven have not come, and the trumpets have not sounded. The power of its beginning is a power of the Spirit, not of military might. It “is not some massive juggernaut that mows down everything in its path. . . . That is why so many will overlook its presence, underestimate its power, and shrug off its claim on their lives.”3The kingdom is the lowly Jesus, and it is entered only by hearing and believing.

2. The responsibility of Jesus’s followers is to listen and act. The only way to find the path into the kingdom is to listen carefully and heed the parabolic truths of Jesus. This is the central theme of the parable discourse (4:9, 13–20 [in vv. 15, 16, 18, 20 each kind of soil “hears the word”], 23–24, 33–34). Yet hearing alone is inadequate. In both Hebrew and Greek to hear means to obey. When one listens, by the nature of the process one must act on what is heard. The people of Israel were frequently warned to put into practice what they had heard (e.g., Deut. 28:58; 29:29; Josh. 1:8), and in the famous hymn on the glories of God’s word, Psalm 119, the central themes are “obeying” (e.g., vv. 2, 8, 17, 34, 40 [19 times in all]) and “following” (vv. 1, 59, 67, 73, 173) the word. In James 1:22–25 to be a hearer means to be a doer. God demands that his people listen and act.

3. The growth of the kingdom is under God’s control. One of the problems of modern ministry (and a sign of the secularization of the church) is the feeling that the church almost belongs to the senior pastor. People often speak of “Pastor So-and-So’s church,” and both the responsibility and the glory belong to the pastor. A friend of mine was told by a publisher that he would be published only if he was the pastor of a megachurch or was a television personality. Quality has been replaced by fame, and the glory all too seldom goes to the only one who deserves it, God. Throughout Scripture God chose the weak and the outcast through whom to bring greatness. It was not the great king Saul but a small shepherd boy, David, who defeated Goliath and the Philistines. The Twelve were a band of societal misfits. As Paul says, “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses,” because God’s “power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). We need not worry about our inadequacies. We simply do our best and rely entirely on God, for he superintends our work and makes of us more than we can be in ourselves. We are part of God’s kingdom work, and the progress and greatness of his kingdom and of our ministry are under his sovereign control.

Illustrating the Text

An exponential return on investment

Economics: Financial advisors often tout the importance of investing regularly and starting at a young age. There is great wisdom in their counsel. Investors should be disciplined, and so too should disciples. Consistent reading of the Bible yields great benefit. What we invest in the reading of the Scriptures in terms of time and effort yields a much greater reward as the Lord gives us greater understanding and transforms our lives through it. As noted above, there is a superabundance of riches for those who search the Word carefully. Are you investing in the Scriptures?

Ministry is the work of God.

Film: Men in Black. This 1997 science-fiction comedy-action film has a great scene that can be used to emphasize the reality that God is in control and he is the one who will move the kingdom forward through average, sinful people like you and me. James Darrell Edwards III, who becomes Agent J (played by Will Smith), is one of a select group of government employees chosen to be tested in order to join a secret organization that polices extraterrestrial affairs on earth. In this particular scene the applicants are asked by Zed (the leader of the Men in Black), “Do you know why you have been chosen?” One of the applicants, a special-forces soldier, answers, “Because we are the best of the best of the best, sir.” But what the secret organization is looking for in a recruit is not what the men anticipated, and the least likely man in the group, Edwards, a New York City policeman, is selected. We often think that to be effective in ministry we need to have a scintillating personality, enormous intellectual prowess, an amazing ability to communicate, and so on. What we really need are people who are willing to surrender fully to God and to his Word, and who are willing to allow him to work through them. If you do not feel qualified to be used by God, be encouraged. He is the only one who can use you to produce eternal results in the world, and he is just waiting for you to let him do it.

The Holy Spirit and the Word

Hymn: “The Spirit Breathes upon the Word,” by William Cowper. In this great hymn of the church we are reminded that understanding and application of the Bible comes through the work of the Holy Spirit. Listen to these powerful words from the first verse:

The Spirit breathes upon the Word and brings the truth to sight;
Precepts and promises afford a sanctifying light.

Each time we come to read the Bible, we should pray and ask the Lord to give us the ability to understand and apply his truth to our lives.

Teaching the Text by Grant R. Osborne, Baker Publishing Group, 2016

Dictionary

Direct Matches

Birds

The OT employs thirty-five different words for birds (both wild and domestic), but the identification of these words with known species has proved to be very difficult. Like other words for animals, terminology for birds often is employed in personal names (e.g., Jonah, Oreb, Zippor, Zipporah). There is significant evidence for fowling practices in ancient Israel, usually by means of nets and snares (Pss. 124:7; 140:5; Prov. 6:5; 7:23; Lam. 3:52; Hos. 7:12; Amos 3:5). Small birds and chickens are occasionally even depicted on Iron Age II (1000 586 BC) seals and vessels from sites such as el-Jib (Gibeon) and Tell en-Nasbeh (Mizpah).

Like other animals in the Bible, birds are depicted as agents of God. Divine agency is especially evident in instances such as the ravens feeding Elijah (1 Kings 17:4–6) and the dove bringing an olive leaf to Noah (Gen. 8:11). The Bible also employs bird-related imagery such as in descriptions of divine judgment (Prov. 30:17; Jer. 12:9). Birds may also serve as ominous signs of impending judgment (Hos. 8:1). God’s “wings” can offer both healing (Mal. 4:2 KJV, RSV) and protection (Ruth 2:12; Pss. 17:8; 36:7; 57:1; 61:4; 63:7; 91:4). The metaphor of the soul or spirit as a bird is referenced in the description of the Holy Spirit descending like a dove (Matt. 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32). The observation that birds “do not sow or reap” is employed as an image of worry-free living (Luke 12:24; cf. Job 38:41; Ps. 147:9). Jesus’ reference to “when the rooster crows” (Mark 13:35) is not strictly literal but rather refers to a watch of the night: the quarter of the night after midnight.

The prominence of sacrificial birds (especially doves and pigeons) in ritual literature indicates that they were likely raised for such purposes in ancient Israel. All birds could be eaten except those listed as unclean in Lev. 11:13–19 (twenty species) and Deut. 14:12–18 (twenty-one species). Generally speaking, birds of prey and those that feed on carrion or fish were considered unclean. Birds often served as food for the poor (Matt. 10:29–31; Luke 12:6–7). Poor people could offer birds as a substitute for expensive livestock (Lev. 5:7; 12:8; 14:21–22; cf. Luke 2:24), while the poorest of the poor were permitted to bring grain (Lev. 5:11). Finally, in one purgation ritual a live bird is used to carry away impurities (Lev. 14:52–53; cf. 16:22).

Earth

Israel shared the cosmology of its ancient Near Eastern neighbors. This worldview understood the earth as a “disk” upon the primeval waters (Job 38:13; Isa. 40:22), with the earth having four rims or “corners” (Ps. 135:7; Isa. 11:12). These rims were sealed at the horizon to prevent the influx of cosmic waters. God speaks to Job about the dawn grasping the edges of the earth and shaking the evil people out of it (Job 38:12 13).

Israel’s promised land was built on the sanctuary prototype of Eden (Gen. 13:10; Deut. 6:3; 31:20); both were defined by divine blessing, fertility, legal instruction, secure boundaries, and were orienting points for the world. Canaan was Israel’s new paradise, “flowing with milk and honey” (Exod. 3:8; Num. 13:27). Conversely, the lack of fertile land was tantamount to insecurity and judgment. As Eden illustrated for Israel, any rupture of relationship with God brought alienation between humans, God, and the land; this could ultimately bring exile, as an ethically nauseated land “vomits” people out (Lev. 18:25, 28; 20:22; see also Deut. 4; 30).

For Israel, land involved both God’s covenant promise (Gen. 15:18–21; 35:9–12) and the nation’s faithful obedience (Gen. 17:1; Exod. 19:5; 1 Kings 2:1–4). Yahweh was the earth’s Lord (Ps. 97:5), Judge (Gen. 18:25), and King (Ps. 47:2, 7). Both owner and giver, he was the supreme landlord, who gifted the land to Israel (Exod. 19:5; Lev. 25:23; Josh. 22:19; Ps. 24:1). The land was God’s “inheritance” to give (1 Sam. 26:19; 2 Sam. 14:16; Ps. 79:1; Jer. 2:7). The Levites, however, did not receive an allotment of land as did the other tribes, since God was their “portion” (Num. 18:20; Ps. 73:26). Israel’s obedience was necessary both to enter and to occupy the land (Deut. 8:1–3; 11:8–9; 21:1; 27:1–3). Ironically, the earth swallowed rebellious Israelites when they accused Moses of bringing them “up out of a land flowing with milk and honey” (Num. 16:13). As the conquest shows, however, no tribe was completely obedient, taking its full “inheritance” (Josh. 13:1).

Heaven

The present abode of God and the final dwelling place of the righteous. The ancient Jews distinguished three different heavens. The first heaven was the atmospheric heavens of the clouds and where the birds fly (Gen. 1:20). The second heaven was the celestial heavens of the sun, the moon, and the stars. The third heaven was the present home of God and the angels. Paul builds on this understanding of a third heaven in 2 Cor. 12:2 4, where he describes himself as a man who “was caught up to the third heaven” or “paradise,” where he “heard inexpressible things.” This idea of multiple heavens also shows itself in how the Jews normally spoke of “heavens” in the plural (Gen. 1:1), while most other ancient cultures spoke of “heaven” in the singular.

Although God is present everywhere, God is also present in a special way in “heaven.” During Jesus’ earthly ministry, the Father is sometimes described as speaking in “a voice from heaven” (Matt. 3:17). Similarly, Jesus instructs us to address our prayers to “Our Father in heaven” (6:9). Even the specific request in the Lord’s Prayer that “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (6:10) reminds us that heaven is a place already under God’s full jurisdiction, where his will is presently being done completely and perfectly. Jesus also warns of the dangers of despising “one of these little ones,” because “their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven” (18:10). Jesus “came down from heaven” (John 6:51) for his earthly ministry, and after his death and resurrection, he ascended back “into heaven,” from where he “will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

Given this strong connection between heaven and God’s presence, there is a natural connection in Scripture between heaven and the ultimate hope of believers. Believers are promised a reward in heaven (“Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven” [Matt. 5:12]), and even now believers can “store up for [themselves] treasures in heaven” (6:20). Even in this present life, “our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20), and our hope at death is to “depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” (1:23). Since Christ is currently in heaven, deceased believers are already present with Christ in heaven awaiting his return, when “God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him” (1 Thess. 4:14).

Herbs

A food eaten with lamb and unleavened bread at the Passover meal. The herbs often consisted of whatever bitter greens were available. Though not specifically identified, they included lettuce, endive, parsley, watercress, cucumber, and horseradish, all of which were plentiful in areas of the Sinai Peninsula, Palestine, and Egypt. The bitter herbs recalled the misery of slavery in Egypt (Exod. 12:8; Num. 9:11). In John 13:26 27 Jesus, instead of dipping a “piece of bread” (Gk. psōmion), probably dipped bitter herbs, sharing them with Judas Iscariot (cf., in the Greek texts, Mark 14:20, where Jesus does not specify what is being dipped; Matt. 26:23, where Jesus talks about dipping a hand).

Kingdom

A kingdom signifies the reality and extent of a king’s dominion or rule (Gen. 10:10; 20:9; Num. 32:33; 2 Kings 20:13; Esther 1:22). Some kingdoms were relatively small; others were concerted attempts to gain the whole world.

A kingdom presupposes monarchy, rule by an individual, human authority. Although kings only have as much authority as their armies and the general populace allow, they nevertheless exercise an almost absolute power, which invites either profound humility or hubris. Royal arrogance, unfortunately, is the primary motif characterizing kings in the Bible (e.g., Dan. 3).

God originally intended Israel to be governed as a theocracy, ruled by the one, true, living God (but see Gen. 17:6; Deut. 17:14 20). Israel was to be a “kingdom of priests” (Exod. 19:6), but the people demanded a king (1 Sam. 8:1–22). However, even when God granted their request, God remained King over the king and even retained ownership of the land (Lev. 25:23, 42, 55). The Israelite king was nothing more than God’s viceroy, with delegated authority. With few exceptions, most of the kings of Israel and Judah were corrupted by authority and wealth and forgot God (1 Sam. 13:13–14; 15:28; Matt. 14:6–11). But God made a covenant with David, so that one of his descendants would become a coregent in a restored theocracy, the kingdom of God (2 Sam. 7:1–29; Pss. 89:3; 132:11). In contrast to David’s more immediate descendants, this coming king would return to Jerusalem humble and mounted on a donkey (Zech. 9:9; cf. Isa. 62:11). The Gospels present Jesus Christ as this king (Matt. 21:1–9 pars.). Those who are likewise humble will inherit the land with him (Matt. 5:5).

Kingdom of God

The kingdom of God is a major theme in the Bible. While the theme is most fully developed in the NT, its origin is the OT, where the emphasis falls on God’s kingship. God is king of Israel (Exod. 15:18; Num. 23:21; Deut. 33:5; Isa. 43:15) and of all the earth (2 Kings 19:15; Pss. 29:10; 99:1 4; Isa. 6:5; Jer. 46:18). Juxtaposed to the concept of God’s present reign as king are references to a day when God will become king over his people (Isa. 24:23; 33:22; 52:7; Zeph. 3:15; Zech. 14:9). This emphasis on God’s kingship continues throughout Judaism and takes on special significance in Jewish apocalypticism and its anticipation of the kingdom of God in the age to come, which abandoned any hope for present history. Only at the end of the age will the kingdom of God come. This idea of God’s kingdom is further developed throughout the NT.

Mustard

A plant cultivated for its seeds (ground for spices and pressed for oil). The variety in Palestine, while fast-growing and able to reach ten feet in height, had the smallest seeds of plants then known. Jesus used the mustard plant in a parable to symbolize the growth of the kingdom of God (Matt. 13:31 32) and the seed to symbolize faith (17:20).

Parables

The word “parable” is used to speak of a particular literary form that communicates indirectly by means of comparative language, often for the purpose of challenging the listener to accept or reject a new way of thinking about a particular matter. Parables regularly incorporate concrete and accessible images from the daily life of the audience, and often they are terse and pointed, mentioning only the details relevant for an effective comparison. However, any attempt to define the term “parable” in a clear and concise way is complicated by the fact that both the Hebrew (mashal) and the Greek (parabolē) words regularly translated by the English word “parable” have much broader connotations. For instance, in the OT mashal can designate proverbs (Prov. 1:1), riddles (Ezek. 17:2), prophetic utterances (Num. 23:7, 18; 24:3, 15, 20, 21, 23), and sayings (1 Sam. 10:12); similarly, in the NT parabolē denotes proverbs (Luke 4:23), riddles (Mark 3:23), analogies (Mark 7:17), and more. Therefore, no comprehensive definition of parables is agreed upon by biblical scholars, and very little said about parables in general will apply to every parable.

Word

“Word” is used in the Bible to refer to the speech of God in oral, written, or incarnate form. In each of these uses, God desires to make himself known to his people. The communication of God is always personal and relational, whether he speaks to call things into existence (Gen. 1) or to address an individual directly (Gen. 2:16 17; Exod. 3:14). The prophets and the apostles received the word of God (Deut. 18:14–22; John 16:13), some of which was proclaimed but not recorded. The greatest revelation in this regard is the person of Jesus Christ, who is called the “Word” of God (John 1:1, 14).

The psalmist declared God’s word to be an eternal object of hope and trust that gives light and direction (Ps. 119), and Jesus declared the word to be truth (John 17:17). The word is particularized and intimately connected with God himself by means of the key phrases “your word,” “the word of God,” “the word of the Lord,” “word about Christ,” and “the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17; Col. 3:16). Our understanding of the word is informed by a variety of terms and contexts in the canon of Scripture, a collection of which is found in Ps. 119.

The theme of the word in Ps. 119 is continued and clarified in the NT, accentuating the intimate connection between the word of God and God himself. The “Word” of God is the eternal Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:1; 1 John 1:1–4), who took on flesh and blood so that we might see the glory of the eternal God. The sovereign glory of Christ as the Word of God is depicted in the vision of John in Rev. 19:13. As the Word of God, Jesus Christ ultimately gives us our lives (John 1:4; 6:33; 10:10), sustains our lives (John 5:24; 6:51, 54; 8:51), and ultimately renders a just judgment regarding our lives (John 5:30; 8:16, 26; 9:39; cf. Matt. 25:31–33; Heb. 4:12).

Direct Matches

Parable

Parables in the Bible

Although not designated with the Hebrew word mashal, the story of the trees (Judg. 9:7–15) and the story of the ewe lamb (2 Sam. 12:1–4) may be considered to be parables. Like many parables, the story about the ewe lamb told by Nathan prompts its audience, in this case David, to condemn the actions of a character in the parable before being confronted with the fact that the character and his conduct are symbolic of David himself. The parable is the vehicle used to bring about self-condemnation of its audience.

Although Jesus is not the only speaker of parables in the ancient world, the Gospels narrate a tremendous number of parables within his teaching. The major parables of Jesus are listed in table 4. The diversity of form represented in this list is striking. Some of the parables consist of short, relatively simple comparisons that lack the development of any significant story line. This is true, for instance, of the parables of the mustard seed, yeast, hidden treasure, and the pearl. Each of these offers a simple simile to explain some feature of the kingdom of God, a frequent topic in Jesus’ parables, and may include an additional sentence of clarification.

