Freeway

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John 8:36 “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

Homeness. We all have memories tied to certain people, specific places, and special things that create the feeling of home to us. It’s history, tradition, favorite activities, holidays and home cooked recipes. It’s where we feel a sense of identity. Home is where we feel truly loved and truly known. We feel wholeness there.

Our journey through the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin now ends with the parable of the lost boy. Described in Luke fifteen is the home, including the boy’s brother and father. Because of the relationship the boy had with his father, his value transcended any wealth or circumstance. When the boy left home, the father spent much time watching and waiting for him to return. The boy was lost because he chose to leave home, break the ties, and cut himself off from those who knew and loved him. He chose adventure into the unknown and to leave the stability, security and safety of his boyhood home.

Homeness filled the lost boy’s mind, even after getting to a desired far away place. He couldn’t stop thinking of the treasures he left there. Remembering his gracious father, the good things, and wishing he could experience them again brought him to his senses. “I’m going back home,” he finally decided. The freedom he thought leaving home would bring him only brought hunger, pain, misery and brokenness. Turning around and coming home would bring healing to his broken mind, body, and spirit, as well as restoration to the relationship with his father. True freedom is only found in the Father’s redeeming love. Our Father God’s desire is to bring wholeness to all. Through faith, we have the opportunity to be in fellowship with him and live in his heavenly home forever. Homeness with the Father is wholeness. As you think about this powerful truth today, listen to this musical rendition of Psalm 23. [/vc_column_text][us_separator height=”25px” size=”custom”][vc_column_text]

By Donna Burns  

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John 8:21-32: ²¹ So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” ²² So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” ²³ He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. ²⁴ I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” ²⁵ So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. ²⁶ I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” ²⁷ They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. ²⁸ So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. ²⁹ And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” ³⁰ As he was saying these things, many believed in him. ³¹ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³² and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

If we’re really honest with ourselves, we’d remember our stories of squander. I’ve many of my own, but one in particular has had a life-long impact. It took place when I was about 13 years old, in Junior High School in Arlington, Texas. As with most boys my age in those days, I built plastic model airplanes and cars. I had been saving for some time for a particular model, and (to me) it was expensive at $5. One day, with my friends, I went to the Forum 303 Mall to play arcades. You might have already guessed it, but I squandered my whole savings in no more than 30 minutes. I was upset, but my dad reminded me it was all my choice, and I’d have to save longer for the model. Lesson learned.

Just like the examples we all could come up with, we’ve squandered something else of immense value. There’ve been times, I’m sure, where we’ve squandered the Truth we’ve been given by Christ. Jesus left all in Heaven, came to Earth, was ‘lifted up’, resurrected, and ascended, all for us. For you and me. In doing this, he defeated death for all of us for eternity. And yet, we’ve squandered this Truth of great value through things like our lack of trust in the Lord or lack of surrender. The big question I believe we need to answer is this: What are we going to do about it? Are we going to continue to squander the Truth we hold? Heaven forbid!

My personal lesson with squandering has kept me from all manner of gambling and playing video games. I just can’t enjoy these things because my lesson stares me in the face. I move along to something else more fruitful. Just as our life lessons regarding squandering taught us to avoid their repetition, we should learn from squandering the Truth we’ve been given. But, despite this and other shortcomings, God remains faithful to us and abundant in his giving of grace. As you recall and contemplate the times where you’ve squandered the Truth, asking the Lord to change you as my dad did, read through this Psalm and know more fully your God knows and loves you![/vc_column_text][us_separator height=”25px” size=”custom”][vc_column_text]

By Rich Obrecht  

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Psalm 139:7 “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?”

“Wanna Get Away?” You’ve all heard this advertising logo. It touches the nerve when we are at the end of our rope. It lures us to escape because vacations, tourism, and resort and leisure living are priorities in our culture. Who hasn’t said, “Let’s leave it all behind.” Traveling a physical distance away from responsibilities, relationships and rigorous schedules feels like freedom. It feels good to betray what is right and good and holy.

