Tag Archives: parables

He Spoke in Parables

Download this Podcast

Mark 3:23-27—So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan?  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house.”

I Will Open My Mouth in Parables

Download this Podcast

Matthew 13:34-35—Jesus spoke all of these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”

I Will Open My Mouth in Parables

Download this Podcast

Matthew 13:34-35—Jesus spoke all of these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”

He Spoke in Parables

Download this Podcast

Mark 3:23-27—So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan?  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house.”

An Encounter on Park Avenue

My routine for getting to work in the morning is predictable: I walk through Grand Central Station to 42nd Street and start down Park Avenue on foot, rain or shine, hot or cold. Before I began using my feet to get to my office building on West 20th Street, I would catch a subway. My initial reason for walking was health, but that wasn’t it exactly. The clustered morning crowds, pushing and shoving to get onto the departing train had finally lost its appeal. As I would battle for a place on the next southbound local, Ezra Pound’s short poem “In the Station of the Metro” would often echo in my mind:

In the Station of the Metro by Ezra Pound

In the Station of the Metro by Ezra Pound

My homebound journey was different. By the time the day was done so was I. My mind fixated on getting to my destination in the fastest, most convenient way possible. Often that meant catching the #6 subway at 23rd Street on Park Avenue.

One day not very long ago, I left the office in my usual haste and headed for the subway stop. I hit Park Avenue at 20th Street and turned north to get to the underground train that would quickly deliver me to Grand Central and the waiting trains heading out to the suburbs.

As I walked up Park Avenue, I noticed a man sitting on the steps of a church. I had noticed him before. He had an empty cup in his right hand and while he was dressed well enough, he clearly was looking for money. I passed him by, but then stopped short as I remembered I had some quarters and other coins in my pocket.  As I dug for money, I looked the gentleman in the eye and he unexpectedly uttered: “You are a good man.”

I suppose there was a time when I would have agreed with his words; after all, wasn’t I about to give this man some money from my own pocket?  I said nothing as I searched for the change. When I finally found the coins, I dropped them into his Styrofoam cup. Then he said it again: “You are a good man.”

An Encounter on Park Avenue

I could have said nothing at all, but I could not be silent. Instead, I spontaneously said, “No I’m not. I am no better than you.” He looked at me to see what I might have meant. I don’t know what he was thinking, but my remark got me thinking. At the core he and I were both beggars; it was just that his apparent condition was more extreme than mine, at least for the moment.

When I reflected on this encounter during the train ride home, I recalled two instances where Jesus taught on the issue of poverty through the eyes of God. The first story involved a rich, young ruler who wanted to know how he might earn “eternal life”. He addressed Jesus as “Good teacher” but Jesus replied by asking “Why do you call me good?” He then said, “No one is good but God.” (Mark 10:17-18)

The second instance is a parable Jesus told to “some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else”. Jesus contrasts the prayers of a religious leader with the prayer of a repentant tax collector. The leader prays, “God, thank you that I am not like other people-robbers, evildoers, adulterers-or even like this tax collector.” Meanwhile, the tax collector simply prays, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Jesus then says to those listening: “I tell you that this man (the tax collector), rather than the other went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14)

So what did I mean when I said, “I am no better than you”? While it is impossible for us to discern all the complex motives of our own hearts, I was definitely not being falsely humble. I really mean it. In the eyes of God this man and I stood before Him as equals, though in the eyes of the world, we did not. In the past I might have adopted the world’s view, which would have made me equal in self-righteousness to the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable, even though I had seemed to perform an act of generosity. I had clearly changed because I recognized in this encounter the need of two men for a savior, not just one.

When Being Good Isn’t Good Enough: Jesus and The Rich Young Man

A young, rich “ruler” approached Jesus and asked a difficult question: “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

As he often did, Jesus answered the young man with a question of his own: “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

This young man, who had it all, wanted even more but without sacrifice. He had wealth, position and youth. Here he asked to be rewarded with life eternal by doing a good thing, like being a good neighbor. Jesus reminded him of the commandments that relate to how people should treat one another; He does not mention the four commandments that refer to God. To the young man, being a good person simply meant good behavior.

richyoungrulerIf this sounds familiar, it is. Our contemporary culture has seemingly adopted the idea that being a “good guy” is enough. Behind this belief is the reality that wealth, health and position is the true god for our lives.

In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon tells us that God “has set eternity in the human heart.” The longing of the rich young ruler was for something beyond the temporal, but Jesus then challenged him: “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

The young man now had a dilemma. He had to choose between giving up all the good things he had for something better that he had not yet obtained. He may have been able to hide the pain in his afflicted heart, but unlike our contemporary soothsayers, Jesus does not let him (or us) off the hook.

Time and again, I have heard people ask, “but do I really have to give up everything I have in this life to follow Jesus?” Jesus did not force the young man to do anything. He merely said, if you want to have the promise of eternal life, if you prize God more than all the things you might have here and now, put everything aside and “Then come, follow me.”

Nobody would say such a choice is easy; it is not, particularly when our circumstances are filled with so many good things.

Jesus parable of the sower iconThis biblical account of the young man’s encounter with Jesus did not have the happy ending we might expect because the young man would not give up the things he had for the thing he longed for, and so “he went away sad.”  Jesus puts it this way in the Parable of the Sower: “Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word, but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.”

(The September 14 Getting to Know Jesus podcast is about the story of Jesus and The Rich Young Man.)