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What follows is what I feel Jesus is teaching me as I read through the Gospel of Mark
Teach With Stories
There was a man who was staring at the sunrise. it was beautiful. the arrays of orange and pink and yellow were stunning as they emanated through the puffs of white clouds. and the man kept staring at the sun, how could he not? it was so beautiful. the man just wanted to stare at it forever. but as the sun rose higher, it became brighter and brighter, but the man kept staring. and staring. and the brightness of the sun became so white and piercing to him that it burned the man's eyes. and He wandered aimlessly through his surroundings, bumping into things, and cursing the sun that he ever gazed at it in the first place.
another man stared at the sunrise appreciating its beauty, but as the sun rose and got brighter, the man saw that to navigate his surroundings, he would need some sunglasses to help him walk safely around the obstacles and things he would come across in his day. and so the second man got some sunglasses, and wore them every day, all day. and he thanked the sun and the sunglasses (working with the sun) for helping him through his day.
The first man is the camp christian. the person who goes to camp loving god, loving the beauty of God that he finds there. but as time continues, he finds that the beauty of god is not so easy to experience in the real world of family, responsibilities, commitments and friends and enemies. in fact, its as if God is passing judgment on everything he does wrong in his life. and instead of trying to change his ways, the man becomes frustrated, and feels rather helpless and misunderstood, "burned out" if you will, with all the conviction and judgment of the church and God and other Christians. and so he leaves God behind, for he wanted the beauty of God, but not the light God cast upon his life.
The second man is the dedicated Christian. the person who has experienced the beauty of God but knows it won't be so easy forever. and so this man puts on some sunglasses, which are the Word of God, to help navigate the trials and everyday experiences of life. For this man, when God casts his light and gaze upon his life, he is able to see and understand what is wrong, and live the way God wants him to.
This was a story I thought up yesterday, right before I got a ticket for speeding (thank you Wisconsin police). The sun was rising as I drove to Illinois from my wife's family's lakehouse, and I thought of this parabolic story. and the reason i thought of it was because of what I feel Jesus is teaching me through Mark 4:2 - "Jesus taught them [the crowds and disciples in the crowd] by telling many stories in the form of parables ..."
Now certainly, Jesus taught with parables for lots of reasons: He did it to fulfill prophecy, to make being a a Christian not a simple easy answer (I believe), to help illustrate concepts to His followers, and stuff like that. And even moreso, I think Jesus taught with parables to see who His true followers were. Throughout the gospels, you have the disciples coming up to Jesus later to ask him what the parables really meant. they're interested now. they're hooked. they want to learn and grow in Christ. and so they go up to Him later.
And honestly and personally, I think telling a story about two men staring at the sun can be a little more engaging then yelling at a student saying, "read your bible!"
I think Jesus taught in stories because they were helpful and useful in revealing the Word of God to those who it is permitted to understand. Stories are useful to connect biblical concepts with concrete examples. Its memorable. Its tellable and preachable, and livable.
Bottom line: Jesus taught in stories A LOT because it was one of his most successful teaching methods. Do we? Do we teach in stories then? Why not?
Cause we're lazy.
uncreative.
because we can't actually apply our sermon to our lives because we're not living it out ourselves.
because we don't care about the message we're preaching.
ran out of time.
don't have time to waste.
its not a "perfect" illustration.
don't need 'em.
we can come up with all sorts of excuses. but i think if we don't teach with stories and personal experience, then we're doing a ministry Jesus wouldn't do.
its time to take some more time in our lesson preparation. and share some stories. share some real life with the students. instead of just command statements and exhortations and cultural exegesis.
we bring ministry "down to the youth level" not by dumbing down the material, but by illustrating the truth clearer and sharper than it would be alone through the medium of stories.
Jesus shared in stories. Will you?
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