Whether it’s putting physical distance or figurative distance between ourselves and others, it seems to give us freedom. Freedom to be ourselves, freedom to ignore issues, people and places, freedom to ignore God. Distance provides anonymity, and anonymity seems to give us freedom to indulge and squander without guilt. Just like the prodigal son thought a faraway place would give him freedom to do what he wanted, when he wanted, and for as long as he wanted without interference from his father. The freedom was short lived, leaving him unsatisfied, unsettled, and for a Jewish boy feeding pigs, unholy. The freedom he thought he’d enjoy turned into helplessness, hopelessness, and humiliation.

Freedom is not found in escape. The prodigal son thought distance from his father would bring happiness, but it only showed him how important being in relationship to his father really was. The truth is, God gives us freedom to shape our lives around him. We are happiest when our life is full of freedom to love, serve, and worship God our maker. We want freedom to find ourselves by running away from God and others, but really it can only be found by running to him who created us. Confess what makes you distant from God, and your urge to run away from him instead of towards him, by writing a prayer today. [/vc_column_text][us_separator height=”25px” size=”custom”][vc_column_text]

By Donna Burns  

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Romans 1:18-32:

¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 

²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵ because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

²⁶ For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; ²⁷ and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

²⁸ And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. ²⁹ They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹ foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. ³² Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

“God gave them up.” Isn’t that interesting? Three times in this passage Paul describes God allowing his creation to run after earthly things like adultery, inappropriate desires, and corruptive thinking. As a result, God’s creation runs down the path of tragedy – filled with restlessness, hatred, evil behavior, and trapped in a sea of emptiness. This scripture begs the question: What kind of God would give his creation over to the evil around them, knowing their lives would only end in misery?

That’s the same question posed in the story of the prodigal son when Jesus describes what the father does in the first scene. He says, “And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And [the father] divided his property between them” (Luke 15:12). Again, we want to ask the question: What kind of father would divide up his property and let his foolish son run off with a part of his wealth?

Ironically, this story is told precisely to help us see the kind of Father God we all have. But he’s not a father of heartless judgments; he’s a God of profound freedom. In this example, we see a father who isn’t freaking out because his son chose to leave and who isn’t chasing after him to make him pay. We don’t see a controlling God. We don’t even see a condemning God. Because the Father who allows his child to run off is the Father who grants freedom. Freedom doesn’t force us to stay nor does it force our return.

While freedom is what the son is running after, freedom is also the very thing he’s running from. Think of time when God offered you freedom and you felt the consequences of running away. Then think of a time when God offered you freedom and you enjoyed the benefits of his love. [/vc_column_text][us_separator height=”25px” size=”custom”][vc_column_text]

By Yvonne Biel  

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Luke 15:11-13:

[11] And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. [12] And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. [13] Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.

I can remember the moment like it was yesterday. I was standing on the steps of Corbett Hall at Colorado State University, waving goodbye to my parents. There was no one staying behind to tell me what time I had to go to bed, nobody was going to tell me I had to wake up and go to class, and no one was going to make sure I mixed a few vegetables into my steady diet of French fries and pizza (which I didn’t!). I stood and watched my parents driving away with the wind of freedom blowing through my hair. Or, so I thought.

We live with the deep-seeded conviction that if we don’t have anything tying us down, we’re free. But, if we’ve ever had a taste of that ‘no-ties’ life, we know it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. The freedom we’re looking for is not found in a lack of accountability or connection, it’s actually found in the ability to pursue and love the things God has called us to. In the story of the Prodigal, the younger son says to his father, “Father, give me the share of the property that is coming to me.” The younger son knows a few things quite keenly. First, he knows that he has ‘a share.’ He has some money that is rightfully his. Secondly, he knows that the share comes directly and only from his father. The younger son decides that he’s going to “gather all that he has to go to a far-off land.” He’s searching for freedom. He’s on a quest for adventure. He’s longing for something bigger and better.