Table 4. Major Parables of Jesus

Wise and foolish builders (Matt. 7:24-27; Luke 6:46-49)

Sower and the soils (Matt. 13:3–8, 18–23; Mark 4:3–8, 14–20; Luke 8:5–8, 11–15)

Weeds (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43)

Mustard seed (Matt. 13:31–32; Mark 4:30–32; Luke 13:18–19)

Yeast (Matt. 13:33; Luke 13:20-21)

Hidden treasure (Matt. 13:44)

Pearl (Matt. 13:45-46)

Net (Matt. 13:47-50)

Lost sheep (Matt. 18:12-14; Luke 15:4-7)

Unmerciful servant (Matt. 18:23-35)

Workers in the vineyard (Matt. 20:1-16)

Two sons (Matt. 21:28-32)

Wicked tenants (Matt. 21:33–44; Mark 12:1–11; Luke 20:9–18)

Wedding banquet (Matt. 22:2-14)

Faithful and wise servant (Matt. 24:45-51; Luke 12:42-48)

Ten virgins (Matt. 25:1-13)

Talents (Matt. 25:14–30; Luke 19:12–27)

Sheep and goats (Matt. 25:31-46)

Growing seeds (Mark 4:26-29)

Money lender (Luke 7:41-47)

Good Samritan (Luke 10:30-37)

Friend in need (Luke 11:5-8)

Rich fool (Luke 12:16-21)

Unfruitful fig tree (Luke 13:6-9)

Lowest seat (Luke 14:7-14)

Great banquet (Luke 14:16-24)

Cost of discipleship (Luke 14:28-33)

Lost coin (Luke 15:8-10)

Lost (prodigal) son (Luke 15:11-32)

Shrewd manager (Luke 16:1-8)

Rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)

Persistent widow (Luke 18:2-8)

Pharisee and tax collector (Luke 18:10-14)

Parables such as the good Samaritan and the prodigal son, on the other hand, are significantly longer, contain developed plots, and present several central characters. Stories of this sort may use the characters as examples of behavior to be either emulated or avoided, as in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Such parables may remain open-ended in an attempt to force the listeners into a decision about what should happen (the unfruitful fig tree), or they may include a clear, concluding explanation that leaves no doubt as to how the audience should change their belief or behavior as a result of the parable’s teaching (the moneylender). The degree to which each of these parables directly addresses the intended audience and the intended topic can vary greatly. For instance, although the parable of the rich fool directly addresses the subject matter of material wealth, the anonymity of the rich man in the story does not openly condemn any particular member of Jesus’ audience. Alternatively, a parable may treat a subject that differs from the intended one and expect the listener to transfer the lesson to another topic. This is the case with the parable of the weeds, which speaks explicitly about farming. Nonetheless, when the disciples seek an explanation of this parable, Jesus indicates that it is to be understood as speaking about that feature of the kingdom of heaven whereby the sons of the kingdom and the sons of the evil one intermingle in the world until the end of the age, when the sons of the evil one will be separated to face a fiery judgment (Matt. 13:36–43).

Other parables, such as that of the lost sheep, revolve around a central question posed to the listeners. By asking “who among you” would behave in the way described, the parable anticipates a negative response that asserts that no one would act in the manner detailed in the parable. The NIV frequently inserts the phrase “suppose one of you” in places where the introductory question “who among you” appears in Greek.

Purpose of Jesus’ Teaching in Parables

It is quite clear that Jesus regularly employed parables in his teaching, but his reason for doing so is less evident. Jesus’ own somewhat perplexing statement in Mark 4:10–12 indicates that his parables have the dual purpose of both revealing and concealing the secret of the kingdom, but one may wonder how it is that parables perform both functions simultaneously. If the goal of comparative language is to make clearer a concept or idea that is difficult, then certainly Jesus’ parables function in this way. Through the simple, accessible, and concrete word pictures that are his parables, Jesus discloses many characteristics and features of the kingdom of God, which is at best something of an enigma to his audience. By speaking to the crowds, albeit at times in an exaggerated fashion, about the things that they know, such as farming, banquets, baking, and other elements of everyday life, Jesus expands their understanding of what they do not know. However, the indirect quality of parables simultaneously blocks spontaneous understanding and therefore requires the audience to engage in additional reflection to ensure that they have truly grasped what is being taught. Likewise, the ability to address an issue by slyly sneaking up on it from behind results in parables that initially conceal their true purpose of convincing the listeners of a new way of thinking or behaving such that the conviction they are meant to induce comes with a surprise kick at the end.

Interpretation of Parables

Interpretation over the centuries. Throughout church history until the nineteenth century, parables were widely interpreted by means of the allegorical method. That is, all the surface details of parables were identified as symbols of some deeper spiritual truth. A classic example of allegorizing is Augustine’s interpretation of the parable of the good Samaritan, whereby he interpreted surface details of the text according to allegorical equations (see table 5). Allegorical interpretations of the same parable by other Christians, however, did not always result in the same interpretations of the symbols. For this reason, most scholars today reject the excessive allegorization of Augustine and others throughout church history. However, how many details in a parable, if any, are to be interpreted allegorically remains a central question in parable interpretation. For instance, in the parable of the mustard seed, are the mustard seed and the plant that it produces allegories for the unobtrusive beginnings yet manifest results of the kingdom? If so, what then of the man and the birds also mentioned in the parable? Are they symbols of a deeper spiritual truth such that the man is to be equated with God, or are they included only to augment the teaching of the parable such that the birds merely highlight the extreme size of the tree into which the seed has grown?

Table 5. Augustine’s Allegorical Interpretation of the Good Samaritan

Details in the Parable and its Allegorical Equivalent:

The man = Adam

Jerusalem = The heavenly city

Jericho = The moon (a symbol of mortality)

The robbers = The devil

Beating the man = Persuading him to sin

Priest and Levite = The Old Testament priesthood

Samaritan = Christ

Binding of wounds = Restraint of sin

Oil = Comfort of hope

Animal = Incarnation

Inn = Church

Innkeeper = Apostle Paul

The work of the German scholar Adolf Jülicher at the end of the nineteenth century has widely affected parable interpretation since that time. Jülicher asserted that parables are not allegories and therefore should not be interpreted allegorically at all. Instead, he argued that parables have only one main point, normally a general, religious statement. Interpreters since Jülicher continue to debate how much of a parable is significant and how many points of correspondence are intended. More-recent views have posited that Jülicher went too far in maintaining a strict distinction between parable and allegory, and many interpreters believe that allegorical elements are present in parables, with perhaps the main characters in a parable being the most likely candidates for allegorical interpretation. This renewed openness to allegorical features in parables is due in part to the recognition that the Gospels record Jesus’ own tendency to offer allegorical interpretations of his parables when his disciples inquire as to their meaning. This is most clearly seen in the parable of the sower and the soils, which includes details such as seed, birds, the sun, and thorns. Jesus reveals that the seed is to be interpreted as the message about the kingdom, the birds stand for the evil one, the sun is representative of persecution because of the gospel, and the thorns indicate worries and wealth (Matt. 13:18–23).

Guidelines for interpreting parables. It is generally best to recognize that not all parables are identical, and that one should consider several possible interpretive strategies before determining which approach best fits any given parable. Nonetheless, some broad guidelines for the interpretation of parables include the following:

1. The characters and plots within parables are literary creations and are not historical. The parable of the lost sheep is not a historical rec-ord of a certain shepherd whose sheep went missing. No actual invitation was issued for the great banquet in the parable. Rather, in a parable the listener is brought into a narrative world controlled by the storyteller and by implication has no need for details that the speaker fails to provide. Therefore, it does not matter whether the shepherd himself was at fault in the loss of the sheep, and the choice of food set before the banquet guests is inconsequential.

2. Parables often follow the principle of end stress. Interpreters should carefully consider how the parable ends when determining the meaning the parable is intended to convey. At times an explanatory conclusion to the parable is included and may be helpful in directing the reader toward the topic that is really being addressed. This is the case in the parable of the two sons, in which Jesus’ concluding explanation identifies tax collectors and prostitutes as those who are entering the kingdom ahead of those who have received John’s prophetic message but failed to accept it.

Recent studies on parables that reflect issues raised by two fields of study respectively known as form criticism and redaction criticism are likely to question the accuracy of such concluding statements as well as any introductory comments to parables that may also be presented in the Gospel text. Many scholars ask if and to what extent the Gospel writers made changes to the parables that they record. They wonder whether it is possible to discern the original context and circumstance in which Jesus relayed his parables, or whether the details of the original context had been forgotten by the time that the evangelists wrote. Could it be that any introductory and concluding comments included with some parables are not authentic to Jesus’ ministry but instead reflect issues that arose in the early church? In spite of the doubts of some, more-conservative scholars have presented arguments for the continued trustworthiness of the Gospel accounts about Jesus’ teaching including introductory or concluding statements associated with his parables.

3. Look for the use of OT symbols in Jesus’ parables. The parables of Jesus and the parables recorded in other rabbinical literature are replete with similar figures and images. Kings, banquets, weddings, farmers, debtors, and more appear with frequency; they perhaps developed into stock images to be used in stories in the ancient world. If such details appear in a parable, the interpreter should consider strongly whether some allegorical meaning is intended whereby a kingly figure represents God, a son represents the people of God, and a banquet indicates a time of coming judgment or reward.

4. Interpreters should exercise extreme caution regarding doctrinal teaching drawn from a parable, particularly if such doctrine cannot be confirmed by the theological teaching found in a nonparabolic portion of Scripture. For instance, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, is one to conclude that conversations can occur between the dead who reside in hell and those who reside in heaven? Likewise, should one learn that it is possible for the deceased human to be sent back to the living with a message from God? These doctrinal issues seem to be outside the range of teaching intended by the parable, and support for these ideas cannot be found in other biblical texts.

5. In recognition of the indirect nature of the communication in parables, some interpreters question whether a parable’s meaning can be reproduced in propositional language. In other words, can the meaning of a parable be expressed in nonparabolic language, or is some necessary component lost when one changes the form? Similarly, is it possible for people who have heard the story of the good Samaritan repeatedly to be struck by the confrontational force that was central to its initial reception? Not only are the images of Samaritans and Levites foreign to the modern listener, but also the familiarity with the story that has resulted from its retelling over time has domesticated the parable such that the details that were meant to shock and surprise are now anticipated and predictable. In this way, are parables like jokes that have been repeated too many times until one becomes inoculated against the punch line? Because of these concerns about the inability of today’s listeners to truly hear the parable as it was meant to be heard, some interpreters may wish to consider how it could be recast with images common to today’s audience and retold in such a way that the listeners experience the surprising twist that the initial audiences felt.

Picture

In some translations, an image or carving in wood or stone, as in bas-relief (Num. 33:52; Prov. 25:11; Isa. 2:16 KJV). Also, as a noun meaning “image” or verb meaning “to imagine,” it is used as vernacular in contemporary versions such as The Message (e.g., 1 Sam. 16:12; Jer. 38:22; Mark 4:30).

Secondary Matches

The following suggestions occured because Mark 4:30-34 is mentioned in the definition.

Jesus Christ

The founder of what became known as the movement of Jesus followers or Christianity. For Christian believers, Jesus Christ embodies the personal and supernatural intervention of God in human history.

Introduction

Name. Early Christians combined the name “Jesus” with the title “Christ” (Acts 5:42; NIV: “Messiah”). The name “Jesus,” from the Hebrew Yehoshua or Yeshua, was a common male name in first-century Judaism. The title “Christ” is from the Greek christos, a translation of the Hebrew mashiakh (“anointed one, messiah”). Christians eventually were named after Jesus’ title (Acts 11:26). During the ministry of Jesus, Peter was the first disciple to recognize Jesus as the Messiah (Matt. 16:16; Mark 9:29; Luke 9:20).

Sources. From the viewpoint of Christianity, the life and ministry of Jesus constitute the turning point in human history. From a historical perspective, ample early source materials would be expected. Indeed, both Christian and non-Christian first-century and early second-century literary sources are extant, but they are few in number. In part, this low incidence is due to society’s initial resistance to the Jesus followers’ movement. The ancient Roman historian Tacitus called Christianity “a superstition,” since its beliefs did not fit with the culture’s prevailing worldview and thus were considered antisocial. Early literary sources therefore are either in-group documents or allusions in non-Christian sources.

The NT Gospels are the principal sources for the life and ministry of Jesus. They consist of Matthew, Mark, Luke (the Synoptic Gospels), and John. Most scholars adhere to the so-called Four Source Hypothesis. In this theory, Mark was written first and was used as a source by Matthew and Luke, who also used the sayings source Q (from German Quelle, meaning “source”) as well as their own individual sources M (Matthew) and L (Luke). John used additional sources.

The early church tried to put together singular accounts, so-called Gospel harmonies, of the life of Jesus. The Gospel of the Ebionites represents one such attempt based on the Synoptic Gospels. Another harmony, the Diatessaron, based on all four Gospels, was produced around AD 170 by Tatian. Additional source materials concerning the life of Christ are provided in the NT in texts such as Acts, the Pauline Epistles, the General Epistles, and the Revelation of John. Paul wrote to the Galatians, “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law” (Gal. 4:4). The first narrative about Jesus by the Christian community was a passion narrative, the account of his death and resurrection. The first extant references to this tradition are found in Paul’s letters (1 Cor. 2:2; Gal. 3:1). The resurrection was recognized from the beginning as the cornerstone of the Christian faith (1 Cor. 15:13–14).

Among non-Christian sources, the earliest reference to Jesus is found in a letter written circa AD 112 by Pliny the Younger, the Roman governor of Bithynia-Pontus (Ep. 10.96). The Roman historian Tacitus mentions Christians and Jesus around AD 115 in his famous work about the history of Rome (Ann. 15.44). Another Roman historian, Suetonius, wrote around the same time concerning unrest among the Jews in Rome because of a certain “Chrestos” (Claud. 25.4). Some scholars conclude that “Chrestos” is a misspelling of “Christos,” a reference to Jesus.

The Jewish author Josephus (first century AD) mentions Jesus in a story about the Jewish high priest Ananus and James the brother of Jesus (Ant. 20.200). A controversial reference to Jesus appears in a different part of the same work, where Josephus affirms that Jesus is the Messiah and that he rose from the dead (Ant. 18.63–64). The majority of scholars consider this passage to be authentic but heavily edited by later Christian copyists. Another Jewish source, the Talmud, also mentions Jesus in several places, but these references are very late and of little historical value.

Noncanonical Gospels that mention Jesus include, for example, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of James, the Gospel of Judas Iscariot, the Gospel of the Hebrews, the Egerton Gospel, and the Gospel of Judas. Although some of these may contain an occasional authentic saying or event, for the most part they are late and unreliable.

Jesus’ Life

Birth and childhood. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke record Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem during the reign of Herod the Great (Matt. 2:1; Luke 2:4, 11). Jesus was probably born between 6 and 4 BC, shortly before Herod’s death (Matt. 2:19). Both Matthew and Luke record the miracle of a virginal conception made possible by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18; Luke 1:35). Luke mentions a census under the Syrian governor Quirinius that was responsible for Jesus’ birth taking place in Bethlehem (2:1–5). Both the census and the governorship at the time of the birth of Jesus have been questioned by scholars. Unfortunately, there is not enough extrabiblical evidence to either confirm or disprove these events, so their veracity must be determined on the basis of one’s view regarding the general reliability of the Gospel tradition.

On the eighth day after his birth, Jesus was circumcised, in keeping with the Jewish law, at which time he officially was named “Jesus” (Luke 2:21). He spent his growing years in Nazareth, in the home of his parents, Joseph and Mary (2:40). Of the NT Gospels, the Gospel of Luke contains the only brief portrayal of Jesus’ growth in strength, wisdom, and favor with God and people (2:40, 52). Luke also contains the only account of Jesus as a young boy (2:41–49).

Jesus was born in a lower socioeconomic setting. His parents offered a temple sacrifice appropriate for those who could not afford to sacrifice a sheep (Luke 2:22–24; cf. Lev. 12:8). Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father, was a carpenter or an artisan in wood, stone, or metal (Matt. 13:55). From a geographical perspective, Nazareth was not a prominent place for settling, since it lacked fertile ground. Jesus’ disciple Nathanael expressed an apparently common first-century sentiment concerning Nazareth: “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” (John 1:46).

Jesus was also born in a context of scandal. Questions of illegitimacy were surely raised, since his mother Mary was discovered to be pregnant before her marriage to Joseph. According to Matthew, only the intervention of an angel convinced Joseph not to break his betrothal (Matt. 1:18–24). Jesus’ birth took place in Bethlehem, far from his parents’ home in Nazareth. According to kinship hospitality customs, Joseph and Mary would have expected to stay with distant relatives in Bethlehem. It is likely that they were unwelcome because of Jesus’ status as an illegitimate child; thus Mary had to give birth elsewhere and place the infant Jesus in a feeding trough (Luke 2:7). A similar response was seen years later in Nazareth when Jesus was identified as “Mary’s son” (Mark 6:3) rather than through his paternal line, thereby shaming him as one who was born an illegitimate child. Jesus was likewise rejected at the end of his life as the crowds cried, “Crucify him!” (Matt. 27:22–23; Mark 15:13–14; Luke 23:21; John 19:6, 15). When Jesus was arrested, most of his followers fled (Matt. 26:56; Mark 14:50–52), and a core disciple, Peter, vehemently denied knowing him (Matt. 26:69–74; Mark 14:66–71; Luke 22:55–60; John 18:15–17, 25–27). His own siblings did not believe in him (John 7:5) and were evidently ashamed of his fate, since from the cross Jesus placed the care of his mother into the hands of “the disciple whom he loved” (19:26–27) rather than the next brother in line, as was customary.

