The Walking Parable

“All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable.”   Mt. 13:34

Why did Jesus use parables?  

They were pictures, little snippets of reality.

A number of years ago, a man by the name of Stephen Crites wrote an article entitled, “The Narrative Quality of Experience.” In it he argued that being human requires we live out life and create a narrative.

It is no wonder Jesus told parables. As creator, He was just reflecting the way he set up the universe.

Life is parabolic, so to speak. Parables create an undeniable messaging. However, the message is not entertainment. That messaging is perpetually and primarily a God-message.

God is speaking, as Muggeridge asked: Are we listening?

The innate quality of the world is unrolling fundamental qualities of Jesus, of divine law, of the superintendency of a loving God.

 I know. Some people do not believe this.

They ask, “Why is there evil in the world? If God is omnipotent, why doesn’t He stop pain and hardship? Is He a divine sadist?” Such are real questions, and there are a thousand other legitimate impossible wonderments beyond this too.

However, are the real questions about injustice and pain? Or is should the focus of the universe be the glory of God and listening to His Presence, His Holy Spirit?  Might God’s orchestration or permission for pain and evil serve to point us to God and His solutions to global evils?

We can curse the darkness, or we can see that God has already lit a candle?

I am sorry. I cannot light a candle. I only live the Light I have been given.  Jesus is the Light that lights every man that comes into the world (John 1:9).

I am sure that some that read this will be dismissive, as if the complexities of evil don’t answer primordial questions. However, give me a better answer.

Are we just a spec on a blue ball in a billion-star galaxy among billions of universes without a cause?  Everything that moves has a mover. That is the law of causality. We live it every day.  Why be dismissive of the pretty simple explanation that the universe has a ‘Causer’?

Once we see design, the Designer with His cosmic narrative filled with parables are visible everywhere.  His love is just around the corner.

This walking Word spoke in parables. He both lived a parable and spoke them. Subtle, simple, loving, precise, and deliberate.

Models have meaning. Parables walk their export. They project their lessons.