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 WHY DID JESUS TELL STORIES? Stories are good. That's why we enjoy watching films and soaps, listening to stand-up comics and reading books, and aren't so keen about listening to speeches and sermons. In fact, Jesus does seem to have done some pretty straight sermons, too. That one about "turn the other cheek" and "go the extra mile", for example. But some of his words that best stick in your mind are the stories. The Good Samaritan... the Prodigal Son... the Lost Sheep, and so on. Which is probably why Jesus liked to tell stories. All of Jesus's stories address spiritual issues in a way that (a) isn't boring, (b) sticks in your mind, and (c) challenges you to think for yourself. Take the Prodigal Son, for example. The religious leaders were getting deeply stressed with Jesus for hanging out with the "spiritually unclean" (such as prostitutes and tax collectors). Their attitude was: God doesn't like them and neither do we. Jesus explained why he spent time with them by telling a story: the son abandons his father, squanders his money, and ends up on the skids, cleaning out the pigs (and remember, pigs were themselves seen as unclean animals). The son eventually creeps back home when he's broke and has nowhere else to go. Does the father give him a good smack and send him packing? No, he is ecstatic and throws a huge party for him. Meanwhile the older brother who has stuck by dad religiously all these years has a big sulk, because his black-sheep brother doesn't deserve this special treatment. It's a wonderful illustration of God's attitude to sinners, but it also challenges listeners to decide what their own attitude should be, and whose side they're on. More questions about Jesus' teaching |
Picture: 19th-century Bible illustration. |
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