Baptism, temptation, and start of ministry. After Jesus was baptized by the prophet John the Baptist (Luke 3:21–22), God affirmed his pleasure with him by referring to him as his Son, whom he loved (Matt. 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22). Jesus’ baptism did not launch him into fame and instant ministry success; instead, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where he was tempted for forty days (Matt. 4:1–11; Mark 1:12–13; Luke 4:1–13). Mark stresses that the temptations immediately followed the baptism. Matthew and Luke identify three specific temptations by the devil, though their order for the last two is reversed. Both Matthew and Luke agree that Jesus was tempted to turn stones into bread, expect divine intervention after jumping off the temple portico, and receive all the world’s kingdoms for worshiping the devil. Jesus resisted all temptation, quoting Scripture in response.

Matthew and Mark record that Jesus began his ministry in Capernaum in Galilee, after the arrest of John the Baptist (Matt. 4:12–13; Mark 1:14). Luke says that Jesus started his ministry at about thirty years of age (3:23). This may be meant to indicate full maturity or perhaps correlate this age with the onset of the service of the Levites in the temple (cf. Num. 4:3). John narrates the beginning of Jesus’ ministry by focusing on the calling of the disciples and the sign performed at a wedding at Cana (1:35–2:11).

Jesus’ public ministry: chronology. Jesus’ ministry started in Galilee, probably around AD 27/28, and ended with his death around AD 30 in Jerusalem. The temple had been forty-six years in construction (generally interpreted as the temple itself and the wider temple complex) when Jesus drove out the money changers (John 2:20). According to Josephus, the rebuilding and expansion of the second temple had started in 20/19 BC, during the eighteenth year of Herod’s reign (Ant. 15.380). The ministry of John the Baptist had commenced in the fifteenth year of Tiberius (Luke 3:1–2), who had become a coregent in AD 11/12. From these dates of the start of the temple building and the correlation of the reign of Tiberius to John the Baptist’s ministry, the onset of Jesus’ ministry can probably be dated to AD 27/28.

The Gospel of John mentions three Passovers and another unnamed feast in John 5:1. The length of Jesus’ ministry thus extended over three or four Passovers, equaling about three or three and a half years. Passover, which took place on the fifteenth of Nisan, came on a Friday in AD 30 and 33. The year of Jesus’ death was therefore probably AD 30.

Jesus’ ministry years may be divided broadly into his Galilean and his Judean ministries. The Synoptic Gospels describe the ministry in Galilee from various angles but converge again as Jesus enters Judea.

Galilean ministry. The early stages of Jesus’ ministry centered in and around Galilee. Jesus presented the good news and proclaimed that the kingdom of God was near. Matthew focuses on the fulfillment of prophecy (Matt. 4:13–17). Luke records Jesus’ first teaching in his hometown, Nazareth, as paradigmatic (Luke 4:16–30); the text that Jesus quoted, Isa. 61:1–2, set the stage for his calling to serve and revealed a trajectory of rejection and suffering.

All Gospels record Jesus’ gathering of disciples early in his Galilean ministry (Matt. 4:18–22; Mark 1:16–20; Luke 5:1–11; John 1:35–51). The formal call and commissioning of the Twelve who would become Jesus’ closest followers is recorded in different parts of the Gospels (Matt. 10:1–4; Mark 3:13–19; Luke 6:12–16). A key event in the early ministry is the Sermon on the Mount/Plain (Matt. 5:1–7:29; Luke 6:20–49). John focuses on Jesus’ signs and miracles, in particular in the early parts of his ministry, whereas the Synoptics focus on healings and exorcisms.

During Jesus’ Galilean ministry, onlookers struggled with his identity. However, evil spirits knew him to be of supreme authority (Mark 3:11). Jesus was criticized by outsiders and by his own family (3:21). The scribes from Jerusalem identified him as a partner of Beelzebul (3:22). Amid these situations of social conflict, Jesus told parables that couched his ministry in the context of a growing kingdom of God. This kingdom would miraculously spring from humble beginnings (4:1–32).

The Synoptics present Jesus’ early Galilean ministry as successful. No challenge or ministry need superseded Jesus’ authority or ability: he calmed a storm (Mark 4:35–39), exorcized many demons (Mark 5:1–13), raised the dead (Mark 5:35–42), fed five thousand (Mark 6:30–44), and walked on water (Mark 6:48–49).

In the later part of his ministry in Galilee, Jesus often withdrew and traveled to the north and the east. The Gospel narratives are not written with a focus on chronology. However, only brief returns to Galilee appear to have taken place prior to Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem. As people followed Jesus, faith was praised and fear resolved. Jerusalem’s religious leaders traveled to Galilee, where they leveled accusations and charged Jesus’ disciples with lacking ritual purity (Mark 7:1–5). Jesus shamed the Pharisees by pointing out their dishonorable treatment of parents (7:11–13). The Pharisees challenged his legitimacy by demanding a sign (8:11). Jesus refused them signs but agreed with Peter, who confessed, “You are the Messiah” (8:29). Jesus did provide the disciples a sign: his transfiguration (9:2–8).

Jesus withdrew from Galilee to Tyre and Sidon, where a Syrophoenician woman requested healing for her daughter. Jesus replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel” (Matt. 15:24). Galileans had long resented the Syrian provincial leadership partiality that allotted governmental funds in ways that made the Jews receive mere “crumbs.” Consequently, when the woman replied, “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table,” Jesus applauded her faith (Matt. 15:27–28). Healing a deaf-mute man in the Decapolis provided another example of Jesus’ ministry in Gentile territory (Mark 7:31–37). Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ took place during Jesus’ travel to Caesarea Philippi, a well-known Gentile territory. The city was the ancient center of worship of the Hellenistic god Pan.

Judean ministry. Luke records a geographic turning point in Jesus’ ministry as he resolutely set out for Jerusalem, a direction that eventually led to his death (Luke 9:51). Luke divides the journey to Jerusalem into three phases (9:51–13:21; 13:22–17:10; 17:11–19:27). The opening verses of phase one emphasize a prophetic element of the journey. Jesus viewed his ministry in Jerusalem as his mission, and the demands on discipleship intensified as Jesus approached Jerusalem (Matt. 20:17–19, 26–28; Mark 10:38–39, 43–45; Luke 14:25–35). Luke presents the second phase of the journey toward Jerusalem with a focus on conversations regarding salvation and judgment (Luke 13:22–30). In the third and final phase of the journey, the advent of the kingdom and the final judgment are the main themes (17:20–37; 19:11–27).

Social conflicts with religious leaders increased throughout Jesus’ ministry. These conflicts led to lively challenge-riposte interactions concerning the Pharisaic schools of Shammai and Hillel (Matt. 19:1–12; Mark 10:1–12). Likewise, socioeconomic feathers were ruffled as Jesus welcomed young children, who had little value in society (Matt. 19:13–15; Mark 10:13–16; Luke 18:15–17).

Passion Week, death, and resurrection. Each of the Gospels records Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem with the crowds extending him a royal welcome (Matt. 21:4–9; Mark 11:7–10; Luke 19:35–38; John 12:12–15). Luke describes Jesus’ ministry in Jerusalem as a time during which Jesus taught in the temple as Israel’s Messiah (19:45–21:38).

In Jerusalem, Jesus cleansed the temple of profiteering (Mark 11:15–17). Mark describes the religious leaders as fearing Jesus because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching, and so they “began looking for a way to kill him” (11:18). Dismayed, each segment of Jerusalem’s temple leadership inquired about Jesus’ authority (11:27–33). Jesus replied with cunning questions (12:16, 35–36), stories (12:1–12), denunciation (12:38–44), and a prediction of Jerusalem’s own destruction (13:1–31). One of Jesus’ own disciples, Judas Iscariot, provided the temple leaders the opportunity for Jesus’ arrest (14:10–11).

At the Last Supper, Jesus instituted a new Passover, defining a new covenant grounded in his sufferings (Matt. 26:17–18, 26–29; Mark 14:16–25; Luke 22:14–20). He again warned the disciples of his betrayal and arrest (Matt. 26:21–25, 31; Mark 14:27–31; Luke 22:21–23; John 13:21–30), and later he prayed for the disciples (John 17:1–26) and prayed in agony and submissiveness in the garden of Gethsemane (Matt. 26:36–42; Mark 14:32–42; Luke 22:39–42). His arrest, trial, crucifixion, death, and resurrection followed (Matt. 26:46–28:15; Mark 14:43–16:8; Luke 22:47–24:9; John 18:1–20:18). Jesus finally commissioned his disciples to continue his mission by making disciples of all the nations (Matt. 28:18–20; Acts 1:8) and ascended to heaven with the promise that he will one day return (Luke 24:50–53; Acts 1:9–11).

The Identity of Jesus Christ

Various aspects of Jesus’ identity are stressed in the four NT Gospels, depending on their target audiences. In the Gospels the witnesses to Jesus’ ministry are portrayed as constantly questioning and examining his identity (Matt. 11:2–5; 12:24; 26:63; 27:11; Mark 3:22; 8:11; 11:28; 14:61; Luke 7:18–20; 11:15; 22:67, 70; 23:39; John 7:20, 25–27; 18:37). Only beings of the spiritual realm are certain of his divinity (Mark 1:34; 3:11; Luke 4:41). At Jesus’ baptism, God referred to him as his Son, whom he loved (Matt. 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22). Likewise, when Jesus was transfigured in the presence of Peter, James, and John, a voice affirmed, “This is my Son, whom I love” (Matt. 17:5; Mark 9:7). At the moment of his death, the questioning of Jesus’ identity culminated in a confession by a Roman centurion and other guards: “Surely he was the Son of God!” (Matt. 27:54; cf. Mark 15:39).

Miracle worker. In the first-century setting, folk healers and miracle workers were part of the fabric of society. Jesus, however, performed signs and miracles in order to demonstrate the authority of the kingdom of God over various realms: disease, illness, the spiritual world, nature, and even future events. Especially in the Gospel of John, Jesus’ signs and miracles are used to show his authority and thus his identity.

No challenge superseded Jesus’ authority. Among his ample miracles and signs, he changed water into wine (John 2:7–9), calmed a storm in the sea (Matt. 8:23–27; Mark 4:35–39; Luke 8:22–25), exorcized demons (Matt. 9:32–34; Mark 5:1–13; Luke 9:42–43), healed the sick (Mark 1:40–44), raised the dead (Matt. 9:23–25; Mark 5:35–42; Luke 7:1–16; 8:49–54; John 11:17, 38–44), performed miraculous feedings (Matt. 14:17–21; 15:34–38; Mark 6:30–44; 8:5–9; Luke 9:10–17; John 6:8–13), and walked on water (Matt. 14:25–26; Mark 6:48–49; John 6:19).

The Pharisees requested miracles as evidence of his authority (Mark 8:11–12). Jesus refused, claiming that a wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign (Matt. 12:38–39; 16:1–4). The only sign that he would give was the sign of Jonah—his death and resurrection three days later—a personal sacrifice, taking upon himself the judgment of the world (Matt. 12:39–41).

Rabbi/teacher. Jesus’ teaching style was similar to other first-century rabbis or Pharisees (Mark 9:5; 10:51; John 1:38; 3:2). What distinguished him was that he spoke with great personal authority (Matt. 5:22, 28, 32, 39, 44; Mark 1:22). Like other rabbis of his day, Jesus gathered disciples. He called these men to observe his lifestyle and to join him in his ministry of teaching, healing, and exorcism (Matt. 10:1–4; Mark 3:13–19; Luke 6:12–16).

Jesus used a variety of teaching methods. He frequently spoke in parables (Matt. 6:24; 13:24–52; 18:10–14, 23–35; 21:28–22:14; 24:32–36, 45–51; 25:14–30; Mark 4:1–34; 12:1–12; 13:28–34; Luke 8:4–18; 12:41–46; 13:18–21; 14:15–24; 15:1–16:15, 19–31; 18:1–14; 19:11–27; 20:9–19; 21:29–33), used figures of speech (John 10:9), hyperbole (Matt. 19:24; Mark 10:25; Luke 18:25), argumentation (Matt. 26:11), object lessons (Matt. 24:32), frequent repetition (Matt. 13:44–47; Luke 13:18–21), practical examples, and personal guidance.

Major themes in Jesus’ teaching include the kingdom of God, the cost of discipleship, internal righteousness, the end of the age, his identity, his mission, and his approaching death. In his teachings, observance of Torah was given new context and meaning because God’s kingdom had “come near” (Matt. 3:2). Jesus had come to fulfill the law (Matt. 5:17).

Jesus’ teaching ministry often took place amid social conflict. These conflicts were couched in so-called challenge-riposte interactions in which the honor status of those involved was at stake. Jesus used these interactions as teachable moments. When questioned, Jesus gave replies that reveal omniscience or intimate knowledge of God’s will, especially in the Gospel of John. In the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus’ answers are both ethical and practical in nature. The Synoptics portray Jesus as challenged repeatedly with accusations of violating customs specified in the Jewish law. Jesus’ answers to such accusations often echoed the essence of 1 Sam. 15:22, “To obey is better than sacrifice,” phrased by Jesus as “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Matt. 9:13; 12:7). An overall “better than” ethic was common in Jesus’ public teaching.

The Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7) contains a “better than” ethic in which internal obedience is better than mere outward obedience. For example, Jesus said that anger without cause is equal to murder (Matt. 5:21–22), that looking at a woman lustfully amounts to adultery (Matt. 5:28), and that instead of revenging wrongs one must reciprocate with love (Matt. 5:38–48). Jesus valued compassion above traditions and customs, even those contained within the OT law. He desired internal obedience above the letter of the law.

Jesus’ teachings found their authority in the reality of God’s imminent kingdom (Matt. 3:2; 10:7; Mark 1:15; Luke 10:9), necessitating repentance (Matt. 3:2), belief (Mark 1:15), dependence (Matt. 18:3–5; Mark 10:15), and loyalty to a new community—the family of Jesus followers (Mark 3:34; 10:29–30). Jesus urged, “Seek first [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness” (Matt. 6:33). Preaching with such urgency was common among prophetic teachers of the intertestamental period. Jesus, however, had his own grounds for urgency. He held that God deeply valued all humans (Matt. 10:31) and would bring judgment swiftly (Matt. 25:31–46).

Examples of a “greater good” ethic in the Synoptics include the occasions when Jesus ate with sinners (Mark 2:16–17). Jesus used an aphorism in response to accusations about his associations with sinners, saying, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). He advocated harvesting and healing on the Sabbath (Mark 2:23–28; 3:1–6), and when he was accused of breaking the law, he pointed to an OT exception (1 Sam. 21:1–6) to declare compassion appropriate for the Sabbath. Jesus also applied the “greater good” ethic in the case of divorce, since women suffered the societal stigma of adultery and commonly became outcasts following divorce (Matt. 19:8–9; Mark 10:5–9).

Jesus’ kingdom teachings were simultaneously spiritual, ethical, and eschatological in application. The teachings were aimed at internal transformation (Matt. 5:3–9; 18:3; Mark 10:15) and spurring on love (Matt. 5:44; 7:21). The Spirit of the Lord had called Jesus to bless the hurting ones as they aspired to a godly character. Jesus taught, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48), and “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). The “blessed” ones in Jesus’ teachings are poor of spirit, peace driven, mournful, and hungry for righteousness, consumed with emulating godly character.

Some scholars believe that Jesus promoted an “interim ethic” for the kingdom, intended only for a short period prior to the end of time. However, he was explicit regarding the longevity of his teachings: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matt. 24:35; Luke 16:17).

Messiah. The concept of an anointed one, a messiah, who would restore the glories of David’s kingdom and bring political stability was common in Jewish expectation. Both before and after the Babylonian captivity, many Jews longed for one who would bring peace and protection. Israel’s prophets had spoken of a coming deliverer, one who would restore David’s kingdom and reign in justice and righteousness (2 Sam. 7:11–16; Isa. 9:1–7; 11:1–16; Jer. 23:5–6; 33:15–16; Ezek. 37:25; Dan. 2:44; Mic. 5:2; Zech. 9:9). Isaiah’s description of the servant (Isa. 53) whose suffering healed the nation provided a slightly different angle of expectation in terms of a deliverer.

Jesus’ authority and popularity as a miracle worker called up messianic images in first-century Jewish minds. On several occasions hearers called him “Son of David,” hoping for the Messiah (Matt. 12:23; 21:9). Simon Peter was the first follower who confessed Jesus as the Christ, the “Messiah” (Matt. 16:16; Mark 8:29). In line with Isaiah’s model of the Suffering Servant, Jesus focused not on political ends but rather on spiritual regeneration through his own sacrificial death (Mark 10:45).

Eschatological prophet. Many scholars claim that Jesus is best understood as a Jewish apocalypticist, an eschatological prophet who expected God to intervene in history, destroy the wicked, and bring in the kingdom of God. Central in this understanding are Jesus’ prophecies concerning the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem (Matt. 24:1–2, 15–22; Mark 13:1; Luke 21:5–24; John 2:19; Acts 6:14). In addition, it is noted that Jesus had twelve disciples, representative of the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. 19:2–28; Luke 22:23–30). Certain of Jesus’ parables, those with apocalyptic images of coming judgment, present Jesus as an eschatological prophet (Matt. 24:45–25:30; Luke 12:41–46; 19:11–27).

Suffering Son of God. Jesus’ first recorded teaching in a synagogue in Nazareth was paradigmatic (Luke 4:16–21). He attributed the reading, Isa. 61:1–2, to his personal calling to serve, and in doing so he revealed a trajectory of suffering. The Gospel of Mark likewise aptly portrays Jesus as the suffering Son of God. Jesus’ own teachings incorporated his upcoming suffering (Mark 8:31; 9:12–13, 31; 10:33–34). He summarized his mission by declaring, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). His earthly career ended with a trial in Jerusalem consisting of both Roman and Jewish components (Matt. 26:57–68; 27:1–31; Mark 14:53–65; 15:1–20; Luke 22:54–23:25; John 18:19–24; 18:28–19:16). He was insulted, scourged, mocked, and crucified.

