Session 3: Jesus Without Religion [Or Politics]

His Teaching: The Parables of Jesus

Subversive Radio Podcast

Why did Jesus primarily speak in Parables or stories? Why didn't he just speak plainly to everyone? What were these stories all about? Why did these stories resonate so powerfully with so many?

In this podcast we examine the Parables of Jesus.

Click the link to listen in!

THE NEW SAMARITANS

One thing I love about Jesus is that he always found a way to subvert and undermine everyone’s comfort zone.

The Good Samaritan is a great example of that. When Jesus makes the hero of the parable a Samaritan, he puts every Jewish listener on the defensive.

Not only didn’t Jews like Samaritans, they considered them heretics and socially unacceptable. No Jew in Jesus’ day would have ever invited a Samaritan over for dinner, or allowed them to enter the Temple, or spent any time praying for, or alongside, a Samaritan.

Yet in Jesus’ parable the Samaritan is the one who shows kindness and mercy and love to the Jewish man who is found beaten on the side of the road. Masterfully, Jesus urges everyone to “go and do likewise” which would mean acting like a Samaritan and identifying with them as other human beings who are worthy of love and compassion.

Keep in mind, when Jesus used Samaritans in his parable, he wasn't endorsing their religion or their lifestyle. Instead, he was hoping to upset the negative stereotypes surrounding them. He wanted to challenge the idea that their bad theology made it acceptable for the Jews to hate them and treat them as less than human.

I recently heard a real-life Samaritan story. It had the same effect on me as I’m sure Jesus’ parable had on his audience that day.

Are you ready to hear something that might pull you out of your comfort zone?

This is a true story.

Here we go:

One night two Christian women stepped into the swimming pool which was outside their motel room.

They met another woman at the pool. This woman had rejected God. She had a can of beer in her hand and she stood at the other end of the pool with her husband.

One of the two Christian women began to talk with this woman who was far from God. She asked the woman with the beer can a question: “Is it ok if my wife and I are close in the pool?”

The two Christian women were gay.

The woman with the beer, who was far from God, said, "Well, I don't have to ask anybody for permission to hold my husband's hand and here y'all have been together 16 years. I think it sucks that you have to ask anyone that".

The Christian woman explained that she just didn’t want to offend anyone. “We understand that people get offended by our love,” she said. “They think it's perversion, that we're demonized, in rebellion against God. Others are afraid that we will convert their children by infecting them somehow.”

The woman with the beer, who was far from God, began to weep for these two gay women. She began to share her story with them. She told them about how she had been raised Catholic but had fallen away from the Church. She called herself an agnostic.

“You have shown more grace and love for us than most Christians ever have,” said the Christian woman, who was gay.

Then the two Christian women began to talk to her about Jesus. They told her that Jesus wasn’t like those who had heaped shame upon them. They talked about how Jesus saw everyone as beautiful and dearly loved. They asked her if she wanted to know Jesus in a personal way.

The woman with the beer thought that she had to accept the God of those judgmental Christians or become agnostic. She never knew there was another way.

For the first time in her life, this woman received the news that there was a God who loved her; a God that had nothing to do with any religion.

There, in that motel swimming pool, these two Christian women found common ground with an agnostic woman who was far from God.

Strangely enough, what had united these women together was an awareness that those Christians who had been cruel to the two lesbians and the Christians who had misrepresented the love of God to the agnostic, weren’t really acting like Jesus at all.

Eventually, one of the two Christian women told the woman with the beer something profound. She said, "The God you wanted to believe in has been there all along."

"I have never thought of it that way", the woman with the beer said, and as they continued to talk the woman just kept on repeating it over and over again. "I have never thought of it that way."

Before they left, the two Christians were able to give her some resources and pray with her.

That night, in the swimming pool, these two Christian women had loved this woman, and her husband, back to life. 

Where other Christians, who were straight, had failed to show the love of Jesus to this agnostic woman, these two women had demonstrated the love of Jesus and pointed her towards the Kingdom of God.

Go now, therefore, and do likewise.

-kg


*Special thanks to my friend P.K. Langley for her permission to re-tell her story here.

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READ MORE?

*NOT A SIN?
*OUR MISSED OPPORTUNITY
*BLESSED ARE THE EUNUCHS
*A LOVE THAT'S BETTER THAN SEX

Remain In Me

Jesus uses a series of parables (starting in Matthew 24: 45 and running through the end of Matthew 25) to teach his disciples a very sobering lesson.

First, he moves from a discussion about the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD into a parable that is then repeated three more times to drive home the point.

Jesus uses the Parable of the Virgins to warn us to keep watch and always be prepared for the Lord’s return (Matt. 25:1-13). Next he uses the Parable of the Gold Talents to warn us to love God (the greatest commandment) and bear fruit (Matt. 25:14-30). Finally, he closes out the series of parables with the Sheep and the Goats illustration to warn us to love others (the second greatest commandment) as we love ourselves (Matt. 25:31-46).

All of these parables follow a basic pattern: The Master is away. He expects his servants to be waiting for him, and to bear fruit, and to obey His commands so that when He returns the faithful servants will be rewarded and the unfaithful servants will be “cast into outer darkness.”

The bottom line is that Jesus expects his disciples to obey him. Over and over again he said that those who love him will obey him and that those who do not love him will not obey him, (John 14:15; 14:21-24; 15:10; 15:14).

