He Who Has Ears, Let Him Hear By Trevor Potter |
I recently had a conversation with one of the Youth Leader's about how we love, yet are frustrated, by a particular author. The author is Brian McLaren, and we have both recently read some of his books. Our appreciation/frustration comes from the fact that his books do not resolve. They don't end in tight, tidy, neat little formulas that one can immediately go and put into practice. Instead, they leave the reader with the taste of a subject, and a choice. The choice is to either pursue the subject further, or to let it dwindle. The books do not leave the reader with a clean set of answers that they can then go and put into practice, a formula if you will. These books do not resolve in the way that we are used to. At least not the way most of us would like them to. Readers like tight, tidy, neat packages or formulas; things that are straight forward, especially in our spiritual lives. We might not like to admit it, but that seems to be the case. At least I do. When things are neat and tidy, they are easy. I like easy. I think many of us probably like easy. But as most of us have learned throughout the course of our lifetimes, life is often messy. I am getting married this summer, and I would like to one day have a family. I would like for my kids to want to do their homework, to always eat their vegetables, to offer me back massages whenever I have had a long day at work, to offer to cook dinner just about every night of the week, and so on. Parents, insert laughter here. Life doesn't usually end up working out exactly as we would like. Life is messy. Far too often we go for the kind of books or spiritual teachings that are tight, tidy, and neat, but once we try to apply them to real life, long term situations, they tend to fall short. Could there be a reason for that? The books that the Youth Leader and I were discussing are not tight, or tidy, nor are they neat books, and for that, they can be extremely frustrating. But we are learning as time goes on, that these are the books that we appreciate. We appreciate them, not because they give us simple straight forward answers or formulas, but because they challenge us to continue to think and to engage subjects on our own, as well as with God. As we talked about our appreciation/frustration over this style of writing, we realized that the way Christ taught was very similar to this. Or should I say that this style of writing is very similar to the way Christ taught? Christ rarely taught in overt fashions, though there are times that He did. Instead, He usually taught using parables. One time, in Matthew 13:10-17, between the telling of a parable, and the revealing of it's meaning (which was done in private to the disciples alone), Christ went so far as to say that the reason He spoke in parables was so that people, "Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.'" (Matt. 13:13-15 NIV) The implication seems to be that Christ spoke in parables specifically so that people didn't understand, so that they couldn't then turn and be saved. This seems to go directly against Christ saying in Luke's Gospel, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." (Luke 19:10 NIV), let alone everything else we've ever been told about our loving Savior. The Matthew passage had always been one of those passages that I glossed over, not knowing how to even begin to interpret it. I believe that I am now beginning to understand the passage, and now pose one possible avenue of interpretation. In the time of Christ, as in our own time today, there are people that want the neat, tidy answers or formulas, without the messiness of the Truth. They want to know the right things to say, but not live them out. They seek to follow Christ sans cross. "Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me," (Matt. 10:38 NIV), Christ would say. For this reason, the Son of God spoke in parables as a way of deterring anyone who was simply there to acquire the correct answer, without taking any steps of their own. He was trying to deter people who were looking for the right answers without having to live the messy and paradoxical life of following God. In the time of Christ, as in our time today, I am sure that there were people who were looking for their golden ticket into Heaven. People who were looking for the words that would gain them entrance into God's eternal resting place, without have to live the life God was calling for in the here/then and now. Christ did not want these people to walk away thinking they had it all figured out, because they were able to regurgitate some of His teachings, while being more lost then ever. To limit those possibilities, He spoke in parables. In the time of Christ, when a rabbi was in the countryside, and would teach large crowds, often it was on a hill. Similar to the Sermon on the Mount, though the rabbi wouldn't be the one on the hill, the listeners would be. The rabbi instead, would be at the foot of the hill teaching upwards. There were two reasons for this. The first reason is that the rabbi's voice was able to project up the hill and into the ears of the listeners in a far more effective way than if he were talking downward. Secondly, the listeners could not sit. The rabbi, at the foot of the hill could sit down, but the listeners could not (think about the tunics). The listeners were forced to stand in uncomfortable positions to hear this rabbi's yoke (his teachings), demonstrating their eagerness and sincerity in wanting to learn from the teacher. This situation would sift out those who were there merely for simple, golden ticket answers, yet not willing to truly engage the teachings of the rabbi, from the ones who were there to learn, grow, and engage. Parables functioned in much the same way. Jesus spoke in such a way as to deter those who were there only for the quick fix, simple answers, and wanted people who were willing to engage His teachings; to start thinking about them on their own, and enter into the learning process with their teacher. Jesus was not looking for people who were there merely for answers without putting them into practice in their daily lives, but instead, wanted people who were passionate about God and His word. People who wanted to learn more, and live out His teachings. The parable that bookends the cryptic Matthew 13 passage illustrates the point well. It is the Parable of the Sower. In it we are told about the fate of seed being scattered on four different types of soil. It is a rich parable with so many wonderful layers, and I suggest that you all take some time to read and contemplate it for yourselves (Matt. 13:1-23). One of the things that it brings to light is what the seed that landed on good soil represents. In the parable this seed goes on to produce a crop "a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown." (Matt. 13:8 NIV). Perhaps the cryptic middle section has something to say about this good soil? Perhaps Matthew was strategic about bookending the strange words of Christ with this parable? The challenge to us today is, are we seeking to actively engage with God and think through the things that He is passionate about? Or are we looking for quick fix solutions, tight, tidy, neat little answer that will only fall short in due time? |