Jesus’ suffering culminated in his humiliating death by crucifixion (Matt. 27:33–50; Mark 15:22–37; Luke 23:33–46; John 19:16–30). Crucifixion was a death of unimaginable horror, bringing shame and humiliation to the victim and his family. Anyone hanging on a tree was considered cursed (Deut. 21:23; Gal. 3:13). Thus, especially in a Jewish society, anyone associated with a crucified person bore the shame of following one who was executed as a lowly slave and left as a cursed corpse. The apostle Paul referred to this shame of the cross when he stated, “I am not ashamed of the gospel” (Rom. 1:16).

Exalted Lord. Jesus had prophesied that he would rise again (Matt. 16:21; 17:9, 23; 20:19; 27:63; Mark 8:31; 9:9, 31; 10:34; Luke 9:22; 18:33; 24:7, 46). The testimony of the Synoptics is that the resurrection of Jesus Christ indeed occurred on the third day, Christ having died on Friday (Mark 15:42–45; Luke 23:52–54; John 19:30–33) and risen again on Sunday (Matt. 28:1–7; Mark 16:2–7; Luke 24:1–7; John 20:1–16). The resurrected Jesus was witnessed by the women (Matt. 28:8–9), the eleven disciples (Matt. 28:16–17; Luke 24:36–43), and travelers on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:31–32). According to Paul, he appeared to as many as five hundred others (1 Cor. 15:6). He appeared in bodily form, spoke, showed his scars, and ate (Luke 24:39–43; John 20:27; Acts 1:4). After forty postresurrection days, Jesus ascended into the heavenly realm (Acts 1:9).

As much as Jesus’ death was the epitome of shame, his victory over death was his ultimate exaltation (Phil. 2:5–11). At Pentecost, Peter proclaimed that in the resurrection God fulfilled OT promises (Ps. 16:10) by raising his Son from the grave (Acts 2:30–31). Furthermore, Christ provided freedom from the law through his resurrection (Rom. 5:13–14), God’s approval of his life and work (Phil. 2:8–9), and God’s designation of him as Lord over all the earth, the living and the dead (Acts 17:30–31; Phil. 2:10; Heb. 1:3), and over all his enemies (Eph. 1:20–23).

Jesus’ exaltation commenced the beginning of forgiveness and justification (Luke 24:46–47; Acts 13:30–39; Rom. 4:25) and his intercession for the people of God (Rom. 8:34). His ascension signaled the coming of the Holy Spirit as comforter and teacher (John 14:26; Acts 2:33) and was accompanied by the promise of his return in glory (Luke 24:51), at which time he will render judgment (Matt. 19:28; 24:31; Rev. 20:11–15) and establish his eternal kingdom (1 Cor. 15:24; 2 Tim. 4:1; Rev. 11:15; 22:5).

Jesus’ Purpose and Community

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah, who preaches the good news of the kingdom, urging people to repent (4:17–23). Repentance and belief allow one to enter the kingdom. The call into the kingdom is a call into a new covenant, one made in Jesus’ blood (26:28).

In the prologue to the Gospel of Mark, the narrator reveals the identity of Jesus (1:1). Jesus is presented as the one who brings good tidings of salvation (cf. Isa. 40:9; 52:7; 61:1). The centrality of the gospel, the good news (Mark 1:14–15), is evident.

Luke likewise presents the preaching of the good news as a main purpose of Jesus’ ministry (4:43). The content of this good news is the kingdom of God (4:43; 8:1; 16:16). When the disciples of John the Baptist asked Jesus if he was the one who was to come (7:20), Jesus answered, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor” (7:22). The kingdom of God, as presented in Luke, brings freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, and release for the oppressed (4:18). Jesus’ healings and exorcisms announce the coming kingdom of God already present in the ministry of Jesus (4:40–44; 6:18–20; 8:1–2; 9:2; 10:8–9).

In the Gospel of John, Jesus testifies to the good news by way of signs throughout his ministry. These signs point to Jesus’ glory, his identity, and the significance of his ministry. Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, who offers eternal and abundant life. This abundant life is lived out in community.

In the Gospel of John, the disciples of Jesus represent the community of God (17:21). The disciples did not belong to the world, but they continued to live in the world (17:14–16). Throughout his ministry, Jesus called his disciples to follow him. This was a call to loyalty (Matt. 10:32–40; 16:24–26; Mark 8:34–38; Luke 9:23–26), a call to the family of God (Matt. 12:48–50; Mark 3:33–35). Jesus’ declaration “On this rock I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18) was preceded by the call to community. Jesus’ presence as the head of the community was replaced by the promised Spirit (John 14:16–18).

Jesus’ ministry continued in the community of Jesus’ followers, God’s family—the church. Entrance into the community was obtained by adopting the values of the kingdom, belief, and through the initiation rite of baptism (Matt. 10:37–39; 16:24–26; Mark 8:34–38; Luke 9:23–26, 57–62; John 1:12; 3:16; 10:27–29; Acts 2:38; 16:31–33; 17:30; Rom. 10:9).

The Quests for the Historical Jesus

The quest for the historical Jesus, or seeking who Jesus was from a historical perspective, is a modern phenomenon deemed necessary by scholars who claim that the NT Gospels were written long after Jesus’ death and were heavily influenced by the post-Easter understanding of the church.

The beginning of this quest is often dated to 1770, when the lecture notes of Hermann Samuel Reimarus were published posthumously. Reimarus had launched an inquiry into the identity of Jesus that rejected as inauthentic all supernatural elements in the Gospels. He concluded that the disciples invented Jesus’ miracles, prophecies, ritualistic religion, and resurrection. Reimarus’s conclusions were not widely accepted, but they set off a flurry of rationalistic research into the historical Jesus that continued throughout the nineteenth century. This became known as the “first quest” for the historical Jesus.

In 1906 German theologian Albert Schweit-zer published The Quest of the Historical Jesus (German title: Von Reimarus zu Wrede: Eine Geschichte der Leben-Jesu-Forschung), a scathing indictment of the first quest. Schweitzer’s work showed that nineteenth-century researchers re-created Jesus in their own image, transforming the historical Jesus into a modern philanthropist preaching an inoffensive message of love and brotherhood. Schweitzer’s conclusions marked the beginning of the end for this first quest. Schweitzer himself concluded that the historical Jesus was an eschatological prophet whose purposes failed during his last days in Jerusalem.

With the demise of the first quest, some NT scholars, such as Rudolf Bultmann, rejected any claim to being able to discover the historical Jesus. This trend continued until 1953, when some of Bultmann’s former students launched what has come to be known as the “new quest” for the historical Jesus (1953–c. 1970). This quest created new interest in the historical Jesus but was still dominated by the view that the portrait of Jesus in the Gospels is largely a creation of the church in a post-Easter setting.

As the rebuilding years of the post–World War II era waned and scholars started to reap academic fruit from major archaeological finds such as the DSS, research on the historical Jesus moved on to what has been called the “third quest.” This quest seeks especially to research and understand Jesus in his social and cultural setting.

Nativity of Christ

The founder of what became known as the movement of Jesus followers or Christianity. For Christian believers, Jesus Christ embodies the personal and supernatural intervention of God in human history.

Introduction

Jesus’ Life

The Identity of Jesus Christ

Jesus’ Purpose and Community

The Quests for the Historical Jesus

Synoptic Gospels

In NT studies, “Synoptic” refers to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which, due to their similarities, can be compared side by side (synoptic = seeing together). Although coined earlier, the term “Synoptic” did not become the commonly used reference to the first three Gospels until the nineteenth century.

Synoptical comparisons reveal texts that are similar in wording (e.g., Matt. 19:13–18 // Mark 10:13–16 // Luke 18:15–17), order (e.g., Matt. 12:46–13:58 // Mark 3:31–6:6a // Luke 8:19–56), and parenthetical material (e.g., Matt. 9:6 // Mark 2:10 // Luke 5:20). Most interestingly, the Synoptics agree in their quotation of the OT even when they differ from the Hebrew OT text itself (compare Matt. 3:3 // Mark 1:3 // Luke 3:4 to Isa. 40:3). Beyond such similarities, significant differences prevail that raise difficult questions. How, for example, could Mark escape any reference to the Sermon on the Mount (including the Lord’s Prayer), which holds such a prominent position in Matthew?

Relationships among the three Gospels. Due to these and other factors, multiple theories on the Synoptic Gospels’ relationship to one another have arisen. Yet none have found universal acceptance. Historically, based primarily on Augustine’s claim, the church affirmed Matthew as the first Gospel, with Mark as his abridgment and Luke as employing both. The German text critic J. J. Griesbach developed this thesis of Matthean priority in his 1774 Synopsis, arguing that Luke was the first to use Matthew, and Mark was drawing from both. The Griesbach Hypothesis continues to have advocates.

Matthew covers the substance of 97.2 percent of Mark’s 661 verses, while 88.4 percent reappear in Luke. Although such statistics could be explained as Mark’s combination and abbreviation of Matthew and Luke, in fact Matthew generally shortens Mark where they cover the same material. In search of explanations that better validate the evidence, NT scholars proposed the Two Source Hypothesis, arguing that Mark wrote first, and that Matthew and Luke drew from Mark and from another, unknown source (which scholars call “Q,” from German Quelle, meaning “source”). H. J. Holzmann gave significant credence to this theory in 1863, and after B. H. Streeter’s persuasive publication in 1924 it became the leading theory. Rather than the reverse, it seems easier to understand Matthew and Luke as expansions of Mark’s narrative, just as evidence suggests that they “cleaned up” Mark’s poorer Greek and more difficult readings. Furthermore, although Matthew and Luke often disagree with each other both verbally and in their order of events, they rarely agree with one another against Mark. This suggests that in the triple tradition (passages in all three Synoptic Gospels), Matthew and Luke are not borrowing from each other but are independently using Mark.

The suggestion of the unknown source Q (which could be either written or oral) proved necessary to make sense of the significant agreements between Matthew and Luke in material not covered by Mark. Streeter suggested further that the material that was unique to Matthew and Luke respectively came from sources designated as “M” and “L.”

Although the Two Source Hypothesis remains the working theory preferred by most scholars, others claim that the issue is far from unresolved. To reconstruct the precise development of the Synoptic Gospels has proven extremely difficult. Each Gospel may have been influenced by a variety of sources. Rather than being well defined, the process likely was fluid, bringing together commonly known and accepted memorizations of specific Jesus sayings, repeated retellings of specific sequences of events (shorter and longer) that had turned into strings of established tradition among early churches, written records made by disciples such as Matthew, oral preaching of apostles such as Peter, accounts possibly from Mary the mother of Jesus (cf. Luke 2:19), and other things.

Mark’s Gospel has historically been considered a written condensation of Peter’s preaching, but as C. H. Dodd showed in his 1936 Apostolic Preaching and Its Developments, Mark shaped his Gospel according to a common apostolic pattern observable in the speeches in Acts. Except for a few parables and the action-filled apocalypse in chapter 13, Mark’s Gospel consists almost exclusively of descriptive narrative that delineates the power and purpose of Jesus, the Son of God. Mark is kerygma, preaching about Jesus. Q, or the material common to Matthew and Luke absent in Mark, consists almost exclusively of teaching material, Jesus sayings. It is didachē, teaching from Jesus.

Distinctives of each Gospel. Griesbach’s “synoptic” approach of placing these three Gospels side by side for comparison has prompted new scholarly approaches such as redaction criticism and has provided beginning students with a helpful way to recognize specific emphases of each Gospel. As noted above, Mark is a fast-paced narrative (“immediately” occurs nine times in chap. 1 alone) with vivid picturesque detail (e.g., 14:51–52). Matthew writes for a Jewish audience. He weaves his narrative around five major teaching discourses (chaps. 5–7; 10; 13; 18; 24–25) while highlighting Jesus’ relationship to Abraham (chap. 1), his mission to “the lost sheep of Israel” (chaps. 10; 15), and his birth and death as the “King of the Jews” (chaps. 2; 27) and using the Jewish expression “kingdom of heaven.” Luke, while portraying the comprehensive scope of Jesus’ mission by relating Jesus directly to Adam and God (3:38) and placing the events in secular history (chap. 2), reveals a special interest in the downtrodden (women, poor, children, Samaritans), prayer (nine prayers), the Holy Spirit, and joyfulness.

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1. Small Ways Every Day

Illustration

Martha Sterne

I hate to bring up The Ten Commandments when I'm preaching on the Gospel of Mark, but…remember that they are very rarely Cecil B. de Mille, big-screen, neon-sign events. They really aren't. They are small choices made on small days, over and over and over again. Such as choosing to remember that God made us for freedom and gave us as a gift, not a punishment, rules to live by. Small things such as remembering God made us, so we don't make God. Such as remembering that we had better not put God's name on anything in a vain show of power. Such as remembering that if God made the universe from a little marble and rested, then we are just created and hard wired to let go of our tiny universes and rest too. Little things, like remembering not just to honor your parents when they are old and gray, but also to train your own children to honor you. And don't let them get away with small, crummy, petty things. And don't lie in small things. Then the great truths within you have a shot. And don't strike up teasing, betraying relationships. Almost every adulterous relationship that people bring to pastors like me is when their miserable family is imploding. Every one of them begins with small, careless choices. And don't murder, which may mean more than we want it to mean. And don't steal. I know that means more than any of us want stealing to mean. But if we don't steal in small ways, we won't get all messed up in big ways. And then this last one, which this year I think is the biggest one. Don't covet. Don't waste your life wanting another life. An old friend calls it a case of the "I wants." Whatever "I wants" you have right now--bigger, better, more, different--find little ways of not renting that room in your head. Little ways, like I will not think about this for five minutes kinds of ways. Things perhaps no bigger than a mustard seed.

I follow the God who showed up two thousand years ago in small ways on days of small things. A healing touch here. A compassionate word there. Small things like not giving up on flawed friends. Like praying everyday. Small things like enjoying life. Jesus really enjoyed life. Small things like speaking truth to power. Like giving his small, mustard-seed-sized life so that the great labor of the new universe of resurrected, reborn life could be created.

2. Cooperation with God

Illustration

Ron Lavin

A Texan was visiting a friend who was a small Iowa farmer. "Is this all the land you have?" he asked. "Where I come from, I can get in my car at 6:00 a.m. and drive all day and never see the end of my land." "Is that right?" said the Iowa farmer. "I used to have a car like that too."

Big is not necessarily beautiful. Small can be beautiful. Cooperation with God is the key, whether we are in small towns or big cities; working smaller jobs or larger ones; using fewer gifts or having a ten-talent arsenal from which to draw. Cooperation with God in Christ is the key.

3. We Plow the Fields

Illustration

Matthias Claudius

In 1782, Matthias Claudius wrote the following poem that later became a hymn and a moving song in the movie Godspell:

We plow the fields, and scatter
The good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered
By God's almighty hand;
He sends the snow in winter,
The warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes and the sunshine,
And soft refreshing rain.
All good gifts around us
Are sent from heav'n above;
Then thank the Lord,
O thank the Lord For all His Love.

We thank Thee then, O Father,
For all things bright and good,
The seed-time and the harvest,
Our life, our health, our food;
Accept the gifts we offer
For all Thy love imparts,
And what Thou most desirest,
Our humble, thankful hearts.
All good gifts around us
Are sent from heav'n above;
Then thank the Lord,
O thank the Lord For all His Love.

4. The Mystery and the Glory of the Kingdom of God

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

We live in a universe and in a world with huge threats to existence and with sickeningly large social and geopolitical problems. There are meteors hurtling through space, many of which would wipe out life on earth if they struck us. There are dictators harboring or seeking weapons of mass destruction, many of which threaten our survival as a species. In the Middle East but in so many other places, too, there are seemingly intractable hatreds and prejudices between and among various ethnic groups. There are diseases like viruses galloping through continents, threatening to wipe out the tens-of-thousands if not hundreds. Hunger and poverty loom up like a whole mountain range of daunting problems whose heights we don't know how to scale.

Yet in the midst of all these threats from within and from without, in the face of great sin and evil, faced with maladies that are global in scope, we Christian people swing in with no more than that simplest of all messages: Jesus saves. A Jewish carpenter's son from halfway around the world and from over 2,000 years ago is the one we hold up as some kind of solution. And not a few folks today want to say, "Give me a break!"

To so much of our size-crazed culture, the gospel is too small for the task at hand. In the face of untold millions of starving people, we seem to offer just five loaves and two fish. In the face of trillion-dollar federal and international budgets, we seem to celebrate the widow's penny going into the collection plate. In the face of hostile terrorists and repressive regimes headed up by the hounds of hell itself, we dispatch lamb-like folks to China and the Sudan and Afghanistan as missionaries witnessing to the Lamb who was slain. None of it seems equal to the task of reaching, much less changing, this sorry and troubled old world. Yet as Mark 4 reminds us, hidden in the midst of all that is a small mystery — hiding the uncontainable glory — of the kingdom of God.

5. The Details Raise Questions

Illustration

Paul Rader

Have you ever seen the Salvador Dali painting where clock is sliding off the table and another one is bent backwards on a tree branch? It is called "the persistence of memory." Now, you know that clocks do not bend and melt and do not assume the positions they do in this painting. But what might it be saying about time? What happens to time? Time flies, time melts away, time disintegrates, things fall apart … You may not like Dali's painting, but you cannot help but think about it.

