Devotion - Wednesday, November 6

In Matthew 13 the disciples ask the question that we continue to ask, "Why do you speak to us in parables?"  In another account, they add, "Why don't you speak to us plainly?" Jesus' reply suggests that there is no way to speak other than in parables.  Clear, precise pieces of information are seldom received as such.  Statements of truth are often refuted or at least debated.  

Parables set forth an image or a vision.  Parables leave open the application to my own life.  I can hear a parable and think, "That is a nice story," and never be offended.  We can discuss the meaning of the parable, but it is a difficult thing to challenge.  The most critical statement would be "That story has no connection to reality!"  (Maybe not to the reality of the one who speaks in opposition.)

Perhaps this is part of the difficulty contemporary evangelists encounter.  Do we speak too often in doctrine rather than in parables?  Are we quick to state what we have come to accept as universal truths, rather than lifting up an image of how God might be speaking in the lives of the one whom we are currently encountering?

The parables of Jesus invite persons to see themselves in the story.  It leaves open the option of walking away and not becoming entangled - should the person so choose.  Those who desire to understand will come to see how the parable is lived out in their lives; those who had rather not do so are given little reason to be offended.