Looking specifically at the Parable of the Gold Talents, we see that the emphasis is on bearing fruit. The three servants are each given a treasure of silver and are all expected to bring their master some return on his investment. It bears emphasis that this is not a parable about “talent” or skill and ability, but about being faithful to obey our Lord in all things. (The word "talent" is a measure of weight and currency, much like the English "pound"). If this parable were about our abilities and talents (i.e. - to play guitar or yodel or juggle Frisbees) it would make the end of the parable quite cruel for those who failed to use said talent for the Kingdom ( i.e. - being cast into outer darkness for not yodeling for Jesus).

The simple point is that we’ve all been given a treasure and God expects us to be good stewards of the treasure we’ve been entrusted with. More than about simply “winning souls”, (since not everyone has the gift of evangelism; see 1 Cor. 12:27-31), the parable instead urges us to bear fruit for the King. How do we do that? We remain in Christ:

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” – John 15:4

“The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.” – 1 John 3:24

Our emphasis then should be on remaining in Christ, not on “bearing fruit.” If we remain in Christ then we will bear fruit because He will make us into the kinds of people who naturally bear good fruit.

-kg

THE PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD

"Then He (Jesus) began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Now at harvest time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some.

Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But those vinedressers said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'

So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others.” – Mark 12:1-9

In the Gospel of Luke we have this added insight at the end of this parable:

“And the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people-for they knew He had spoken this parable against them.” – Luke 20:19

Unlike most of the parables of Jesus, this one is fairly straightforward. The house of Israel is the vineyard. How do we know this? Because of what we see in Isaiah:

"For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.” - Isaiah 5:7

The man in the parable who planted the vineyard is God, the Father. The servants and messengers of the owner of the vineyard are the prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Elijah, etc.). The son of the owner is Jesus, and the vinedressers are the priests and the scribes of the Jewish faith (as seen in Luke 20:19 above).

So, essentially, Jesus says that God planted the house of Israel as a beautiful vineyard. Those to whom He entrusted the vineyard (the House of Israel) were dishonest, selfish and disobedient to the Father. Many of the prophets that God sent to them (the Jews) were persecuted, rejected and put to death. As a last resort the Father sent His Son (Jesus) and these disobedient people killed him as well. What is the Father’s response to this? “He will give the vineyard (the house of Israel) to others.” (Mark 12:9)

So, if Jesus says that the Father took the "House of Israel" away from the Jews and gave it to others, who is He talking about? To whom did God give the House of Israel to? The Church.

As Paul affirms:

“This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.” - Romans 9:8

“For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter." - Romans 2:28-29

"Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring [seed]. It does not say, “And to offsprings [seeds],” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring [seed],” who is Christ." - Galatians 3:16

“And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” – Galatians 3:29

What does Jesus think about the claim of racial Jews to the title of “Israel” or the “Seed of Abraham”? In the eighth chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus discusses this very point with the Pharisees who claimed to be the offspring (or seed) of Abrahm. Here is what Jesus says in response to their claim:

"I know that you are offspring [seed] of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father."

They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children [seed], you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did." - John 8:37-40

As followers of Christ, we are now the true Israel of God. We have a new covenant with Him that He will be our God and we will be His people and He will write His laws upon our hearts. (See Hebrews 8) The old covenant is history. It has been fulfilled in Christ.

"But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises. For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another." – Hebrews 8:6-7

"By calling this covenant 'new,' he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear."- Hebrews 8:13

As Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." (Matthew 5:17)

So, did Jesus fulfill the Law? Yes, he most certainly did. He accomplished all that the Father sent Him to do. (see John 17:4 and 19:30) This is why the old covenant is over and done. "It is finished!" and now we have a new covenant, a better one:

"This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant." – Hebrews 7:22

The purpose of Jesus' parable of the vineyard is to teach that Israel is now taken away from racial Jews and is now given to anyone who receives the Son of God as Lord and Messiah.

Mediate on what it means to now be called the children of God, because that is what you are (see 1 John 3:1).

You and I are the new Temple, the Living Sacrifice, the Holy Priesthood and the Israel of God.

We who were once not a people are now the people of God (1 Peter 2:10). Glory to His Name!
-kg

A Biblical Perspective on the Bailout Plan

Found this today over at J.R. Miller's blog "More Than Cake" and it blessed me. Had to share it here with all of you too.

A Parable of the American Kingdom by J.R. Miller

Jesus, the undocumented worker, returned home to Mexico from living in America. His family said to him, "Jesus, why have you returned home from America?"

"It is difficult to understand" he said, "So let me tell you a story."

"The kingdom of America may be compared to a Government who wished to settle accounts with a Mortgage Lender.

When the Government had begun to settle accounts, one Mortgage Lender, which owed 700Billion dollars, was brought to account. But since the Mortgage Lender did not have the means to pay his bad debts, the Government simply printed up more money and gave it to the Mortgage Lender so he would not be ruined.

Later, that same Mortgage Lender, now bailed out from his 700 Billion in bad debts, went out and found a homeowner who owed hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Mortgage Lender seized the homeowner and began to choke him, saying, 'Pay back what you owe.' So the homeowner fell to the ground and began to plead with the Mortgage Lender, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you.' But the Mortgage Lender wanted his money and he took the homeowner's property and forced him into bankruptcy.

So when his fellow homeowners saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their Government all that had happened.

Then summoning the Mortgage Lender, the Government said to him, 'You wicked Mortgage Lender, I gave you 700 Billion to pay all your bad debt, should you not also have had mercy on the homeowners, in the same way that I had mercy on you?' And the Mortgage Lender contributed many thousands of dollars into the coffers of the Government and contributed to the campaign funds of the many politicians and the Government was happy.

The homeowners were grieved, but still they elected the same leaders again and again..."

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READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE AND VISIT JR'S BLOG
HERE