RMC’s Susan Scott preached this week on what Jesus was trying to do when he spoke in parables. The parables Jesus spoke in are often confusing, indirect, and seldom leave the listener with clear answers to their questions. Why won’t Jesus get to the point? However, this storytelling tactic forces the listener to actually listen, ponder, and wrestle in their minds with content of the story. The settings and people in the stories have familiar jobs and roles in Jewish society to draw in the listener, but their unexpected actions require a level of engagement for the listener that precludes the audience from “zoning out”. Jesus primarily used two types of parable. One to undercut and derail the accusations of his detractors, and the other to prepare his followers for the radically new kind of kingdom Jesus was ushering in that had nothing to do with their current political subjugation. Furthermore, the parables of Jesus, regardless of the audience, at the end had a punchline that subverted expectations and taught valuable lessons to those with ears to hear. In parables, Jesus told the religious leaders that their obsession with following the law was all a hollow show without any sincere connection to God’s will for people to live. Christ’s followers in turn were called to live a life of soft hearts and hard feet. A life full of sacrifice, suffering, and radical gift giving that will not make sense to the world, but shows God’s love in its fullness . We too must emulate our spiritual forebears and wrestle with these parables so that we may learn to also live with soft hearts and hard feet.
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