The details in the parable of the mustard seed are skewed. It's a strange image Jesus is painting. We might not notice, not being Palestinian farmers, but those who heard Jesus tell this parable sure did. Mustard seeds are not the smallest seeds. They are tiny, but they are not the smallest by a great deal. And they do not grow to become the largest of all garden plants. In fact, it isn't a garden plant at all: it's a weed. A weed! And it was against Jewish law to plant weeds in a garden. It was a wild plant, totally undomesticated, beyond control. And there isn't a farmer in all of Palestine that wants birds perched in a bush or shrub or under them when new seeds were in the ground.

Those who heard Jesus tell this parable knew something was up! He knew what mustard was. He knew and they knew. What could his distortion of the mustard, as a seed and as a plant, mean? Was he urging disobedience to the law? Was he poking fun at the empire? Rome was a mighty oak tree. Greece was as powerful as the cedars of Lebanon. The kingdom of God is like a weed?

6. What It Takes to Grow

Illustration

James A. Garfield, prior to serving as President of the United States, was president of Hiram College in Ohio. One day a father asked Garfield if there were a short-cut whereby his son could get through college in less than the usual four years. He wanted his Son to get on with making money. The college president gave this reply, "Of course there is a way; it all depends on what you want your boy to do. When God wants to grow an oak tree, he takes 100 years. When he wants to make a squash, he only takes two months."

7. God’s Garden

Illustration

Mickey Anders

Inch by inch, row by row
Gonna make this garden grow
All it takes is a rake and a hoe
And a piece of fertile ground

That's the way a wonderful children's song by David Mallet starts. It's entitled "Garden Song" and continues this way:

Inch by inch, row by row
Someone bless these seeds I sow
Someone warm them from below
'Till the rain comes tumbling down.

Grain for grain, sun and rain,
Find my way in nature's chain
Tune my body and my brain,
To the music from the land.

Plant your rows straight and long,
Temper them with a prayer and song.
Mother Earth will make you strong
If you give her love and care.

Those words from the chorus which say, "Inch by inch, row by row, Gonna make this garden grow." remind me of our text for today. Jesus made clear that the Kingdom of God grows the same way. He says, "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head."

8. You Should Have Seen It…

Illustration

Mickey Anders

I remember an old story about a man who bought a house with an overgrown garden. The weeds had long since taken over the garden and it was a mess. But slowly the man began to clear the weeds, till the soil and plant the seeds. Finally, he had made it into a showcase garden. One day the minister came to visit, and when he saw the beautiful flowers and plants, he observed, "Well, friend, you and God have done a marvelous job on this garden." To which the homeowner replied, "You should have seen it when God had it by himself."

9. Size Is Less Important Than Spirit

Illustration

Merritt W. Ednie

A small fellow, not much over 5 feet tall, applied for a job as a lumberjack in Alaska. The foreman, thinking to discourage him, gave him a large ax, set him before a tree hundreds of feet tall, and yards in diameter, and told him to chop it down. Within minutes the tree had been felled. The amazed foreman asked him where he'd learned to chop trees so powerfully. The little fellow replied, "When I worked in the Sahara forest." "You mean, the Sahara desert." "That was after I got there," said the small lumberjack.

The point of the story is that size is less important than spirit, or intelligence, or courage a point made when King David was selected at a young age: "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature ... for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."

A faith that grows has heart, a heart that belongs to God. Faith grows from the inside out.

10. They Knew Agriculture

Illustration

Mickey Anders

The Bible is a book that is loaded with images from agriculture. The reason is obvious. The people described from the first page to the last lived close to the land. They were a people who knew what it was to stoop for long hours in the hot sun to till the soil. Their toes and feet were often covered by the black soil on a spring day. They chopped and hoed through the summer, waiting patiently for the coming harvest. They knew what it was to watch as the crops slowly inched upward with first the blooms and then the tiny shapes of the fruit appearing. They, no doubt, spent endless hours discussing too much rain or not enough of it. They fought the insects and the weeds just like farmers do today. And in the fall, they experienced the profound joy that comes from a crop well-harvested. They did not always understand the deep things of God, but they knew about the rhythms and cycles of nature.

Because of that, agricultural images crop up in every part of this book. When the writers were challenged to explain something new about God, they reached for what they knew – the agricultural life all around them.

11. Growth Is in Our Reach

Illustration

Merritt W. Ednie

A third-grader taught the teacher an important truth: The teacher asked, "How many great people were born in our city?" "None," replied the pupil. "There were no great people born. They were born babies who became great people."

Greatness may not be within the reach of every one of us, but growth is. We are each capable of being a more mature person today than we were yesterday, and tomorrow can find us further along than we are today. And when we forget this vital truth, we lose sight of the essential meaning of life and the sources of its deepest fulfillment. If a seed in its dark, restless journey underground is not content until it breaks through the mountain of soil and strains ever higher toward the sunlight, will we human beings be content to have our faith remain simply a seed full of potential?

12. Hope for a Lost Cause

Illustration

Andrea Martin

Summertime is here, so I've taken up gardening. Old hat to many of you, but it's new to me. So a few weeks ago, when a friend told me nasturtium seeds would be easy – a gardener's instant gratification she promised – I decided to start there. I bought nasturtium seeds and potting soil and planted some in a peat pot the size of a small votive candle. I checked a reference book I'd bought and read up on how much water and sunlight the nasturtiums needed. Each day afterwards, I checked for sprouts. After about a week or ten days of this routine, I still had nothing but a cup of dirt.

I decided to move them outside. Maybe more sun would help. Maybe natural rain water would do them good. As you remember, they got a lot of natural rain water. So much so that I suspected the seeds had rotted from the moisture. It had been two weeks and no green to be seen. I wondered if I should toss them out and start over. And then the next morning I walked past and noticed sprouts, not just sprouts beginning to push out of the soil, but sprouts three and four inches high. I laughed out loud. I showed my husband. I'd awoken and found my lost cause full of nasturtiums and the promise of flowers. So it is with the Kingdom of God, Jesus tell us.

13. The Smallest Beginnings

Illustration

David G. Rogne

Whatever God's Kingdom may one day become, it starts out as the smallest of things. The great advances of the race have often started without any trumpets sounding or anybody being aware that anything exceptional was taking place. On the one hundredth anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth, John McCutcheon drew a famous cartoon. He showed two Kentucky backwoodsmen standing at the edge of a wood in the winter. One asks the other, "Anything new?" The other man replies, "Nothing much. Oh, there's a new baby over at Tom Lincoln's. But you know, nothing significant ever happens around here."

Centuries before that someone might have asked in Bethlehem, "Anything new?" And the answer might have been, "No, nothing new. Oh, they say a woman named Mary had a baby in a stable last night. But nothing significant ever happens around here." And when that child grew up and taught, he taught about little things: a cup of cold water, a person with one talent, a widow's offering, a lost coin, kindness done for "one of the least of these." So many of the greatest happenings begin in just such a fashion. They are no more than the planting of a mustard seed. Yet, in God's good time, the seed becomes a plant and puts forth its branches for the benefit of all.

14. A Seed for the Whole World

Illustration

Staff

Golden Bantam is the old standard yellow sweet corn that has been the home gardener's favorite since the beginning of the twentieth century. The plants grow to about six feet and produce seven inch ears loaded with eight to ten rows of sweet, plump, golden kernels. Very early, very tasty.

In 1902, 'Golden Bantam' was introduced and prominently featured in the Burpee catalog. Before 1900, most people thought that yellow corn was fit only for animal feed. Within a few years of the release of 'Golden Bantam', people in the United States began to favor yellow corn over white, black and orange sweet corn varieties.

Prior to receiving its name from W. Atlee Burpee, 'Golden Bantam' started out as a personal variety of one man. The story of its origins was described in the 1903 W. A. Burpee Farm Annual as follows: There was "an old gentleman,"[1] a farmer in Greenfield, Massachusetts named William Chambers, ". . . who had a fancy for furnishing his friends with some choice early corn long before they had thought of having any ripe enough for the table,— but he would never let any of them have any to plant."[1]

After Mr. Chambers passed away in about 1891, the variety was, ". . . kept pure and constantly selected by Mr. J. G. Pickett, also of Greenfield, Massachusetts."[1.2] Then in the spring of 1900 a friend of W. Atlee Burpee named E. L. Coy, a veteran seed grower from New York, happened to be visiting family in Greenfield and was served the corn as part of a meal.

Realizing its potential for the seed trade, Mr. Coy sought out and obtained all of the seed that Mr. Pickett could spare, which was less than two quarts. He sent the seed off to Mr. Burpee writing, "You now own the very sweetest and richest corn ever known , and I am very glad to help you to its ownership."[1.2] For two years, W. Atlee Burpee trialed and increased the seed inventory and then rechristening it as 'Golden Bantam', introduced it to the public in 1902. The rest is history!

And is it is with the Kingdom of God. From a hand full of seeds the entire world can be fed.

Note: This information taken from https://www.victoryseeds.com/corn_golden-bantam.html

15. Rooted in the Scripture

Illustration

Edward F. Markquart

Many of the values of Western civilization are rooted in Jesus and the Scriptures. Where did our concept of democracy come from? Most people say off the top of their heads, that it came from Greece and the Greek senate. Yes, but not totally. Where did our concept of democracy originate? From the Magna Carta. It came from the Magna Carta and England in the year 1215. Who was one of the primary authors of the original Magna Carta? Stephen Langdon. Who was Stephen Langdon? The Archbishop of Canterbury. Archbishop Stephen Langdon was one of the principal authors of the Magna Carta and he had his roots in the Bible, his roots in the Word, his roots in the Book of Galatians and his roots in the freedom described in the Book of Galatians. The book of Galatians is about freedom, Christian freedom which has implications for political freedom. "For freedom Christ has set us free."

Another question: Where did our Constitution come from? We all know: Thomas Jefferson. Where did he get his ideas? The French Enlightenment. Where did the French Enlightenment get its ideas? The Renaissance. Where did the Renaissance get its ideas? The Reformation. Where did the Reformation get its ideas? From the Bible.

I would like to suggest to you that for many people the ideals of democracy can be traced back through history to the Scriptures themselves.

Originally, the hospitals in America were primarily Christian hospitals. The colleges in America were originally Christian colleges. The freedom movement in America for blacks had its origin in the Scriptures.

The very values of our democracy are rooted in the Scriptures. Who would have guessed that these American ideas and ideals would have started as a small seed so many centuries ago?

16. Extraordinarily Ordinary

Illustration

Brett Blair

To what ordinary object would Jesus compare the reign of God today — an object that we would recognize without having to have two minutes worth of explanation before we understand? How about these:

1. The reign of God is like a tiny pebble. It doesn't look like much, but it can bring the strongest man to a stop if it's in his shoe.

2. The reign of God is like a wasp. A wasp is a tiny insect that can be crushed with a fist. You wouldn't think that it's very strong. But introduce one into a crowded room and see how disruptive it can be!

3. The reign of God is like a grain of sand. It can be so small that you can hardly see it. It's entirely insignificant, unless it gets in your eye.

No doubt you could make up your own and they would probably be very good. Why? Because the King of God is extraordinarily ordinary.

17. A World of Difference

Illustration

King Duncan

There comes a time in everyone's life when they are just about at wit's end. Teachers have certainly experienced this. Helen Mrosla remembers teaching a ninth grade class "new math" a number of years ago. Her students were working hard, but she could tell that they just didn't understand the new concepts. And they were growing more frustrated and edgy with each passing class. Then one Friday afternoon Helen decided to depart from her lesson plan. She instructed each student to list each person's name in the class on a sheet of paper and then write something nice about each one. The unusual assignment took the entire class period for them to complete.

The next day, Saturday, Helen took those papers and compiled a list for each student of what others in the class liked about them. On Monday she gave each student a paper with what other classmates had written about them. The atmosphere in the class changed instantly; her students were smiling again. Helen overheard one student whisper, "I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!" The students were happy with themselves and one another again. It was time to continue with their math lessons, and no one ever said anything about those papers again.

Years passed. Students came and went. Then the class was suddenly brought together again as young adults, and Helen's former students gathered around her. One of them had something to show her. Opening his wallet, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped and refolded many times. Helen knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good things of each classmate. She was amazed as another former student told her that she still kept her list in the top drawer of her desk at home. Another had placed his list in his wedding album. Still another classmate took out her wallet, showed her worn and frazzled list to the group, and said she carried it with her everywhere she went. Helen was simply overwhelmed.

Whoever would have thought that what a teacher did out of desperation on a Friday afternoon would have such a lasting effect on her students? You never know. You never know how something you or I might do might affect someone else. The funny thing is that we may not even think that what we did was all that important, but to another person it made a world of difference. Jesus taught us that the kingdom of God is like that.

18. Trifles Make Perfection

Illustration

King Duncan

Michelangelo, one of the world's great artists, was also a great sculptor. One day a visitor was looking at a statue that Michelangelo was making. The visitor said, "I can't see that you have made any progress since I was here last time."

Michelangelo answered, "Oh, yes, I have made much progress. Look carefully and you will see that I have retouched this part, and that I have polished that part. See, I have worked on this part of the statue, and have softened the lines here."

"Yes," said the visitor, "but those are all trifles."

"That may be," replied Michelangelo, "but trifles make perfection and perfection is no trifle."

Successful people are aware of the trifles. As a Ethiopian proverb puts it: "When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion." The great writer Bruce Barton once said, "I am tempted to think there are no little things."

19. The Red Cross: Humble Beginnings

Illustration

King Duncan

One June morning 145 years ago, Jean Henri Dunant woke up and opened his window in his beloved Switzerland. He heard an excited babble down in the street and quickly went down to see what was going on. He didn't hear much at first, but he caught the words "fighting" and "war" through all the confusion. Eventually he was able to determine that a war had started in Italy. So he hastily packed a few things and set out. He wanted to see for himself just what was going on.

Henri arrived in Italy where he saw soldiers fighting on the side of a hill near the town of Castiglione. It seemed that everyone was shooting at everyone else. He watched as men were hit by bullets, gave horrible cries, and fell to the ground. Henri had never seen anything like this before. He felt that he should do something to help the wounded men. So when the fighting stopped at dusk he went to the nearby town to ask people to go to the battlefield with him. Ordinary citizens: farmers, bakers and tailors responded at once. They spent the night there giving as much aid as they could to the wounded men.

It was hard for Henri to forget what he had seen once he returned home, so he decided to write down his experiences. He described the horrible sight of battle and men being shot. He also suggested that every country should have a relief society, a kind of emergency aid service to help wounded soldiers.

It was five years later before the first rescue society was organized in Geneva, Switzerland in 1864. It was called the Red Cross. And soon other countries joined the society. Everyone forgot all about Henri until an article appeared in a newspaper in 1895. In 1901 he was given the very first Nobel peace prize.

Whoever would have thought that something as seemingly insignificant as watching a battle would bring about so much good? But Henri planted a seed that would germinate and help millions of people all over the world. That's the way the kingdom works - great harvests from tiny seeds.

20. God Delights in What He Does

Illustration

King Duncan

Tony Campolo in his book, Who Switched the Price Tags?, gives us a beautiful example of the kind of attitude that accompanies mustard seed faith. He tells of Lord Chesterton who suggested that God got a childlike excitement out of His work. "As a matter of fact, he contended that God may be the only one left in the universe who has childlike emotions about work, while all the rest of us have grown old and cynical because of sin. God never tires of what He does. He enjoys it.

If you take a five-year-old child, throw her into the air, catch her, bounce her off your knee, and then set her down on the floor, you can expect her to exclaim, "Do it again!" If you repeat the process a dozen times, the child will not tire of these antics.

Lord Chesterton believed that God may be that way about creating daisies. He asks us to imagine God creating the first daisy and enjoying it so much that something down inside Him exclaims, "Do it again!" And when he makes the second daisy, He is even more excited and shouts to Himself, "Do it again!" Imagine God continuing to create daisy after daisy, and after making the hundred-billionth daisy, being even more filled with excitement than when He began. Obviously, this is an exaggeration but it makes no difference. The principle is what is valid - God is a God who delights in what He does."

We are created in God's image. Mustard seed faith says that this is a marvelous world in which God has placed us. It is an exciting and wonderful thing to be alive. We are fortunate when we can get up each morning and go to our schools, offices, fields and factories and share in the abundance of God's creation.

21. A Great Dad

Illustration

King Duncan

One of the greatest preachers and pastors who ever lived was Dwight L. Moody. He was a man of uncompromising principle, but he was also a great dad. His son Willie reported that it was not unusual for Dwight L. Moody to come to one of his children lying in bed late at night and say something like this, "Are you awake? I can't go to sleep till I talk to you. I'm sorry I lost my temper." As a teenager Willie wrote this tribute to his famous father:

"Other kids tell me they cannot go to their dads and just talk and hope to be understood; they say they can't because their dads are 'always right' and they are 'always wrong'. They can't talk to their dads the way I can talk to you. I could always talk to you. You always understood. There was nothing I could not tell you."

Of course Willie is describing here a father who has more than mere time. He also has tenderness and a willingness to admit it when he has made a mistake: but simply taking time is the first step along the journey to successful parenting.

22. How Much Faith?

Illustration

King Duncan

Billy Graham noted, “Faith is the avenue of salvation. Not intellectual understanding. Not money. Not your works. Just simple faith. How much faith? The faith of a mustard seed, so small you can hardly see it. But if you will put that little faith in the person of Jesus, your life will be changed. He will come with supernatural power into your heart. It can happen to you.”