Like both of the sons in the story, we all have ‘a share.’ We all have been given a life that has value – and we must decide what we are going to do with it. When it comes down to the decision, there are only two options. We can stay on the father’s property or we can take what he’s given and travel to a ‘far-off country.’ We must decide if our quest for freedom is going to be pursued with God or away from him. Will we, like the younger son, wish our father dead in exchange for running off with his blessing, or will we embark on the journey of life within his care and under his love?

Every one of us has decided at one time or another that we want the goodness that flows from the Father’s hand, without the restrictions that come from living in his house. We’ve chased freedom apart from his favor and provision. The invitation in front of us today is to surrender – maybe for the first time, or maybe for the first time in a long time. The ironic invitation of the gospel is to find the freedom we’re looking for in surrendering to the one we’re running from. Take some time today and pray through Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” What fears arise in you when you consider surrendering? What holds you back from giving your all to Jesus? [/vc_column_text][us_separator height=”25px” size=”custom”][vc_column_text]

By Ryan Paulson  

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Luke 15:11-32:  ¹¹ And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. ¹² And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. ¹³ Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. ¹⁴ And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

¹⁷ “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! ¹⁸ I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ ²⁰ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²² But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. ²³ And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. ²⁴ For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

²⁵ “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. ²⁷ And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸ But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, ²⁹ but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ ³¹ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. ³² It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’

You may have heard this story many times, as I have. It’s truly an amazing story Jesus crafted to tell the Pharisees. There is so much to marvel and meditate on in it. For all the sermons and studies on it over the years it seems there is always more to discover. Let’s just focus on one thought today as we begin a series on the prodigal son. Let’s ponder the turning point in the story, the miraculous moment where the light appears. The power of this moment brings an awareness so important it demands action. It is transformational, it changes the story. Can you remember the last time a flash of insight came to you and changed your thinking and or actions? I remember a flash of insight about God’s love as a college freshman that changed me forever.

The turning point for the prodigal is his realization that he can turn, he can go back and be with his father. Verse seventeen is often translated “when he came to his senses” or “when he came to himself”. He realized those in relationship to his father received the father’s generosity and he was starving. He becomes aware of his sin and his father’s goodness, love, care, and blessings. The revealing light of his insight is the awareness he actually could go back to his father and leave the self-inflicted brokenness, pain, and misery. Instead of wallowing in sin, he could turn around and change. He has a place he can go to be healed and find wholeness again. He realizes the character of his loving father is worth the effort to turn back and return to him.

The prodigal son’s life changing insight can become our transformational insight. This story invites us to be like the prodigal son as we look at where we are at and realize who and what we are. It invites us to become aware of who God is in relation to ourselves. God’s goodness is continually available, his welcome is always extended toward us no matter how sinful we might feel. He is always reaching out to us in love and acceptance. God the Father’s presence has never left us, even though we might have left him. You might be reading this story for the first time and are realizing the invitation extended to you from God has always been there. You might have read this story hundreds of times and are having new insight. Don’t miss the moment!

Today, write a letter of invitation from God’s perspective to yourself. Let your realization of the awareness of his loving relationship toward you fill your day with hope and joy. His welcome, his goodness, his loving invitation to a restored relationship is always extended to you.

Ezekiel 34: 11-15 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. ¹² As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. ¹³ And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. ¹⁴ I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God.”

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By Donna Burns  

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“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?  And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

If I lose something, I can’t rest until it is found, especially if it is the contact I wear in my eye! This is a parable about the person who lost something, not necessarily the lost item. The lost coin couldn’t help its condition. It’s the woman who’s motivated and seeks that which is of value to her. Perhaps it was because of poverty: no coin meant no food. Or she could have been socially motivated. Back then a married woman had a headdress of ten coins as a symbol of her marriage, and to have a coin missing meant disaster. It would be like a woman today looking for her lost diamond wedding ring. She was perseverant. Finding the coin meant life itself if her family was starving. Finding the coin completed her wedding headdress, her most valuable possession, saving her from shame. Homes then were very dark with hard earthen floors covered in straw or rushes. Literally finding the coin in the house was like finding a needle in a haystack. She swept and strained to see a glimmer of it or to hear the metallic sound of it moving as she searched.

