Luke 15-16
Observation: The account of the Rich Man and Lazarus teaches us truths such as, people who reject the Bible are not going to believe when Jesus rises from the dead. We have to be careful to not glean things that are not being said from the story, such as, people who have a hard time on earth automatically go to heaven. That is not what Jesus is saying.
Question: What is Jesus communicating in telling us about the shrewd manager? It seems like the manager is hardly being ethical, yet Jesus seems to use it as an example for believers. I think Jesus is simply saying that Christians should seek to faithfully use finances on earth to share the gospel so that others will believe and have eternal life.
Application: What do I need to do to be known as a friend of sinners?
Prayer: Father, I praise You for the picture of Your pursuing love as seen in the father running to greet his son. Thank you for loving me and pursuing me.
6 Comments
Becoming a friend of sinners?
The shepherd seeks the lost sheep, the woman seeks her lost coin, Jesus seeks lost children. When the Holy Spirit indwells in us, we become Jesus’ seekers for lost sinners.
When we find them, we let them know that the debts they have incurred can be forgiven (as by the steward) to restore their relationship with the rich man (God).
We all sin, when we accept Jesus as our Savior, our sins are forgiven. Jesus’ instructions are or us to get out of our comfort zone, seek the sinners, and share the Good News. We can all make friends with a sinner today.
Why did Jesus teach in parables?
Why did Jesus teach in parables?
Thanks Steve for the reply on this. The positive answer as to why Jesus taught in parables is that they were ways to take what was familiar and to give a picture of a deeper spiritual truth. They would be memorable which would always be important in a cultural that relied upon verbal learning. There is a negative answer that Jesus gives to this question. Matthew 13:10-17 expresses it the most clearly where Jesus makes it clear that parables cause a division. They are way to reveal the kingdom to those who want to know more about the kingdom. They also serve as a means of judgment upon those who don’t desire to know about the kingdom. He will describe people who see, but don’t really see and hear but don’t really hear. Their resistance to the truth results in them being hardened in unbelief and the parables in a sense harden them further. Like Steve said, there are parables that are hard for us to understand. The disciples relied upon Jesus to explain many it would seem. This teaching about the use of parables for those who have no desire to understand is a difficult teaching as well.
Jesus used parables to teach spiritual truths in terms that everyday people would understand. Sheep, coins, sowing seeds were familiar concepts for people who weren’t far removed from the land. I wonder still why the disciples didn’t get it. They asked Jesus to explain the sower parable which seems plain to us. Was it because they were fishermen not farmers? Had God blinded them to the meaning? or were they just unwilling to really try to think it out.
I’ll admit, some of the parables befuddle me to this day, so I will submit that Jesus taught in parables to get us to think.
Thanks so much for the clarification. I too thought Jesus taught us both sides of the story so the person learning would see both sides. What is amazing is Jesus’s teaching from that time period are as relevant today as they were then.