23. What Do You Believe about Jesus?

Illustration

David E. Leininger

What exactly do you believe about Jesus? Some years ago, in my seminary days, our first course in Systematic Theology dealt with that question. Our professor described Jesus as "the proleptic, salvific, hidden appearance of the eschatological kingdom of God." Did you get that? Take notes; there might be a test at the end of this. "The proleptic, salvific, hidden appearance of the eschatological kingdom of God." On our way out of class that morning, with the words of our gospel in mind, we chuckled at the whole thing: "Jesus said to them, 'Who do YOU say that I am?' Simon Peter replied, 'You are the proleptic, salvific, hidden appearance of the eschatological kingdom of God.' And Jesus answered him and said, 'WHAT???'"

Malcolm Muggeridge, for most of his life a skeptic, following his conversion became wonderfully reflective. In his book, Jesus Rediscovered, writes: "Beneath the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, a silver star marks the alleged precise spot where Christ was born. A stone slab nearby is supposed to mark the exact site of the manger wherein he lay. The Holy Land is littered with such shrines, divided up like African territories in the old colonialist days, between the different sects and denominations the Greeks, the Armenians, the Copts, the Latins, etc.—and often a cause of rancor among them. Most of the shrines are doubtless fraudulent, some in dubious taste, and none to my liking. Yet one may note, as the visitors come and go, ranging from the devout to the inanely curious, that almost every face somehow lights up a little."

There is something about Jesus. And the question to the disciples comes again: "Who do YOU say that I am?" You must answer. And you. And you. And you and you. I would not expect your response to say anything about "proleptic" or "salvific" or "eschatological." No, my prayer is that, with Simon Peter, you would simply say with every fibre of your being, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

24. IN DOUBT? FAITH IT!

Illustration

John H. Krahn

When I was in the hospital, I received many cards. Among them was one that had an actual mustard seed in a little container pasted on the front of it along with the words, "For if you had faith even as small as a tiny mustard seed you could say to this mountain, ‘Move!’ and it would go away. Nothing would be impossible." A mustard seed is really no big deal. But from this small seed grows a very large plant in a very short period of time.

Using a tiny mustard seed, Jesus suggests a very remarkable thing. He says that if our faith is only as large as this very small seed, we can do great things, as great as moving a mountain from one location to another. In fact, he says, "Nothing would be impossible for us." As Jesus talks to us about a mountain-moving faith, some of us possess a mountain of doubt.

It has been my experience that those who doubt more than they believe try to subject God to the limits of their own reason. They want God on their terms, according to their own rationale. They seem to say that if they were God, things would have been done differently. And right here, I believe, is the crux of the problem. They see themselves as God. For to be wiser than God is to be God.

If we really want to get to know God, it is better to begin with faith. What we really need is a faith that seeks understanding rather than an understanding that seeks faith. To put it another way, "In Doubt? Faith It!" No matter how little our faith might be - even if it is smaller than a mustard seed - God is saying to us today that there is great potential for its growth.

25. The Tragedy of the Unprepared Life - Sermon Starter

Illustration

Brett Blair

There's a true story that comes form the sinking of the Titanic. A frightened woman found her place in a lifeboat that was about to be lowered into the raging North Atlantic. She suddenly thought of something she needed, so she asked permission to return to her stateroom before they cast off. She was granted three minutes or they would leave without her.

She ran across the deck that was already slanted at a dangerous angle. She raced through the gambling room with all the money that had rolled to one side, ankle deep. She came to her stateroom and quickly pushed a side her diamond rings and expensive bracelets and necklaces as she reached to the shelf above her bed and grabbed three small oranges. She quickly found her way back to the lifeboat and got in.

Now that seems incredible because thirty minutes earlier she would not have chosen a crate of oranges over the smallest diamond. But death had boarded the Titanic. One blast of its awful breath had transformed all values. Instantaneously, priceless things had become worthless. Worthless things had become priceless. And in that moment she preferred three small oranges to a crate of diamonds.

There are events in life, which have the power to transform the way we look at the world. Jesus' parable about the ten virgins offers one of these types of events, for the parable is about the Second Coming of Christ. But Jesus doesn't come right out and say this. Rather, he let's the story describe it for him. The woman on the sinking Titanic understood, in the light of her current circumstances, that she must make preparations for living on a lifeboat. Diamonds would not suffice, only the precious resources of an orange were good enough. Likewise, in this world where Christ may return at any moment, the parable warns, we must be ready.

Weddings are one of these kinds of events. And every time I have a wedding, I admonish those in the wedding to be ready, to make a special effort to be ready on the day of the ceremony. I plead with them to arrive early and be dressed and ready to go. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't.

Jesus' parable about a wedding, is told not from the vantage point of the bride and groom, but of the ten young maidens who had been invited to the happy occasion, five of them were foolish, said Jesus, five of them were wise. What was the measure of their wisdom? In a word, their readiness to be a part of the event. All of the young women had oil in their lamps, but five had an additional supply.

This is, of course, foreign to our concepts of weddings today. Weddings in our society are announced for a specific time and place, and if things are late in getting started, those invited guests begin to fidget a bit. But in first century Palestine, a wedding could happen anytime within several days. The uncertainty was considered a part of the excitement of the wedding. The bridegroom hoped to catch some of the bridal party napping. But fairness required that some announcement be made, so just before the big event a messenger was sent through the streets shouting: Behold the bridegroom commeth." The alert ones in the wedding party would respond, and the others would be left behind.

In Jesus parable, the cry came at midnight. This was often the case; most bridegrooms chose to come late at night. The sleeping attendants were awakened. It was then that they realized that they did not have enough oil in their lamps to get through the night. Panicked, they attempted to borrow some from the other bridesmaids. But they responded, "If we give you our oil, there won't be enough for us. Hurry out to the dealers and buy some yourself." So the five foolish maidens hurried out, but by the time they returned the door had already been closed. They knocked on the door and pleaded to be a part of the festivities, but the groom said: "If you belonged at this event you would already have been present." Jesus concluded: Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

What is this parable suggesting to us? I would like to make a few suggestions…

1. Some things cannot be borrowed.
2. Some things cannot be put off.
3. We can miss out on great opportunities.

26. What Is Heaven Like? - Sermon Starter

Illustration

Brett Blair

I believe we human beings have a perception problem. We often think we have the proper perspective on an issue when in fact we are way off.

There's a charming story that Thomas Wheeler, CEO of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, tells on himself: He and his wife were driving along an interstate highway when he noticed that their car was low on gas. Wheeler got off the highway at the next exit and soon found a rundown gas station with just one gas pump. He asked the lone attendant to fill the tank and check the oil; then went for a little walk around the station to stretch his legs.

As he was returning to the car, he noticed that the attendant and his wife were engaged in an animated conversation. The conversation stopped as he paid the attendant. But as he was getting back into the car, he saw the attendant wave and heard him say, "It was great talking to you."

As they drove out of the station, Wheeler asked his wife if she knew the man. She readily admitted she did. They had gone to high school together and had dated steadily for about a year.

"Boy, were you lucky that I came along," bragged Wheeler.

"If you had married him, you'd be the wife of a gas station attendant instead of the wife of a chief executive officer."

"My dear," replied his wife, "if I had married him, he'd be the chief executive officer and you'd be the gas station attendant."

Yes, we often think we have the proper perspective on an issue when in fact we are way off. Jesus understood this propensity for us humans to get it wrong. Especially when it comes to things spiritual. So he told a few parables. He said the kingdom of heaven is like:

1. A Small Seed
2. A Hidden Treasure
3. And a Pearl of Great Price

27. A Precious Gift

Illustration

Brett Blair

There is an ancient legend about the monk who found a precious stone, a precious jewel. A short time later, the monk met a traveler, who said he was hungry and asked the monk if he would share some of his provisions. When the monk opened his bag, the traveler saw the precious stone and, on an impulse, asked the monk if he could have it. Amazingly, the monk gave the traveler the stone.

The traveler departed quickly overjoyed with his new possession. However, a few days later, he came back, searching for the monk. He returned the stone to the monk and made a request: "Please give me that which enabled you to give me this precious stone!"

A commitment of the whole heart, that's what heaven, the Kingdom of Heaven requires of its followers. I love this last parable because Jesus does not say the Kingdom of Heaven is like a pearl of great price. He says the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant, a merchant who finds a great deal on a flawless stone and does everything in his power to close the sale. That's commitment to a greater cause. That's sacrifice and hard work. That's what heaven is like. Amen.

28. Neighbors Who Never Met - Sermon Starter

Illustration

Brett Blair

What parable would make a man with three doctoral degrees (one in medicine, one in theology, one in philosophy) leave civilization with all of its culture and amenities and depart for the jungles of darkest Africa? What parable could induce a man, who was recognized as one of the best concert organists in all of Europe, go to a place where there were no organs to play. What parable would so intensely motivate a man that he would give up a teaching position in Vienna, Austria to go and deal with people who were so deprived that they were still living in the superstitions of the dark ages for all practical purposes. The man who I am talking about, of course, is Dr. Albert Schweitzer. And the single parable that so radically altered his life, according to him, was our text for this morning. It was the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.

The Rich Man and Lazarus were neighbors, you know. They saw each other every day. Oh, not socially you understand, but there was contact. Every day the Rich Man saw this beggar at his front gate. Who were these men?

We shall call the Rich Man Dives [pronounced ‘Dive-ees': it's Latin for "Rich Man" as he has been called for centuries] Dives would have felt very comfortable living in our present time. He was a progressive kind of a guy. He was self-indulgent and this is the age of self-indulgency. The contrasting life-styles of these two men is so obvious that you can't miss it. Dives was a connoisseur, a lover of the arts, one who knows and appreciates fine living, four star restaurants.

We are told in vs. 19 that he habitually dressed in purple. Purple was known as the color of royalty because it was the most expensive dye in the ancient world. Only the upper echelon and the high priest could afford it. We are also told that his undergarments were made of fine linen. Linen, the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

The other man in the story is Lazarus. How can we describe Lazarus? Lararus is homeless. We are told in vs. 20 that he was a cripple. Lazarus barely made it from day to day, living off the leftovers thrown to him by Dives as he daily passed him. He is just a survivor, that's all you can say of him.

One day, said Jesus, both men died. Death after all is the great equalizer. Death does not care about your social standing, your color, or your standing in the community. Lazarus, said Jesus, was carried away by the angel of death unto heaven, where he occupied the seat of honor next to Abraham. About Dives, the rich man, all that Jesus says is that he was buried. Isn't that strange that that is all that he says? After all, Dives funeral must having been something that the community would remember for years to come. Apparently, however, that fact failed to impress Jesus. Oh, Jesus did add one additional fact about Dives' death that may be of interest to you. His soul was sent to hell.

This is an unnerving story. I can well see why this was the irritating grain of sand in Albert Schweitzer's oyster. Why is this story so bothersome? For a few moments this morning I would like to share exactly why. It is bothersome because….

First, it shows how God reverses the standards of the world.
Second, it is a terrible fate for a man who was not mean.
Third, the rich man begs to warn his living brothers.

29. Dealing With the Pain of Rejection - Sermon Opener

Illustration

James W. Moore

There is no pain in the world quite like it: the awful pain of feeling rejected. It hurts! It crushes the spirit and breaks the heart. Let me show you what I mean with a true story.

Pastor James Moore tells a story about a girl named Jessica. She was a tall, slender, sixteen-year-old blonde girl, who looked like she might grow up to be a model or president of the P.T.A., or a corporate executive. She was attractive, outgoing, personable, radiant, and happy. She was an only child and her parents were devoted to her and so proud of her. A member of his church she did a youth "speak-out" in an evening worship service. Her words were inspired and thoughtful from the pulpit that night. She was so wholesome, so clean-cut, so full of life.

But, the next morning, an urgent ringing of the telephone. It was Jessica's mother alarmed, concerned, frightened saying that Jessica had been taken to the emergency room during the night and had been admitted into the hospital as a patient. When Moore got there and walked into that hospital room, it was a stark, gloomy situation. The drapes were closed, the room was dark, heavy despair was in the air we breathed. There was Jessica only hours before happy, radiant, full of life but now, laying there in a hospital bed, weak, pale, listless, almost the picture of death. She was emotionally drained, completely wrung out, so much so that she literally did not have the strength to lift her arms, she could not walk, she could hardly hold up her head. They talked for a moment, prayed together and then he left the room. Jessica's mother came out into the hallway. Her mother said, "After we got home from church last night, Jessica had a phone call. Just as she hung up the receiver she fainted and when we revived her, she was physically unable to walk… she was so weak. We called an ambulance and brought her here to the hospital." Moore asked, "Do you know of anything that might have caused this?" The mother blinked as tears flooded into her eyes, she looked away and said, "Well, yes, that telephone call last night was to notify Jessica that she had been "black-balled" by the sorority she wanted to join."

Now, here was a young girl, sixteen years old, an only child, who for all of her life had had almost everything she wanted. At that particular moment what she wanted more than anything was to be accepted into that sorority and somebody had rejected her. One person for some unknown reason had "black-balled" her and the trauma of that blatant rejection was too much for her. She couldn't handle it. She was not faking. The doctors were sure of that. She was just so hurt that it crushed her emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

Here we see dramatically the awful pain of feeling rejected. Now I want to leave Jessica in the hospital for just a moment. We are going to get her out later, but right now the point is clear. The pain of feeling rejected can be devastating.

Sometimes we "feel" rejected when we really aren't being rejected. We only think we are. Have you heard about the man who had to quit going to football games because every time the team went into a huddle he thought they were talking about him! Now, he wasn't being rejected, but he thought he was. Let me hurry to say though, that even when imagined the pain is just as real!

That's what happens in Jesus' parable. Remember how the younger brother runs away to the far country, squanders his money in riotous living, but then ashamed and penitent he returns home. The father is so overjoyed. He had feared the worst that his young son might be dead! But here he is alive and well and home, safe and sound. The father is so happy that he calls for a great celebration. But when the elder brother hears of it. He is hurt, jealous, confused, and angry. He feels sorry for himself, but more than that and worse, he feels that the father has rejected him! Of course, we know better! We know that the father has not rejected him at all. In fact, the parable is misnamed. Instead of the Parable of the Prodigal Son, it should be called the Parable of the Gracious Father! Because, you see, the theme of the parable is not the revelry of the Prodigal, nor is it the bitterness of the elder brother, no; the theme here is the goodness of the father, the faithfulness of God. The message here is that God cares and that He wants both of His sons (all of His children) to come and be a part of the celebration.

But the elder brother missed it. He mistakenly felt rejected and it deflated and crushed him and left him spiritually bankrupt. The feeling of rejection can do that to us. But the Christian faith has good news for those who feel rejected, the good news of healing and wholeness. So when you feel rejected, here are a few simple guidelines to remember.

1. Feelings are temporary, so go and talk to somebody
2. The person rejecting you is the one with the problem
3. Remember how to laugh and don't take yourself too seriously
4. Remember that God accepts you.

30. Pulling Weeds - Sermon Starter

Illustration

King Duncan

Last week we talked about planting seeds. This week we're talking about pulling weeds. The two go together. Every gardener knows that planting seeds is the easy part of having a successful garden. It is much more time consuming to weed that same garden. And it's hard work. As someone has said: "When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant."

There is a corollary to that truth: "To distinguish flowers from weeds, simply pull up everything. What grows back is weeds."

Some of you can relate to one unknown homemaker who wrote: I don't do windows because . . . I love birds and don't want one to run into a clean window and get hurt. I don't wax floors because . . . I am terrified a guest will slip and get hurt then I'll feel terrible (plus they may sue me.)I don't disturb cobwebs because . . . I want every creature to have a home of their own. I don't Spring Clean because . . . I love all the seasons and don't want the others to get jealous. I don't put things away because . . . my husband will never be able to find them again. I don't do gourmet meals when I entertain because . . . I don't want my guests to stress out over what to make when they invite me over for dinner. I don't iron because . . . I choose to believe them when they say "Permanent Press." And finally: I don't pull weeds in the garden because . . . I don't want to get in God's way, He is an excellent designer!

I doubt than anyone likes pulling weeds, including God. In today's lesson Jesus tells a parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

"The owner's servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?'

"‘An enemy did this,' he replied.

"The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?'

"‘No,' he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'"

Then Jesus left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."

Jesus answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

"As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear."