God is motivated, he is perseverant. He does everything he can, he goes over the top, the extra mile, in search of what is of value to him. This was a new thought to the Pharisees. Not only did Jesus say their God goes out searching for sinners, but that he rejoices in the found. They became aware God actively looks for the lost. God doesn’t just sit waiting for his creation to crawl to him for pity. His reaching down from heaven, going to the places of the desperate and despicable, confounded them. The Pharisees didn’t see it because they believed God kept himself separate and condemned sinners, as they did. Today, we believe in the seeking love of God, because we see Jesus Christ, love incarnate, who came to seek and to save that which was lost, and die for them on a cross.

God is good, all the time. His goodness never ends because he is passionate about seeking and committed to finding the lost. He is good because he is always ready to receive and welcome. The coin could represent the sinner that was lost and is now saved from judgment and wrath to come. “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost” (verse 9). The woman called her friends to celebrate with her. The angels are ready to celebrate with God. ^“Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (verse 10). It is always happening that God is seeking and it is always happening that someone is found. A celebration is always happening as a result. Each and every person matters to the Lord. He is pleased when a soul is found, after all they were important enough for him to come to earth to die for.

This is a simple, but profound parable Jesus spoke to the Pharisees. We all are born in sin, separated from the Lord, lost and in need of being found. I am thankful the Lord found me, took my debt on the cross and provided for my salvation. He came where I was, revealed His great love for me, and saved me by His grace. Have you realized Christ is seeking you and desiring to be your personal Savior? He is the only means of salvation, and there is hope and eternal life in Him. He loves you and wants to save you by His grace. He is ready to rejoice with heaven in your being found. His goodness and grace are a great reason to celebrate. Today, listen to King of Love by I Am They as you reflect on God’s deep love for us.

Luke 19:9-10: And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Ezekiel 34:16: I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice. 

Zephaniah 3:16-17: ¹⁶ On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. ¹⁷ The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

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By Donna Burns  

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³ So he told them this parable: ⁴ “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? ⁵ And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ ⁷ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

It’s almost a given most parents have personal experience with a ‘wandering’ child. They’re the ones who see something off in the distance, and soon they’re off and running to the thing interesting them. My mom tells me I never wandered off, but in the same breath, she relates time after time when my brother and sister did. While our children are oblivious to the dangers involved, we parents find ourselves in an unpleasant place. Awareness of our child’s lostness is something we don’t want to experience again!

This same emptiness is what’s expressed in this story about the lost sheep. The sheep, as they were doing what they enjoy, eating, perhaps noticed a greener patch of grass and decided to eat some of it. One green patch after another brought the sheep to a place of being out of the shepherd’s sight. The emptiness comes and, despite having most of his flock nearby under his watchful eye, he goes off in search for the lost sheep. And, given the value of the sheep to the family of the shepherd, when he first finds the sheep, he may shake his finger at the sheep, take the sheep back to the flock, and then celebrate in joy with friends and neighbors. The lostness of the sheep is a feeling the shepherd dreads, and he casts a more watchful eye over his flock from then on.

Jesus is trying to relay in a meaningful way the feeling he has over the lost souls surrounding him. Those lost souls are where he preferred to spend his time, because their need of a Savior was great. His tender feeling towards the lost hasn’t changed, and we’re the physical manifestation of his reaching out to them. The lostness the Savior feels for these anchorless souls is ours to tap and ours to share. When it permeates us, just like it does Jesus, our compass begins to point towards the Kingdom. Those searching souls begin to find our beacon and we’re given the opportunity to show them ‘true North.’ On our own, we’re not always prepared when we are presented with this opportunity. Thankfully, when we’ve surrended all to Jesus, he will provide the words to say. Pray through the following prayer so, like Jesus, you will abandon yourself to God and your awareness of the lostness of those around you will become acute.

