What do you make of this? Matthew 13:3 (MSG)
Expansive Narrative – Truth and Seeds Series – Part 1
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6
Amongst the many things that the scriptures are, it’s rich with story. It tells thousands of tiny ones, which when strung together tell a much larger, expansive narrative. One that I believe is ongoing, through us. All of us, in one way or another.
We often refer to the Biblical text as “The word of God” or the “Truth.” Which it is, but maybe not in the way we think.
We find in the scriptures that Jesus (and other writers) hardly ever gave truth in dot point form. Of course, there are a few instances, yes. But even those need to be dug into, through and around.
We mostly discover “truth” through stories and parables, pictures and poetry, biographies and examples. The interpretations of which are vibrant and expansive.
Jesus said,
“I am the way, the truth, and the life…”
He didn’t say:
“Hey, here’s the truth in ten easy to follow points.”
He is truth: his personhood and divinity, his life and example, his ways and his walk. His incarnation and cosmic habitation. It’s not black and white, color by number, easy to follow.
Frederick Buechner said:
“Faith is better understood as a verb than as a noun, as a process than as a possession. It is on-again-off-again rather than once-and-for-all. Faith is not being sure where you’re going, but going anyway. A journey without maps.” (from his book, Wishful Thinking.)
Truth is found by faith and trust. It’s a WAY and a LIFE, not a list or a club. It’s lived into and discovered day-by-day by those who are willing to find it.
In Matthew 13:1 (MSG):
“At about that same time Jesus left the house and sat on the beach. In no time at all a crowd gathered along the shoreline, forcing him to get into a boat. Using the boat as a pulpit, he addressed his congregation, telling stories. “What do you make of this?” He said.”
He addressed those gathered around him by telling stories. Not dot points of “truth.” He was about to tell them a parable.
In “Short Stories by Jesus” Amy-Jill Levine said: “Jesus told parables because they serve, as Song of Songs Rabbah notes, as keys that can unlock the mysteries we face by helping us ask the right questions: how to live in community; how to determine what ultimately matters; how to live the life that God wants us to live. They are Jesus’s way of teaching, and they are remembered to this day not simply because they are in the Christian canon, but because they continue to provoke, challenge, and inspire.”
Parables are NOT illustrations or fables meant to reveal a certain point, uncover a static and motionless truth. They are provocative stories designed to make us think. They are disruptive, at times oddly encouraging, and leave you with questions, problems and hope alike.
Jesus rarely interpreted his parables, and this in itself, reveals how they work. The meaning bends and morphs over time, through situations and depending on where you’re at when you hear it, making them timeless and transcendent. Jesus asked his audience,
“What do you make of this?” He’s asking US to think, to get down and dirty with the story, and let it expand, rise and fall where it will in our lives and situations… That is what “living words” look like.
Do you view scripture as stayed and static or alive and transcendent? Leave us your comments below
Go to Part 2 – A Secret »
PLEASE NOTE: As always, please email your thoughts, suggestions, and questions to talktous@pktfuel.com. And remember: although we aren’t pastors, theologians or counsellors, these daily blogs are our way of sharing our thoughts, prayers, and inspirations about God, faith, and life. We’re exploring and reading, engaging in community and listening to stories. We do not want you to take what we write verbatim. RATHER, we hope you engage in the conversation (whether with us or your own community) and are encouraged to seek out God in your life and the world around you. Awake, aware, alive. Lizzy (and Jesse)
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