The God Who Spoke in Story

by Joshua Olds

I read novels. A lot. Stories excite me. Especially stories that make me think, learn, and grow. Most authors nowadays tell a story for entertainment. If a reader can escape from the realities of humdrum life and into the world of Story, then the author feels successful. But the authors I am drawn to write not just to entertain, but to enlighten; not just to thrill, but to teach; not just to drop jaws, but to open eyes. The best Story is that which puts into concrete terms what exposition can explain only in abstract.

Jesus was well aware of the power of Story. In fact, I suspect that if He had come to earth today, He would have been a novelist. Countless times throughout His ministry, the Gospel writers record Jesus telling a Story to explain a teaching He’d just given or a principle He’d just demonstrated. Parables, they called them: An earthly story with a heavenly meaning. A way for the God of the Universe to get hearts and minds engaged in the important truths He had to share.

Case in point, the Pharisees saw Jesus preaching to tax collectors and sinners. Their tender holier-than-thou sensibilities are indelibly shocked at the sight. For a rabbi to befriend these people would be like your pastor hanging out with drug addicts and prostitutes. It was something certain to be brought up at the next board meeting. Now Jesus could have told the Pharisees that these people were important to God as well, and He did, but He also went a step farther. He found a correlation – something His listeners could relate to. And so he took the ethereal nature of the character of God and likened him to a shepherd who went after a lost sheep, a woman who searched for a lost coin, and a father who wept when his wayward son returned.

Jesus turned what could have been a dry and abstract theological teaching on the nature of God’s omnibenevolence into a powerful and riveting series of stories that would have held much meaning to His listeners. God is a shepherd, He’s a lover, He’s a father. He’s not something abstract that you can’t relate to. He’s the opposite. He’s the Ultimate of what we are pale reflections of. It is through the parables – through Story – that the teaching of God is made relevant to man.

Unfortunately, 2000 years can bring quite a cultural change and modern readers don’t relate with the parables quite so well. The term “The LORD is my shepherd” is used or overused in Christian culture, but do we know what it really means? I don’t think so. We miss the rich layer of intricacies that would have been obvious to a Jewish audience. My future articles are going to focus on discovering this context and plumbing the depths of thought the parables leave us. Let us gather around the feet of the Master Storyteller and listen to the God who spoke in Story.

This blog entry was written exclusively for TheChristianManifesto.com. Please do not post elsewhere on the internet or quote extensively from the entry without prior written consent from TheChristianManifesto.com. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views and positions of The Christian Manifesto. All views expressed are solely those of the blogger.

Josh Olds is a self-styled Jesus geek who loves nothing more than a good theological conversation. He’s an online student at Liberty University majoring in Religion, which he believes is a misnomer, because Christianity isn’t a religion. Josh also runs a book reviewing website called The Christian Critic, and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.