Jesus as Parable

Tuesday was our first "full" day of the program. We began with lecture and took time for opening worship that was simply amazing. The gospel reading was recited from memory. The organ music was like that of a recital even though it was contemporary music. During communion we partook to the melody of a classical guitarist. It was moving to be with a group such as this, a group that takes worship and preaching so seriously that it constitutes a fundamental portion of our being, to hear those voices raised in song and praise and prayer was an experience in and of itself.Yet, as wonderful and soul filling as that was, it pales in comparison to what happened in the afternoon. As we neared the end of a long day we were talking about parables. About how Jesus said nothing that wasn't in parables. The he did so in order that the disciples could understand and the others could not. The proverbial shoe fell when Dow said, "Jesus is the ultimate parable." That his whole life is a parable. The ridiculousness of his reception, the teachings, on the Mount, in the garden, in the court, on the cross, wrapped in cloth, in the angels and in the room. Jesus is the parable and when you understand the parables you begin to enter into an understanding of who Jesus really is and the radically subversive nature of what lies at the heart of each parable. It was/is an amazing thing for me to think of Jesus in this way. It is one thing that will change the way I preach and the way I understand the message of the Gospel.