On its surface, there is not much to be said about this parable except make sure you're not a weed…

1. Pulling Weeds Is an Important Part of a Successful Life.
2. God Is Our Savior.
3. God Wants to Save Us from Sin.

31. A List of Murphy's Laws

Illustration

Staff

If anything can go wrong, it will.
Nothing is ever as simple as it seems.
Everything takes longer than you expect.
If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will go wrong first will be the one that will do the most damage.
Left to themselves, all things go from bad to worse.
If you play with something long enough, you will surely break it.
If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
If you see that there are four possible ways in which a procedure can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.
Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.
It is impossible to make anything foolproof, because fools are so ingenious.
The consumer report on the item will come out a week after you've made your purchase
Gold's Law: If the shoe fits, its ugly.
If you hit two keys on the typewriter, the one you don't want hits the paper.
A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.
If everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
When you dial a wrong number you never get a busy signal.
Law of Gardening: You get the most of what you need the least.
Jones's Law: Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate.
Eve's Discovery: At a sale, the only suit or dress that you like and that fits is not the one on sale.
Nothing will be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.
Harris's Law. Any philosophy that can be put "in a nutshell" belongs there. Sidney J. Harris
Douglas's Law of Practical Aeronautics: When the weight of the paperwork equals the weight of the plane, the plane will fly. Donald Douglas
Unnamed Law. If it happens, it must be possible.
Wing-Walking, First Law of: Never leave hold of what you've got until you've got hold of something else.
Bucy's Law. Nothing is ever accomplished by a reasonable man. Fred Bucy
Clopton's Law: For every credibility gap there is a gullibility fill.
United Law: if an organization carries the word "united" in its name, it means it isn't: e.g., United Nations, United Arab Republic, United Kingdom, United States.
Kafka's Law: in the fight between you and the world, back the world. Franz Kafka
Ettorre's observation: The other line moves faster. This applies to all lines bank, supermarket, toll booth, customs. If you change lines, then the other line the one you were in originally will move faster.
Osborn's Law. Variables won't, constants aren't.
Never use one word when a dozen will suffice.
If it can be understood, it is not finished yet.
Never do anything for the first time.
Marshall's generalized iceberg theorem: Seven-eighths of everything can't be seen.
Runyon's Law: The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. But that's the way to bet.
The severity of an itch is inversely proportional to the reach.
Paige's Sixth Rule: Don't look back; something might be gaining on you. Satchel Paige
Kristol's Law: Being frustrated is disagreeable, but the real disasters in life begin when you get what you want. Irving Kristol.
Parkinson's Law: (1) Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. (2) Expenditure rises to meet income. C. Northcote Parkinson
Peer's Law: The solution to a problem changes the problem. John Peers
Corcoran's Law: All papers that you save will never be needed until such time as they are disposed of, when they become essential. John Corcoran
Darwin's Observation: Nature will tell you a direct lie if she can. Charles Darwin
Thurber's Conclusion: There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else. James Thurber, Fables for Our Time
A spilled drink flows in the direction of the most expensive object. Judye Briggs, in The New Official Rules, P. Dickson
Law of milk and other precious commodities: The less you have, the more you spill.
Law of epistolary effort: Troublesome correspondence that is postponed long enough will eventually become irrelevant.
Law or repair: Anything adjustable will sooner or later need adjustment
Harrison's Postulate: For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.
A dog's affection increases in direct proportion to how wet and sandy he is.
When you come in late for work, everybody notices; when you work late, nobody notices.
The waitress always comes around to ask you how your food is whenever your mouth is full.
The average time between throwing something away and needing it badly is about two weeks.
Life is what happens to you while you are making other plans.
If you treat a sick child like an adult and a sick adult like a child, everything works out pretty well.
Checks are always delayed in the mail. Bills arrive on time or sooner.
If you do a job twice, it's yours.
Smith's Fourth Law of Inertia: A body at rest tends to watch television.
No matter how many show up for choir practice, you will need one more copy of the music.
The shorter the agenda the longer the meeting.
When you're right, nobody remembers; when you're wrong, nobody forgets.
O'Reilly's Law: No matter what goes wrong, there's always someone who knew it would.
Kilpatrick's Law: Interchangeable parts aren't.
Shanahan's Law: The length of the is the square of the number of people present.
Brennan's Law: Paper is always strongest at the perforations.
Dooley's Law: If something happens to you, it has previously happened to all your friends.
Never hire a plumber who wears rubber boots or an electrician with scorched eyebrows. Ashley Cooper
Thomas's Rules of the Game: a) No matter how well you do something, someone won't like it. b) No matter how trivial the assignment, it is always possible to build it up to a major issue.
Herman's Rule: if it works right the first time, you've obviously done something wrong. Pat (Mrs. Herman) Jett
Toomey's Rule: It is easy to make decisions on matters for which you have no responsibility.
Immediately after you buy an item, you find a coupon for it. Bill Copeland
The first person who gets off a crowded elevator is always standing in the back. Carl Dombeck
The last key in the bunch usually opens the lock.
The weaker the arguments, the stronger the words. Dave Gneiser.
If a problem causes many meetings, the meetings eventually become more important than the problem.

32. Counting the Apples in a Seed

Illustration

Dr. Robert H. Schuller

In his book, Be an Extraordinary Person in an Ordinary World, Rev. Robert H. Schuller tells the story behind a seed he received one day from Ansley Mueller, a farmer in Pleasant Plains, Ohio. "For years," said Rev. Schuller, "I've been teaching the principle, 'Any fool can count the seeds in an apple. Only God can count the apples in one seed.'" Well, Ansley Mueller had been listening to this principle, and he sent this letter with a soybean seed:

"It was 1977, Dr. Schuller, and I lost half my crop. It was a bad, bad year. It was so wet I couldn't get half of it harvested and it didn't develop. So, at the end of the year, in October, I would walk through the fields and try to pick up a bushel here and a piece there. Then, I saw standing by itself a most extraordinary, unusual looking soybean plant. I walked over and I was shocked by its size and its good looks. I went and carefully picked off the pods. There were 202 pods and I opened them and counted out 503 soybeans. I took them home. I kept them in a pan all winter and they dried out. The next spring they just seemed special to me. I took those 503 soybeans and I planted them in a little plot behind my house and when October came I harvested 32 pounds! Thirty-two pounds! I dried them out in the winter. I took those thirty-two pounds and I planted them on one acre and when October came, I harvested. I had 2,409 pounds. A year later I planted these new seeds on sixty-eight acres, which was all the land I had available. In October, just a year ago, I harvested twenty-one hundred bushels and cashed it out for fifteen thousand dollars!"

So Schuller is sitting in his office chair with that letter in one hand and the bean in the other and he reads the conclusion of the letter: "Now, Dr. Schuller, one plant, four years later, fifteen thousand dollars. Not too bad, is it? So Dr. Schuller, here's your bean."

Now that farmer challenged that preacher. Challenged this preacher...to trust more in God's ability to provide the increase. Hidden in our church is the potential for remarkable growth of the Kingdom of God. Here's your seed. Go plant it.

33. The Parable of the Five Brothers

Illustration

Joachim Jeremias

The first point is concerned with the reversal of fortune in the after-life (vv. 19-26), the second (vv. 27-31) with the petition of the rich man that Abraham may send Lazarus to his five brethren. . . [Jesus places] the stress is on the second point. That means that Jesus does not want to comment on a social problem, nor does he intend to give teaching about the after-life, but he relates the parable to warn men who resemble the brothers of the rich man of the impending danger. Hence the poor Lazarus is only a secondary figure, introduced by way of contrast. The parable is about the five brothers, and it should not be styled the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, but the parable of the Six Brothers.

The surviving brothers, who have their counterpart in the men of the Flood generation [Jeremias' reference to Noah's generation], living a careless life, heedless of the rumble of the approaching flood (Matt. 24:37-39), are men of this world, like their dead brother. Like him they live in selfish luxury, deaf to God's word, in the belief that death ends all (v. 28). Scornfully, Jesus was asked by these skeptical worldlings for a valid proof of a life after death, if they were to be paying heed to his warning. Jesus wanted to open their eyes, but to grant their demand would not be the right way to do so. Why did Jesus refuse it? Because its fulfillment would have been meaningless; even the greatest wonder, resurrection, would be in vain [in John 11:46 ff. the raising of Lazarus served to complete the hardening of the Jews]. He who will not submit to the word of God, will not be converted by a miracle. The demand for a sign is an evasion and a sign of impenitence. Hence the sentence is pronounced: "God will never give a sign to this generation" (Mark 8.12).

34. Blasphemy Against the Spirit

Illustration

Staff

This statement (Matt 12:32, par Mk. 3:29, Luke 12:10) has been the subject of much questioning. Obviously the reference here is not to the naming of the Holy Spirit in a blasphemous utterance, for in Matt. 12:32 even blasphemy against the Son of man can be forgiven. Among the many attempts at exegesis, the most convincing is the suggestion that the man who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit is he who has recognized that God is working through the Holy Spirit in the actions of Jesus, and who quite consciously "misrepresent faith in God as faith in the devil. This saying is an extremely serious warning against the demonic and scarcely conceivable potential in man: To declare war on God. This is not done in weakness and doubt, but by one who has been overcome by the Holy Spirit and who knows very well on whom he is declaring war" (E. Schweizer, The Good News according to Mark, 1971, 87; cf. H.W. Beyer, TDNT I:624; O.E. Evans, "The Unforgivable Sin", ExpT 68, 1956-57, 240-44). This is the blasphemer who does it deliberately, after encounter with the God of grace, as the context shows. For Jesus has just been accused of casting out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons. "Therefore he who blasphemes the Spirit is no longer speaking against a God who is distant, about whom he entertains mere foolish thoughts, but against the one who makes evident to him his gracious work, and confirms it with his manifest, divine seal. He is a man who ought to give thanks, not to blaspheme" (A. Schlatter, on Matt. 12:32).

W.L. Lane draws attention to Sifre on Deut. 32:38 (end): "The Holy One, blessed be he, pardons everything else, but on profanation of the Name [i.e. blasphemy] he takes vengeance immediately" (The Gospel of Mark, NLC, 1974, 145) Lane goes on to comment: "This is the danger to which the scribes exposed themselves when they attributed to the agency of Satan the redemption brought by Jesus. The expulsion of demons was a sign of the intrusion of the Kingdom of God. Yet the scribal accusations against Jesus amount to a denial of the power and greatness of the Spirit of God. By assigning the action of Jesus to a demonic origin the scribes betray a perversion of spirit which, in defiance of the truth, chooses to call light darkness. In this historical context, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit denotes the conscious and deliberate rejection of the saving power and grace of God released through Jesus' work and act" (ibid). Thus blasphemy here is much more serious than the taking of the divine name in vain which a believer may have done before coming to repentance and faith.

It may be said to those who have been tormented by fear that they have committed the unforgivable sin that their concern is itself a sign that they have not committed the sin envisaged in Jesus' teaching here. Lane's interpretation also helps to explain the distinction drawn between blasphemy against the Son of man and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. The distinction suggests that "while an attack on Jesus' own person, as son of Man and therefore 'hidden', is pardonable, any speaking against the power by which he works (i.e. the divine endowment for his messianic ministry) will not be pardoned" (D. Hill, The Gospel of Matthew, New Century Bible, 1972, 318). For such an action would be deliberately to attribute to Satan the action of God himself. (NIDNTT, v. 3, pp. 343-344)

What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? Though many suggestions have been offered, I think the answer lies in the context here (Luke 12:7-12) and in the context of redemptive history. Remember that the Holy Spirit had not yet been poured out, and it is the Spirit who causes men to recognize who Jesus is. Hebrews 6 and 10 contain discussions of unforgivable sins, but the distinction between blasphemy against Christ and the Spirit has disappeared. Jesus seemed to be saying this: Because the Holy spirit has not yet been poured out in fullness, the Jews will be forgiven for blaspheming the Son of Man. They will be given a second chance to repent, as we see in the book of Acts. If, however, they continue to blaspheme after the Spirit has come, they will not be forgiven. But what is the sin, specifically? Since it is blasphemy, we must see it essentially as a verbal sin. In context it is the sin of saying that Jesus Christ is of the devil. Jesus was willing to excuse this blasphemy before Pentecost; but, in the new covenant era it is not longer excusable. If a person curses Jesus, but does not really know who Jesus is, that sin is forgivable. But if the Holy Spirit has borne witness to a person that Jesus is indeed the Son of God, and that person curses Him, it cannot be forgiven.

35. I Am the True Vine - Sermon Starter

Illustration

Brett Blair

It is fascinating to me that in our Protestant religious culture, such a strong emphases is placed upon literal interpretation. Interestingly, Jesus so often did not speak literally, but figuratively. He spoke in allegories and images. He painted word pictures. Instead of literally coming out and saying what he meant, he so often would tell a story and let people draw their own conclusion. Indeed, these hidden messages of Jesus frequently frustrated his disciples. They wished that he would speak literally and not be quite so subtle.

This morning we take a look at one of the "I Am" sayings of Jesus. Jesus said: I am the true vine. Now, even the most ardent fundamentalist has to agree that when Jesus spoke these words he was not speaking literally. Obviously, if we are to understand what Jesus was getting at here, we must look beyond the surface and do some exploring. We have to go beyond the actual words and discover Jesus' meaning.

When Jesus spoke about vineyards, the people of Judea knew what he was talking about. It was an industry that had been carefully cultivated throughout the country for centuries. It was crucial because it was a cash crop as opposed to grain, which was raised purely for consumption. In early America the essential crop was corn, but the cash crop was tobacco. It was, therefore, vital to the economy of the land.

Quite frankly I must admit that I know very little about the particulars of the wine industry. In preparation for this sermon I did some reading in this area and it was really quite fascinating. The vines are a very rugged crop in a way and in another sense it is a very delicate fruit and requires being treated with kid gloves. A young vine is not permitted to bear fruit for the first three years. It is therefore drastically pruned in December and January to preserve its energy. The particular branches that do not bear fruit are cut out to further conserve the energy of the plant. If this constant cutting back was not done, the result would be a crop that was not up to its full potential.

So when Jesus spoke about vineyards certainly the people could identify with that metaphor, even as a person in Iowa would know about corn, or in Mississippi about cotton. It didn't make any difference whether or not you were in that business. You had grown up around it enough that you would still be familiar with it.

But there is something else that these listeners would most certainly know. A vineyard was the symbol of the nation. In America we might think of amber waves of grain, but in Judea they thought of their nation as a vineyard. It was a kind of national identity. Over and over again in the Old Testament, Israel is pictured as the vine or the vineyard of God.

Isaiah the prophet pictured Israel as the vineyard of God. He said: The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. In Jeremiah, we read God referring to his chosen people in this way: I planted you as a choice vine. Hosea spoke a word of judgment when he said: Israel has become an empty vine. In the Psalms we read that God compares Israel to a vine that came out of Egypt. Josephus, the Roman historian, informs us that over the Temple in Jerusalem was carved an exquisite, gold leaf grapevine. It stood as a symbol of national unity. Israel itself was, in the eyes of its people, the true vine, whose roots ran all the way back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

In Jesus analogy, he likened himself to a vine, while the fruit bearing branches here are the disciples. God the farmer is depicted as the one who cultivates the vineyard. He waters and tends the soil, so that the vine is properly nourished. He takes pride in his crop. But this means that he also prunes the vines and removes the dead wood. The grapes hang on to the branches. What Jesus is saying is clear. The disciples should receive their strength from Jesus. He is the true vine. If they break away from him, they will be like unproductive branches and die and bear no fruit. They then will have to be pruned out.

What can we make of this analogy in terms of our daily life? What does it mean to be God's vineyard?

First, it means we must bear fruit for the Kingdom of God.
Secondly, it means there is such a thing as an unproductive life.
Third, it means we must cultivate a relationship with Jesus Christ.

36. God Is Good, Life Isn’t Fair

Illustration

Johnny Dean

I seriously doubt that the story of the early and late workers in the vineyard would make very many folks' Top Ten Parables list. It's the parable most everyone loves to hate. And for good reason! The parable runs against the grain of one of our most deeply cherished values, the value of hard work and just reward: The more you work and the more productive you are, the more you ought to get paid. Let's face it: this parable is just not fair! But, then again, as someone once said, "God is good, but life isn't fair!"

I remember well the first sermon I preached on this passage from Matthew's Gospel. An elder of the church I was serving at that time came up to me after the service and said, "Preacher, of all the texts you had to pick from, you had to choose my least favorite parable in all of the New Testament! Jesus should have known better than to tell something as unfair as this! The next time you decide to preach about that one, please let me know in advance so I can get an early tee time that Sunday!"

37. The Order of the Mustard Seed

Illustration

Staff

The Order of the Mustard Seed founded by Count Zinzendorf had three guiding principles, namely: 1. Be kind to all people. 2. Seek their welfare. 3. Win them to Christ.

38. Commentary

Illustration

Archibald M. Hunter

The Parable of the Talents makes no attempt to examine the causes of the slave's laziness, but one factor is evident from the dialogue: the slave has no love for his master. He is really interested only in himself, and consequently security, not service, is his goal. There is not the slightest trace of gratitude that his master trusted him with so great a sum. Respect for his master is limited to a grudging acknowledgement of power.

If we are correct in taking the phrase "to each according to his ability" as indicating that for Matthew the parable challenges Christians to make full use of the gifts that God has entrusted to them, the portrayal of the third servant reminds us that love for our master must be demonstrated in faithful and untiring service to other people.

It is routine for Christians to excuse themselves by protesting that their gifts are too modest to be significant. This parable insists that the gifts are precious and are to be exploited to the full.

39. Faith Needs Daily Exercise

Illustration

Charles Kirkpatrick

One day my wife brought a jar and asked me to open it for her. I tried and tried to open that jar, but my hands just weren't strong enough to hold the jar tightly and turn the lid. It is a little embarrassing to a man when a woman asks him to open a jar and he can't do it, so I decided that I needed to increase the strength in my hands. I got a hand exerciser to help me. You have probably seen one of these. You just squeeze the two sides together, like this. If you don't have one of these, you can do the same type of exercise by squeezing a rubber ball. By exercising my hands every day, I know, they will get stronger and stronger. Then maybe I won't be embarrassed the next time my wife asks me to open a jar for her.

Faith is like a muscle. You have to exercise it every day to make it strong. Sometimes we say that we have faith in God. We say that we believe that He can do anything, but then we act as if everything depends on us. That isn't a very strong faith, is it?

Jesus told his disciples that if they had as much faith as a tiny mustard seed, they could tell a tree to move from one place to another, and the tree would obey them. Now, that is a strong faith, isn't it? I wish I had as much faith as a mustard seed. Maybe I will if I keep exercising it. I can exercise my faith by trusting in God each and every day. How strong is your faith? Does it need a little daily exercise?

40. What Is a Parable?

Illustration

Philip W. McLarty

I had the privilege of studying the parables in seminary with Dr. William Farmer, who, at the time, was one of the foremost New Testament scholars in the world, and I'll never forget the first lesson Dr. Farmer taught us. He said, "A parable is a simple story, using concrete imagery, to make a single point."

