On Lacking God's Context

Scripture: Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that
     'looking they may not perceive,
          and listening they may not understand.'"
Luke 8:9-10

Observation: After Jesus tells the parable of the sewer and the seed, and just before he explains the parable to the disciples, Jesus has this to say about the nature of his teaching in parables. The disciples will understand the parables - in some cases they will simply 'get' them and in others they will have them explained - but much of the general crowd around them will not understand.

Many people who gather around Jesus are searching for hope and joy. They are seeking wisdom and truth. And many who are looking for that hope and joy have it right in front of their faces ... do not perceive it. Many who are listening for some meaningful and deep purpose of life have it told to them plainly ... and cannot understand it. They are trying to figure out if there is a greater power in the world they can believe in ... and when they are told all about it, they dismiss its relevance in their lives.

It would seem Jesus is telling the disciples that they have some better, spirit-led understanding of the word of God. And to an extent they do. However, there is another more basic reason that they understand parables and others do not. The disciples have a faithful understanding of God's nature. In that context, one can understand that the Lord "scatters" his word in the world, and people receive it differently. Those who reject God - or at the very least do not know his love and mercy and justice - lack a metaphorical context to know that (for example) God has given his word and teaching into the world in the first place.

The general population of the Jews around Jesus had a context of God, but not Messiah. The disciples had that contextual framework and therefore understood the word. That context had been given to them by the Spirit by their faithful response to the Jesus.

Application: This explanation explicitly addresses evangelical challenges even today. So many people around me and in this part of the world now lack any contextual framework to understand the truth about love, hope, joy, and peace. They say they desire such things, but when they are told how easy it is to have these great qualities of life, they cannot perceive the facts ... they cannot understand the message.

People want the good life God promises, which is available through faith in Jesus. However, they have so little ability to relate the word of God to the potential of a wonderful life that they cannot even conceive how Christianity has any relationship to a good life. They then seek the great qualities of life by engaging in exactly the things that destroy the qualities they desire. They seek love through physical pleasure, hope through personal work, joy through worldly games, and peace through enforced agreement.

They look, but cannot perceive. They listen, but cannot understand. They reject the context of an almighty father, creator of heaven and earth, and thus can never 'get' the parables.

Prayer: Lord, I thank you for loving me enough to give me context, even in my darkest days. May we help restore that context in the world, and grow the light of your truth in the communities and homes around us. Amen.