Ministry in Motion

Jesus’ parables utilized story to produce the spiritual lesson or lessons.   Were as a proverb, metaphor, simile, or figure of speech centers usually on a word, phrase or sentence.   Of Jesus’ parables experts count about 30 parables recorded in the  Synoptic Gospels  Matthew, Mark and Luke.   Curiously the Gospel of John has none.  Some of Jesus more notable stories in parable form include:  Barren Fig Tree;  Budding Fig Tree; The Speck and The Log ;  Counting the Cost;  Faithful Servant;  Friend at Night and the  Good Samaritan.  Others recorded include:  Good Shepherd;  Grain of Wheat;  Great Banquet;  Growing Seed;  Rich man and Lazarus ;  Sheep and Goats ; The  Sower ;  Mustard Seed;  The Wise and Foolish Builders  and  New Wine into Old Wineskins. It hard to write about the parables and stories of Jesus without mentioning the trio of "Lost Things" :   L...

The Parable of The Unjust Steward or Manager Jesus' parable of the unjust manager is one of the most striking in all the Gospels.   According to commentators, the parable is about an agent who, knowing he is about to be fired, asks the debtors to pay up. Obviously, it would be pressing the parable beyond the point of comparison to interpret it as a story about dishonest business practices.    But what’s the point of the parable? It seem so unlike other stories Jesus shared. Jesus told this story in early 30 A.D.   before his arrest  and crucifixion.  The primary audience for the Unjust Steward Parable is Jesus' disciples (Luke 16:1).   Luke’s writing says so:  Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions…. But there’s additional audience members noted at the end of the story.  While it’s a fairly simple story, it’s also a somewhat unorthodox, parable from Jesus.   In most of Je...

… picture the kingdom of heaven this way:  It will be like ten bridesmaids who each picked up a lantern  and went out to meet a certain bridegroom.  The Parable of the Ten Virgins, also known as the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins or the Parable of the ten bridesmaids is    a parable of Jesus, and it maybe a    little more tricky for us, the 2023 reader, to understand. The first-century Jewish audience Jesus was talking to would have been familiar with these wedding customs of the day. But we’re 2,000 years removed from the context of this story.   The historical setting for this story can be shared   with a fair amount of certainty.   In describing a first-century Jewish wedding,   the backdrop was much like this:   Normally the bridegroom with some close friends left his home to go to the bride’s home,   where there were various ceremonies, followed by a procession through the s...

The Speck and The Log.  It’s one   of many stories recored back to back to back in Matthew's Gospel. A parable of Jesus. Large crowds attended Jesus' sermons — many came from Syria, Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, and even beyond the Jordan River.   They came to witness (or experience) Jesus’ miracles and hear Him teach about their role in the world  -  how He had come to fulfill the law, not abolish it; how we are to love our enemies ( 5:43-48 ), pray ( 6:5-15 ), and overcome anxiety and worry in our lives ( 6:25-24 ).   I t’s possible that Jesus may have delivered the Sermon on the Mount in segments over several days, as opposed to one long sermon.   Jesus was a master storyteller. I’m sure he knew how to read a crowd, which may have been a good reason to preach these messages over a few days … Give them something to thing about and leave them wanting more tomorrow. In this story, He   challenged the legalism and hypocrisy of the religious ...

The story of the Rich Man and Lazarus, is a parable unique to the  Gospel of Luke,  the 16th Chapter. Speaking to  his disciples  and some  Pharisees ,   Jesus tells of an unnamed rich man  (Jesus often used an unnamed character in his teachings — such as "a certain man", "a sower", and so forth.) and in this parable a beggar named Lazarus.   When both die, the rich man goes to Hades and implores  Abraham  to send Lazarus from his side to warn the rich man's family from sharing his fate.   The rich man and  Lazarus  in  Luke 16:19-31  is a fascinating story told by Jesus that packs a punch. But it can be a confusing and difficult parable to understand. Join us in a Wednesday night, April 26 th, for this conversation. What are your thoughts about this parable? #pkes     #MinM

In His final days before He went to the cross, Jesus spent time with His disciples and shared with them about His return. Return? Where are you going Jesus? His followers were confused, even those closest to Him.  He said to them: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him,  he will sit on his glorious throne…he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats…the sheep  on his right and the goats on his left…Then the King will say to those  on his right…” Those who were with Jesus struggled to understand that he would die on a cross, resurrect, and ascend to heaven. Jesus gave them hope, though, that He would come again.   In the story of the sheep and goats,   Jesus wants us to understand that our choices reveal the   kingdom to whom we belong. The very worst approach to this parable is to stand over it, assuming we are sheep, and arguing the destiny of the goats. ...

Palm Sunday. A beast of burden. A lone rider. Clothes littering the street. Jubilant crowds. Praises given. Victory proclaimed. Branches of palms strewn across His path. Triumphal entry. A hero’s welcome. This was the first Palm Sunday.  The prophet Zechariah, wrote:   “… Cry out with joy, O daughter of Zion! Shout jubilantly,   O daughter of Jerusalem! Look—your King is coming;   He is righteous and able to save.   He comes seated humbly on a donkey, on a colt…”    A week later: Crickets. Worse. Allegiance forgotten. Selfish admirers. Hypocrites. Haters. From hero to apparent zero in less than a week. Palm Sunday has a lesson for each of us... #pkes     #MinM

When Jesus taught in parables, He wasn’t passing on abstract concepts and information. He wanted to change the way we understood God, ourselves, and the world. And, He wanted this understanding to impact the way we live life. In the Sermon on the Plain   the Apostle Luke writes: 6 : 46  “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?  47  As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like.  48  They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.  49  But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” Join us in a Wednesday night, March 29th,   for a co...

Authentic Christianity is not so much a belief system as a life-and-death system that shows us how to give away our love, how to give away our life, and eventually, how to give away our death: “… into your hands I commend my spirit.” Ps 31:5 In our willingness to give away , we find connections:  T o and with the world; With all other creatures, and maybe most importantly, with God. In Manus Tuas Commendo Spiritum Meum #pkes     #MinM

To judge something as + or - maybe as 👍🏻 or 👎🏻 is to enter into the world of dualities, and this creates social, political, psychological, or even spiritual, tension... Matthew 7: 1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  2  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3  “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  4  How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?   5  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. “ Do not judge "…verse one. The parables of Jesus make up a crucial part of the Bible. Jesus had the wisdom to simplify  profound spiritual truths he needed to share with humanity. Relatable stories that are easy to understand, b...