“He told many stories in the form of parables…”

I’m going to be honest and a little vulnerable here today.  I need to let you know that one of the reasons I try and write this blog in common sense and practical terms is that I can’t myself understand or comprehend much more than that.  On a plane the other day someone had left a copy of The Economist.  That is one of the magazines that I know I should be able to read and enjoy, but I just can’t.  Half the time I don’t understand what they are trying to say and the depth and understanding of the economics behind the stories are usually over my pay grade.  This is why I was so sorry to hear that Gary Becker died this last Saturday.  Some may not know him, but I felt like I did.  Professor Becker was a Nobel Prize winning economist, but more important for me, he was an economist who I could understand.  When he wrote for Business Week, I would read his every word and walk away with something that I could not only relate, but also apply in my thinking and actions.  Our world is a complex one and we need more people, like Dr. Gary Becker, who can boil it down so that most of us can use our common sense to understand.

Jesus was God, but He was also man.  As a man, He was also our world’s greatest communicator. Jesus spoke, He didn’t write.  Jesus told stories that people were drawn to Him to hear.  Those stories, rooted in the common person’s life experience, provoked thoughts and conversations.  I imagine sometimes the conversations, over dinner in the evening that those who got a chance to hear what Jesus said. His parables have become the stories that we recount and use in our every day lives, even today. Sometimes we think our faith is not knowledgeable or deep enough to share with others.  When we take the obvious, apply our own experiences that are real and honest, and find the courage to share, then God will do the rest through us.  We are after all made in His image and so we have the ability inside of us to be very understandable to others.

Reference: Matthew 13:3 (New Living Translation)