Simple as that: "A parable is a simple story, using concrete imagery, to make a single point." Parables are not intended to be allegories (where one thing represents another). They're not to be interpreted metaphorically. They're not similes, or analogies, or paradigms, or riddles. A parable is a simple story, using concrete imagery, to make a single point - and, in the case of Jesus' parables, a single point about the nature of the Kingdom of God.

41. Fairness

Illustration

George E. Thompson

We are shocked by the message of the parable of the workers in the vineyard, for it goes against the grain of our natural expectation. It mocks our logical sense of justice. Perhaps we are more drawn to the message of the Norwegian writer Jens Peter Jacobsen in his novel Niels Lyhne, which tell about a man who rejected God. As he grew older, he secretly desired the peace of faith, but he refused to come to God weak-kneed toward life's ending. Fate had been harsh to him, with death visiting those whom he loved most. Tenaciously, he held on to disbelief and a philosophy of nihilism even though he wanted the peace of God. In the last hour of his life, he refused to see the pastor, though secretly he wanted absolution and faith's consolation. His physician, who loved him, was moved by his valor and whispered, "If I were God, I would far sooner save the man who does not repent at the last minute."

Deep inside, our sense of even-scaled justice admires the hardened skeptic. But Jesus' parable communicates the opposite message. It shatters all our preconceived assumptions about the justice of God. Here is a story with a coded message that brings us to the core of what Jesus of Nazareth is all about! The key to interpreting the parable is in remembering that the vineyard is always the symbol of God's kingdom, his new community, his new reality. In point of fact, the vineyard is the Church. Moreover, God owns the vineyard lock, stock, and barrel. We are privileged to labor in his vineyard (his Church) and receive the security that there will be adequate compensation for all. But the real pay is not the wage offered at the end of the day. The work itself is our gift, our immeasurable privilege! It carries its own reward. For the work in God's vineyard brings us near to our fatherly Lord and his care for us.

42. Who Would Have Guessed?

Illustration

Mark Braun

If you had ventured a guess about the future of Jesus' kingdom two thirds of the way through his ministry, how optimistic would you have been?

He grew up in a despised province of the Roman Empire. He was born before his mother's marriage had become official. He did not appear publicly until he was thirty years old, and then he spent most of his ministry time in the commercialized and more heathen northern Israel, away from the religious power center in Jerusalem. After two years he'd gathered a dozen unimpressive disciples and gained a few converts, mostly among the poor and the unlearned. During the last year of his public life he generated such passionate opposition from both the moneyed aristocracy and from religious fundamentalists that they joined forces-an unlikely alliance!-to have him painfully, shamefully executed.

Who would ever predict that from such bleak beginnings a great kingdom would grow? Jesus did. "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches."

43. Imperceptible Things Have Real Influence

Illustration

Brett Blair

The Kingdom of God, said Jesus, is like a mustard seed that is planted in a field, but when it is grown it becomes a tree so large that birds nest in it.

We live in a society that is enamored with bigness. We have gone beyond big churches to mega-churches. We are over whelmed with and bedazzled by huge social problems such as world hunger and children in crises. As a result, we sometimes overlook the tiny seed problems that are at the root of so many of these difficult situations.

In 1989 there was a routine United Airlines flight to Chicago that turned out to be anything but routine. In flight the planes middle engine fell apart. Pieces of blade and shrapnel flew through the air cutting through the planes hydraulic lines. They had to make an emergency landing in Sioux City Iowa. Most of us probably remember those dramatic films of the plane somersaulting down the runway in a ball of fire, killing half of those who were aboard.

The cause of that crash is now known. It was revealed that when the titanium fan hub was being manufactured an air bubble "the size of a mustard seed" was made in the metal. This bubble went unnoticed for 20 years and six inspections. The imperceptible bubble lead to a crack and the crack lead to a fracture and the fracture brought the entire plane down.

How can it be, we wonder with amazement, that so tiny a bubble could have such an enormous impact on something so large and powerful. We should not underestimate the impact of little events.

Sometimes it takes just a little bit of love to redeem a situation. Sometimes it takes just a little bit of grace to bring about healing. Sometimes it takes just a little bit of patience to work with people.

44. William Barclay on the Rich Fool

Illustration

William Barclay

The problem with the Rich Fool is he never saw beyond himself. There is no parable like this one which is so full of the words, I, me, my and mine. From verse 16 to 19, four verses, so much is revealed in the frequency of the personal pronouns. Listen to how many times they are used: I, I, my, I, I, I, my, my, I, my. A schoolboy was once asked what parts of speech my and mine are. He answered, "Aggressive pronouns." The rich fool was aggressively self-centered. It was said of a self-centered young lady, "Edith lived in a little world, bounded on the north, south, east and west by Edith." The famous criticism was made of a self-centered person, "There is too much ego in his cosmos." When this man had a superfluity of goods the one thing that never entered his head was to give any away. His whole attitude was the very reverse of Christianity. Instead of denying himself he aggressively affirmed himself: instead of finding his happiness in giving he tried to conserve it by keeping.

John Wesley's rule of life was to save all he could and give all he could. When he was at Oxford he had an income of 30 pounds a year. He lived on 28 pounds and gave 2 pounds away. When his income increased to 60 pounds, 90 pounds, 120 pounds a year, he still lived on 28 pounds and gave the balance away. The Accountant-General for Household Plate demanded a return from him. His reply was, "I have two silver tea spoons at London and two at Bristol. This is all the plate which I have at present; and I shall not buy any more, while so many around me want bread."

The Romans had a proverb which said that money was like sea-water; the more a man drank the thirstier he became. And so long as a man's attitude is that of the rich fool his desire will always be to get more-and that is the reverse of the Christian way.

Note: It would be effective to read the parable once and then re-read it again punctuating the personal pronouns. Don't tell your congregation directly what you are doing, just tell them you want to re-read the parable with a little different twist. Ask them, "Can you hear what's going on now?"

45. EUNUCH

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

Esther 1:12 - "But Queen Vashti refused to come to the king’s command conveyed by the eunuchs. At this the king was enraged, and his anger burned within him."

Isaiah 39:7 - "And some of your own sons, who are born to you, shall be taken away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."

Daniel 1:9 - "And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs."

In earliest times, eunuchs were castrated males who watched over the king’s harem. From the employment of such men, the term came to designate an officer, whether physically a eunuch or not. This word also sometimes translated as officer or as chamberlain.

For a time, eunuchs were found in the states neighboring Israel, but not in Israel itself. This was because the Mosaic law forbade those blemished by castration to enter the congregation, but Isaiah prophesied of a day when this disability would be removed and their loss compensated (Isaiah 56:3-5). There is some question as to whether Daniel was made a eunuch; it is a possibility, since this was generally the customary way to treat captives.

The court of David first introduced eunuchs into Israel, here perhaps we can use the word in the sense of officer. The courts of the kings of both Judah and Israel contained them from that time on, and we have lists which give their names. As time went on, this position changed from one of shame to a position of high honor in the court. Josephus tells us that Herod the Great had one eunuch as royal cupbearer, another to bring supper, and a third to put him to bed as well as to manage his affairs. So, then obviously, these men were highly trusted to be given duties which so closely involved the king’s welfare.

In the New Testament, Jesus used the term and its cognate verb four times in Matthew 19:12; here it is used again in the physical sense. He speaks of the born eunuchs and those who have been made eunuchs by men, and so are physically incapable of begetting children; those who have "made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake" are the ones who are continent and chaste so that they may concentrate their lives on promoting the kingdom of heaven. He, himself, was the prime example.

Comparable occupations today might well include the valet or the butler, both of whom are responsible for the care and well being of their employers. And this was, essentially, the duty of the eunuch.

46. Worth a Thousand Points

Illustration

John P. Jewell

Perhaps you have heard the story of the man who came to the gates of heaven to be greeted by St. Peter. Peter asks the man if he can give a brief history of his life with an emphasis on the good deeds he had done in order to gain entrance into the kingdom of heaven. "You will need 1000 points to be admitted," Peter tells the man.

"This will be a cinch," the man thinks to himself, "I've been involved in church from the days of my youth." Then he begins to list his activities for Peter. He was an officer in his youth group, served in every possible position he could as a youngster. Was on the Church Council and every committee the church had to offer. His list was extensive.

"Very impressive," Peter smiles at the man. An angel standing with them also smiled and nodded as he tallied the points and then whispered in Peter's ear. Peter tells the man,

"This is quite striking we seldom see men of your very good works. You will be pleased to know that you have 327 points! Is there anything else you can think of?"

The poor soul breaks into a cold sweat and begins to reach deep for every single act of kindness he could think of. He listed them as the angel scratched furiously on his angelic clip board and nodded his head in admiration. Peter looks at the clip board and says, "This is quite exceptional! You now have a total of 402 points. Can you think of anything else?"

The distressed guy strives to recall good deeds like the time he helped a little old lady across the street. He finally arrives at a grand total of 431 points and cries out... "I am sunk! There is no hope for me! What more could I have done? O Lord, all I can do is beg for your mercy!"

"THAT," exclaims Peter, "Is a thousand points!"

So also, the tax collector in Jesus' parable finds his hope in the grace and mercy of God.

47. Three Measures of Flour

Illustration

Charles Hoffacker

"The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened."

Three measures of flour! Do you know how much that is? It's between forty and sixty pounds! This woman is not Martha Stewart whipping up a couple delicate exquisite little biscuits that together weigh less than a canary. No, no. This woman is a baker!

She's emptying sixteen five-pound bags of flour into the biggest mixing bowl you've ever seen. She's pouring in forty-two cups of water! She's got a mass of dough on her hands that weighs over a hundred pounds! Kneading this lump of dough, shaping it, pounding it. It looks like some scene at the end of a professional wrestling match. Here we have a no-nonsense operation. Sports fans, this is baking at its best. A woman, with her apron dusted with flour, her ten fingers deep into the dough she's a combination of Julia Child and Hulk Hogan.

48. THE DAY LABORER

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

Deuteronomy 24:15 - "you shall give him his hire on the day he earns it, before the sun goes down (for he is poor, and sets his heart upon it); lest he cry against you to the Lord and it be sin in you."

Matthew 20:1 - "For the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard."

In every city there were many people who worked by the day. If we read the entire parable of the householder, from which our text is taken (Matthew 20:1-16), we will find mention of this common sight. These people gathered in the public market places to seek employment; some were porters, who carried heavy loads from place to place; some were mason’s assistants, who carried the stones from the quarry to the wall; a few carried their pickaxe and hoe with them, to be ready if anyone should wish to hire them to assist in the fields; many were willing to cut wood for the ovens.

These day laborers stood in groups waiting to be hired for the day; if there was no job available, they and their families went hungry. It is a little considered fact, but we can say that our text from Deuteronomy was possibly the first social legislation in all human history; and it established the principle of man’s necessity to care for his less fortunate brother. Of course, as with all noble considerations and lofty ideals, the Hebrews often fell short of this principle, but, nevertheless, it was a statute of which they might be justly proud.

By the time of Christ, the rabbis had given a great deal of consideration to the working man and they had scrupulously laid down the conditions under which the workers were to be fed, housed and clothed; they had set the hours of work and the forms of payment for those who were hired by the hour or the half-day, and they had always stressed the fact that any man who injured a wage-earner transgressed "five commandments of the Torah."

The workers did not only have rights; religious doctrine imposed duties upon them too. The Bible required, as St. Paul reminded them, that they should respect their masters, obey them and serve them faithfully. The rabbis had some excellent moral tales in which exemplary workmen were held up to be admired.

For example, one day the rabbi Joseph, who was a mason, was on his scaffolding when a man below him called up, asking for advice on a religious question. "Wait until this evening," replied Joseph. "I cannot come down: I am paid by the day and I may not give a minute that belongs to my master away." And the rabbi Hilkia, who was a surveyer, gave the same answer to some people who came and begged him to teach them a prayer that would make the rain fall.

Today we have the many employment agencies who handle temporary workers; these people are on virtual call for fill-in work in a given situation. They too are paid by the day or the hour, and have certain legal rights. Or, we might also include the permanent workers in many situations who are paid by the hour, rather than on a set wage. They too have rights which employers sometimes neglect, but they have also the obligation to serve to the best of their abilities, and this is an obligation that they sometimes neglect. There are rights and obligations on both sides!

49. Preparing for the Wrong Thing

Illustration

Larry Powell

According to Jewish religious laws the eldest son of a family was entitled to inherit twice the share as the younger brother (Deuteronomy 21:15-17). In all probability the person who approached Jesus in our text was a younger brother who wanted more than his legal share of an inheritance. Jesus replied to the subject at hand by citing the parable of the "Rich Young Fool." The bottom line of the parable is that the rich fool had prepared for the wrong thing. He had taken his goods into account, but had made up no provision for his own soul.

A dear couple in another city, exceptionally active in the church I was serving at the time, constructed a storm cellar in their backyard. Over a period of several months both of them had shoveled dirt, poured concrete, laid blocks, and literally built the cellar themselves. Soon after it was completed, they invited me out to see what they had accomplished. Understandably proud, they pointed out the neat, solid blockwork of the exterior and called attention to the more than adequate drain-offs. Inside, every provision was made in the event of an extended stay. It was an exceptional storm cellar in all respects, and in every sense of the word, they were more than prepared for a storm. However, in a few short weeks, both of them were killed by a speeding motorist as they attempted to turn from the highway into their driveway. Despite meticulous preparations, the fact remains that they had prepared for the wrong thing. But you say, "It is impossible to prepare for the unexpected!" Yes, that is precisely one of the points Jesus was attempting to underscore in our scriptures.

A young businessman, workaholic, full of hustle and drive, spends twelve hours each day at the office. His wife asks him to come home early to eat the evening meal with the family, but no, he must chase the distant horizon. While other children’s fathers take them to the park, his children find solace in video games. When the wife says he ought to spend more time with the children, he replies that he has given them everything they will ever need. When she complains about his hours, he reminds her of the diamonds she has on her fingers. He had prepared for their every need, right down to the insurance. One day he is summoned to the hospital to be by the bedside of his oldest daughter who has overdosed on drugs. Two days later, he has a heart attack and is told by the doctor that he must change his lifestyle drastically. He has not prepared for any of that.

Jesus asked the rich fool, "And the things you have prepared for, whose will they be?" Are we prepared to deal with that question?

50. A Teddy Bear and Christmas

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

Jesus often taught by telling parables. These were simple, down-to-earth stories which expressed spiritual truth. Today, on this third weekend of Advent, I want to use a favorite Christmas story as a modern parable. This is a true story, told to me some ten years ago by Dr. Edward Bauman of Washington, D.C.

About 30 years ago a boy named Tony was born into a family in a Midwestern state. He was blind at birth. He suffered from an extremely rare eye problem for which there was no known cure. When the little fellow was about seven years old, his doctor read in the New England Journal of Medicine of a new surgical procedure that showed some promise for correcting this particular problem. A young surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston had developed it. The local doctor and the surgeon began communicating. The boy's full medical record was sent. A decision was made to try surgery. Since Tony's family could not afford the expenses involved, local churches and civic clubs helped out.

Tony had a favorite teddy bear which he kept with him almost all the time. This teddy bear had begun to show signs of wear. One eye was missing; one ear was chewed off; and through several holes the stuffing was oozing out. Tony's mother told him that she was going to buy him a new teddy bear to take to Boston. Tony rejected that offer in no uncertain terms. What good is a new teddy bear when you have an old, familiar, friendly one already broken in? So, the old teddy bear went to Boston and remained close to Tony through all the medical procedures leading up to surgery: the x-rays, tests, and consultations. In fact, the boy and his teddy bear were not separated until the anesthesia was applied.

Throughout this whole period the boy and the young surgeon were becoming great friends. In fact, the surgeon was almost as excited as the family about the possibilities of this surgery. Somehow there was a good chemistry of friendship and trust between physician and Tony. When the surgery was completed, Tony was heavily bandaged and had to remain quite still for a number of days. That is very hard for a 7 year old. But each day the surgeon was in an out of the room encouraging him.

Finally came the day for removing the bandages. For the first time in seven years of life, a little boy could see. Though the vision was blurred at first, it gradually clarified. For the first time Tony looked into the faces of his parents, saw a tree, and a sunset. The young surgeon was almost literally jumping up and down for joy.

Before long it was time for Tony to be discharged and to go home. The surgeon had been dreading this day because the two of them had become such good friends. On that final morning, the surgeon signed the necessary discharge papers. He gave Tony a big hug and said, "'Listen, I own stock in you. I expect to get letters from you regularly. Do you understand?"

Then Tony did something totally unexpected. He said to his surgeon friend, "I want you to have this," and handed him his teddy bear. The surgeon’s first impulse was to say, "Oh no, I can’t separate you two good friends." But something stopped him. With a flash of sensitive genius, the surgeon understood what Tony was trying to do. He wanted to give his dear surgeon-friend the most precious gift at his disposal, so full was his heart with love. The wise surgeon accepted the teddy bear with a hug and a thank-you, assuring Tony that he would take mighty good care of his friend.

For over ten years that teddy bear sat in a glass case on the tenth floor of Massachusetts General Hospital---one eye missing, one ear chewed half off, and stuffing oozing out of holes. In front of the teddy bear was the surgeon's professional name card. Just beneath his name he had written this caption: "This is the highest fee I have ever received for professional services rendered." A little boy had given the most precious item he had, out of a love-filled heart.

This is a parable of Christmas. 2000 years ago our gracious God, with a heart filled with love, looked out upon a sin-marred, tear-stained world. Had you and I been in charge we might have destroyed the whole mess and started over. But God's great heart was too full of love to allow that. So he gave us the most precious gift at his disposal; he gave himself. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life."

Confronted by such an awesome gift, our only fitting response is to fall on our knees and to enthrone the living Christ as our personal King of kings and Lord of lords.

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