Finish this statement by Jesus: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you _______.
Chances are pretty good you know the last word there is rest. Here’s the thing I was thinking about today, though, when I read that verse. How many of us, even if we know that Jesus said rest at the end of that sentence, walk around with the subconscious belief that he instead said something like trouble, or pain, or punishment?
Far too many of us.
Just before talking about the common practices of giving, praying, and fasting, Jesus gives his hearers this warning: “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven” (Mt 6:1, NIV).
There are at least two things to make note of with that statement.
Parables, by their very nature, are not easy to understand… at least, not at first.
A parable is a unique type of story designed to promote observation, meditation, and action. A parable that does not invite this sort of deep thinking and eventual active response to the meaning contained within the story is not a parable after all.
I was listening to a podcast on Jesus’s parables and, as the host introduced the episode by giving a quick rundown of what was going to be discussed—as all good hosts do—he said something that caught my ear. While setting up the importance of Jesus’s parables he referenced a place in Mark’s gospel where the evangelist writes about Jesus’s teaching style and this host said, “It even says specifically that when Jesus taught the masses…he taught exclusively in parables.”
