Saturday, July 26, 2008

He Spoke in Parables

This book by Gordon Keddie is a very helpful book in preparing Sunday School lessons. After explaining the purpose of parables, Keddie explains and applies twenty-six parables. They are very powerful ways of teaching profound truths, and Jesus was the Master. They talk about things common to most cultures, like farming, or weddings. They are earthly stories with a heavenly message. He also warns against looking for more in them than there is. Unless it says specifically that this=that, it's best to be watching for just one main lesson. Some parables use contrast to teach, i.e. the Unjust Judge, while others use comparable ideas, like the prodigal son.
Our problem is rarely that we don't understand parables. Our problem is accepting what is being taught. For example, in the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, Jesus is teaching that as the owner of the Vineyard, He can pay the workers whatever He likes, because it's His to give. The implication is that even if a person is saved right before they die, like the thief on the cross next to Jesus, they are promised Heaven, just like the people who have served God their whole lives. We rebel against it only because we forget that we don't work for our salvation; it is all of grace.

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