Jackson Advocate

SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 5:1-7; Matthew 13:31-33, 44-46; Luke 10:25-37; 15:3-32.

DEVOTIONAL READING: Matthew 13:10-16, 51-52.

God's Story-Teller

"TRUTH in a tale," it is said, will enter in at lowly doors."

The greatest truth of the entire Bible does not come to us in the shape of an essay but of a story-the story of Jesus.

"The gospel did not appear on the editorial page but on the news pages."

Many people can understand essays; millions more can understand a story.

Jesus himself, when he gave the world his message, used stories to do it. We are told that he never made a talk to the people without using a parable. The parables of the Bible are simple stories, often no more than a sentence long. They are all alike in this: Whatever the story may be, there is more in it than meets the eye. Parables were not a form of entertainment; they were a way of teaching.

No Cause Is Lost

Sometimes the teller of a parable would explain what he meant, as Isaiah does with his little song of the vineyard. Sometimes, and most often in Jesus' case, the meaning is so plain that only a very stupid person could miss it.

Matthew arranges several of Jesus' parables in pairs; one of these is the twin story of the mustard seed and the yeast in the meal (Matt. 13:31-33). Both mean the same thing, and both are so obvious that Jesus did not think it necessary to explain them.

The Kingdom of Heaven-the ideal world, the world as God intends it to be-is a living thing, a growing thing, something at first small, almost invisible. But it will grow; you cannot stop it.

So the ideal world, the Kingdom of Heaven, (Jesus hints) is not an artificial thing. It cannot be constructed by blueprints. It has to follow the course of living things. It does not come all of a sudden. It grows very quietly. You might not see the seed in the ground, but the farmer knows it is there.

Pearl of Great Price

Sometimes two or three of Jesus' parables are like a musical theme with variations. The twin stories of the pearl worth more than the jeweler's whole collection, and of the treasure hidden in the field, are very much alike, yet just a little different in meaning.

Both tell us that the Kingdom of God is more valuable than anything else on earth: indeed, it includes everything else of value.

But the stories are different. One tells of a man who was looking for something, the other tells of a man who was surprised by finding something.

Once a Chinese gentleman became dissatisfied with his inherited Confucianism, and set out to find a better religion. For years he shopped around, never finding what he needed. He left Christianity to the last, for in his section of China only coolies and peasants were Christians. But when he began to make friends with some real Christians, he was overjoyed. This was what he had been looking for. This was the pearl of great price.

On the other hand, a drunken sailor, certainly not looking for religion, wandered one night into a Salvation Army meeting. They could do nothing with him, but before they dragged him off to the lodging-house one of them slipped a bit of paper into his pocket. The next morning, cold sober, wondering where he was, he put his hand into that pocket and pulled the paper out. On it were pencilled three words: God loves you. It hit him right between the eyes; and he became a Christian. That was the "treasure hid in the field."

How Far Will Love Go?

JESUS' contemporaries told parables too, but they have all been forgotten. Jesus' parables are incomparable, unforgettable, immortal. If Jesus had been known for nothing else, he would have been remembered for the four stories of the Good Samaritan, the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, the Lost Son.

These all have much the same point. "Lost" does not mean hopelessly doomed. How many persons we give up as hopeless! But God never gives up any one. A "lost" person is one whom God is seeking.