Do People ‘Just Not Value the Word’ Anymore?

Parables are little stories that engage and reach someone where they are. And they also conceal a deeper meaning which invites the hearer into discipleship and further questions.

We would do well to follow Jesus in this. We don’t overwhelm with information and dump everything we know. But we also give enough to invite our hearers into receiving more. When they have a glazed over look we don’t assume they don’t value the Word—we assume we went a bit too far into the weeds. And when they seem bored, we don’t assume that the gospel doesn’t cut it for them—we assume that we’re not giving them next steps of discipleship.

It’s really a beautiful thing that Jesus is doing here. It shows us how dynamic faith actually is. It’s not stale and static. It’s more like a dance than a scientific exam. I appreciate these words of Ronald Kernaghan:

Faith for Mark is more like an adventure whose terms unfold as we pursue it. It cannot be understood from a distance, and we are never in control of what happens. Our part is to listen and act, and then listen and act again and again. That alone is an unnerving thought for people living in a postmodern world. In our thoughts and dreams the self is invariably at the center of things, but in this adventure the self has been dislodged. There is something or someone else at the center of things whom we can neither define nor control. We are invited to follow along when we have only an inkling of where we are going. (Kernaghan, 100)

We pastors do well to learn this dance.

This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.