And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them (Mark 4.2)

We underestimate how confusing Jesus was during His earthly ministry. We almost begin to assume that because the crowds of thousands followed Him across deserts and up mountainsides they all responded to His message. We sanctify not only the humanity of Christ but also that of His audience. Besides those pesky Pharisees and doubting Sadducees surely everyone in Jesus' audience was fully conscious that they were meeting with God Himself... but such was not the case. They came for healing, for release, for mystical meals and divine wonders, but many of them went no further than witnessing Jesus' supremacy as a spectator sport.

Fully aware of this Jesus placed His words of truth into parables, truth-filled stories and illustrations to confound the proud and ignite the humble, to confuse the spectators and eternally free the searching. We take this reality for granted with our generations of commentary and easy access to information. At times even the closest disciples didn't understand what Jesus was saying. It should be no shock to us then that Jesus will speak to us today through parables. Jesus the parable pronouncer will use the adventures of our own lives, the unusual experiences of our daily existence.

Are we listening? In the pressing crowds around Jesus are we there to reap some magical advantage, to demystify Jesus' divinity with doubt, or to experience the presence of God with us? Jesus is speaking. He is proclaiming His truth in the mundane and miraculous of our biographies. Are we listening?

Jesus, give me ears to hear and eyes to see the Word you are pronouncing in my life.