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Applying Messiah's Kingdom Parables, Part 2

May 11th, 2012 | 1 Comment

. . . birds came along and devoured it . . . it withered away . . . it yielded no grain . . ." -Mark 4:4, 6, 7. Parables are usually connected to a scripture text or several of them. They often explain something puzzling about God and his relation to his people, or something unstated or mysterious in a text. Yeshua understood a startling truth found in Isaiah 6, one that naturally leads any thoughtful reader to ask questions. Modern readers of the Sower parable (Mk 4; Mt 13; Lk 8) tend not to realize that the parable is commenting on a text. ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Aims of Yeshua , Applying the Gospels , Besorah/Gospel/Good News , Discipleship - Formation , Gospel Genres , Kingdom Future , Kingdom Present , Literary Features , Parables , Paradox , Teaching of Yeshua

Applying Messiah's Kingdom Parables, Part 1

May 8th, 2012 | 2 Comments

To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables. -Mark 4:11 "Kingdom" is not "afterlife" exactly and it is not "people of Israel" or "people of the Church." The modern reader tends to inject meanings into Yeshua's words that are not there. Looking in the words of Messiah for a message on how to qualify for a good afterlife, it is natural for many to see in the word "kingdom" a code word for "going to heaven." This is a problem compounded by the fact that Matthew, the best-known gospel for many Bible readers, uses the phrase "kingdom of heaven" instead of "kingdom of God." But, as many will rightly point out, "heaven" here stands for "God." It is a euphemism, ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Aims of Yeshua , Applying the Gospels , Besorah/Gospel/Good News , Discipleship - Formation , Gospel Genres , Kingdom Future , Kingdom Present , Parables , Teaching of Yeshua