Father, I abandon myself
into your hands.
Do with me what you will,
whatever You do, I will thank You.
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only Your will be done in me,
as in all Your creatures,
and I’ll ask nothing else, my Lord.

Into your hands I commend my spirit;
I give it to You.
and with all the love of my heart,
for I love You, Lord,
and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into Your hands
with a trust beyond all measure,
because You are my Father.

— Prayer of Abandonment to God, Charles de Foucauld

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By Rich Obrecht  

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1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3 So he told them this parable:

When I read through the gospels, it seems like Jesus always has something up his sleeve. In this scene, he’s hanging out with a bunch of felons – lawbreakers, robbers, delinquents – and he’s approached by a group of pious aristocrats. Of all things to say in this moment, Jesus begins a story. And he doesn’t stop at just one. He tells three stories with one main message that disrupts the status quo.

Somehow Jesus’ stories have a way of jerking his audience out of their everyday normal and forcing them to look at life from a different angle. Has that ever happened to you? When life, for the most part, felt like it was going along just fine, and then, wham! Jesus throws you into a tizzy. What felt normal, now feels confusing. What once was easy to understand, now is questionable. There are seasons when life flips upside-down and even though we’re living in the same world, we feel completely disoriented. The Jesus you thought you knew is suddenly using his story to throw a wrench in your story.

Walking with Jesus is not always easy, especially in periods of disorientation. But, during these times, we get a better grasp on what it means to walk by faith, what it means to truly trust God, what it means to be a child of God even in the confusion, the doubts, and the struggle. Fortunately, Jesus does have something up his sleeve and that something is transformation. He often uses disorientation to begin the work of re-orientation in our lives. This process sometimes comes with pain or a journey of un-learning, but it’s for our good and for God’s glory. Today, praise God for a time in your life when he sent you into a season of disorientation because he has even more good in store for you and for his Kingdom.

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By Yvonne Biel

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10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

Humanity has been telling stories since the dawn of creation. There is something deeply human about wanting to follow someone’s journey of transformation and growth. It’s the reason we love Lord of the Rings. It’s the reason Disney is a cultural icon. It’s the reason Harry Potter is a household name. It’s also the reason the movie industry grossed $38 billion in 2016. We love stories. But, we don’t only love stories because they provide us with entertainment, they also create space for exploration. Stories force us to ask questions about our life, they create tension around the values we hold, and they prod us along on our own journey of becoming.

Jesus was a master storyteller. He told parables (stories) that caused people to think. They caused people to ask questions about God, about religion, and about their lives. At one point, his disciples asked him why he used stories to teach. Listen to Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of his response in Matthew 13:10-13, “The disciples came up and asked, ‘Why do you tell stories?’ He replied, ‘You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they’re blue in the face and not get it.’” Jesus told stories to create readiness. His parables were and are designed to stir the imagination and the heart of the listener. They are intended to both comfort and distress.

One of the ways good stories create growth is by inviting the listener into a picture being painted. In a sense, stories create a house that the listener is invited to explore. They intrinsically ask the reader and listener where they are in the story. Jesus’ triad of parables in Luke 15 are no different – he wants the listeners to place themselves in the parables. He wants them to wrestle with whether they are more like the older brother or the younger brother. Whether they are like the lost coin or the searching woman. Jesus’ use of parables is prolific and intentional. He was a master teacher and stories were his favorite medium. Think back over this past year, what was your favorite story (book, movie, podcast, etc.)? Spend some time thinking about what you liked about it. How did it challenge you? How did it create tension in your soul? How did it comfort?

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By Ryan Paulson  

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