Pathways Church Blog

God is unfair.

How does that statement make you feel?
Is it true?
If He is, would it change how you feel about Him?

Where does the sense of fairness, that seems to be in all of us, come from?
How are fairness and justice similar and how are they different?

This weeks parable will challenge us with these types of questions as we grapple with yet another story that Jesus tells that gives us a “Picture of Reality”. Read Matthew 20:1-16 and dive into the discussion.

We wrestled with the title of this message. Initially, I had written (in pencil), “Greed” or “Rich Fool”, but those sound so negative and carry a connotation of guilt. I don’t want to go there. However, I am already being challenged by the Scripture this week as I examine my own life through it’s lens. That is the difficulty of God’s Word that we need to embrace if we are truly going to embody the Core Values we hold of “Struggle” and “Redemption”. Scripture brings things to light that are uncomfortable and this week, I’m squirming. I feel like this parable is easier to understand than I want it to be, but my own comfort causes me to desire it to say something different than the conviction that it lays on my heart.

The story is short and simple. I guy with stuff who wants to build a bigger place to store more of it. Take the time to read this parable in Luke 12:13-21.

I want to encourage you to share your thoughts and questions about this story here with our community. As we work through it together, there is a depth of insight that is awesome! A couple of my thoughts:

* I get the sense that this parable is really not about “stuff” and the ownership of it, rather it is about how much “ownership” your stuff has of you.

* What does it mean to be rich toward God? Again, is it the case of being easier to understand than we try to make it?

There are a number of evangelism training courses that teach people how to share their faith. Often, they train you to begin by asking a person where they think they will spend eternity. Based on how a person responds, the evangelism training then goes on to share the basics of how to guide the discussion to how one can be forgiven through the work of Jesus on the cross.

The question of eternity isn’t unique to our time. Our parable this week begins with someone asking that same kind of question of Jesus. A religious expert comes to Jesus and asks him “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Take a few minutes to read about Jesus’ interaction with this man from Luke 10:25-37.

Jesus’ response isn’t what you might expect (or maybe you might if you’ve been paying attention these last few weeks!) He doesn’t go on to give a few steps to acquire one’s personal forgiveness and certain entrance to pearly gates. Instead, he shares a parable which doesn’t seem to have whole lot to do with how modern Christianity might typically expain how someone can be saved. Let’s dialogue together on what exactly he was trying to do…

• What do you think Jesus was trying to teach this religious expert about eternal life?
• Why do you think his answer was so different from how Christians today might answer that same question?

It has been an odd experience for me preaching about the parables. These are stories that Jesus told with intended deep meaning, but He very purposefully did not give a full explanation of that meaning (except for one or two). Now, two thousand years later, I bring you the “full explanation” of the parables. I say that tongue in cheek because I don’t think I get anywhere near a “full” explanation. It just seems odd to bring explanation to something that Jesus chose not to explain because He wanted individuals to think through, wrestle with, and struggle over what God was saying through the story. Anyway, just thought I’d bring you into the midst of my quandry.

With that said, we enter into the Parable of the Talents found in Matthew 25:14-30. Read through it and let it ruminate throughout the confines of your heart and mind. For those of you who are already familiar with this parable, I found that this one was harder for me to dig deeper into. My mind automatically goes to explanations I have heard over and over regarding this teaching. Some questions that have helped me consider it further:

* What is the greater context of the story being told? We will make sure that we look into Matthew 24 prior to getting into the actual parable. Hopefully, we can do that without getting lost in “End Times” confusion.

* What are words that you could replace “Talents” with that make the parable relevant to you today?

* What does “burying a talent” look like today?