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113: Lesser Known Parables In The Bible (Part 2)
42 Plays8 days ago
Jesus was a master storyteller. Through the use of parables, He could reveal His true nature and communicate important spiritual truths. The stories His followers recorded hold our attention, stir our emotions, and help us remember His teachings. The most popular are recognized by those outside the faith (e.g., the Good Samaritan) and the teachings they contain continue to challenge Jesus’s followers today. In Storyteller, we will look at some of the lesser-known parables to uncover what Jesus was telling His first followers about the Kingdom of God that we are still trying to understand today.
Pastor Chuck Schlie and Ryan Pfendler joined Jill Devine this week to talk about the lesser known parables they preached on during our Storyteller series; The Narrow Door, Workers In The Vineyard, and The Great Banquet.
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
The following podcast is a Jill Devine Media production. Christianity has become known for judgy people, strange words, ancient stories, confusing rules, and a members-only mindset. This is why I stayed away from the church for so long, but it's not supposed to be that way. I'm Jill Devine, a former radio personality with three tattoos, a love for a good tequila, and who's never read the entire Bible. Yet, here I am hosting a podcast about faith. The Normal Goes Along Way podcast is your home for real conversations with real people using real language about how faith and real life intersect. Welcome to the conversation. Welcome, Pastor Chuchley and Ryan Finler. Welcome back. Oh, thanks. It's always great to be with you, Jill. Wow, wow, wow. We're thrilled to be part of the show grab here at Normal. The show grab. Uh, is that like a old-person competition? That's rude. That's rude. Don't call him old. He's not old. Seasoned. Veteran. yeah
00:01:06
Speaker
and he's a veteran she see Seasoned experience. raing ah Yes. Yes. Okay. Anyway, that's not what we're here to talk about, but we can. You're welcome. I'd love having you guys on. So in our previous episode, I had Pastor Jim Mueller on and we talked about our Storyteller Sermon series that we did at Messiah.
00:01:29
Speaker
I always like to get you guys in to talk about some of the things that maybe you didn't get a chance to preach it but upon or something that maybe I noticed that I had never, ever, ever, ever heard. And what we first talked about with Jim parables. What is a parable? Explain in your own words.
00:01:50
Speaker
I believe at the Messiah St. Charles confirmation class formally taught by Pastor Chuck Schli. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. How's that?
00:02:03
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's pretty good for a basic. It's basically ah Jesus telling some story that mental people could relate to, and but he's really talking about stuff that's um invisible. So he's giving a visible story about things that are invisible. He's really talking about the kingdom of God and spiritual stuff.
00:02:26
Speaker
But a parable also happens in a world that we used the word before in previous conversations, a secular world, which means non-religious. I asked Pastor Jim if he ever grew up with a parable in the secular world and he gave one. Do you guys have one?
00:02:48
Speaker
I first thought would be like Aesop's fables are usually you know it's about a fox and some grapes and a mirror or whatever and the point is you know don't shove too much in your mouth or be thankful for what you have. have one. Um, first look goes to mine is the boy who cried wolf. That's like, that's a parable. Yeah. Kid complains about things that don't matter. And then when it does matter, he gets eaten by wolf. So the lesson is, uh, shut up. Are you going to tell that one to your yeahs your daughter? before bed time Oh, I don't know. Speaking of, I don't think our audience knows that you are expecting a daughter in December. Yeah, we are.
00:03:34
Speaker
Okay, we'll have a separate combo about that. ah yeah it's right All those judgy things. Flipping coins over the names. Whatever you do, don't tell people. I i agree. 100% do not tell anyone. You come up with this great name, let's just pick a name. I'm gonna say Jill.
00:03:54
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. And then someone will say, Oh, I knew a Jew. And she was the kid always eat paste. Right. Or how are you going to spell it? Oh, you can't spell it like that because then why? and Yes, they won't know.
00:04:10
Speaker
number Seven ah love her cu so yeah, that's a whole nother thing. Let's go back to our parabels yeah parables So what would you say are the most known parables in the Bible? Would you say oh yeah I? would say the um the lost sheep one is that one yep, and then I The coins, is it gold coins? Am I get... Okay, those. And then the follow-up, so Jesus tells that story about the lost sheep, then about the lost coins, then he comes in with the big daddy, which is... ah parol um The prodigal son. yes yeah
00:05:01
Speaker
Okay, so we're not going to go into those. We can have individuals do that. a good samaritan Oh, yes. Pastor Jim brought that one up. Okay. So you guys decided as a team, we're going to talk about the lesser known parables.
00:05:17
Speaker
and What I have written down for each of yours, Ryan, you taught on the workers in the vineyard. Chuck, you taught on the narrow door and the great banquet. I will tell you, Chuck, the great banquet, man, that was so great. Say more.
00:05:38
Speaker
it's head yeah what comes out Let me tell you why. This is my story. I'm just telling Jesus. I know, but that's what's so cool that they you guys are the storytellers too. And what's wonderful is what you guys are, however you prep, praying beforehand, asking the Holy Spirit to come in and whatever words that come to you Somebody is going to take something different from each message. It's going to hit somebody in a different way. One sentence can be one thing to one.
00:06:11
Speaker
So for me with the great banquet and just talking about that one, when you described, I had no idea that these excuses, which you can talk about what it is, but these excuses were so rude and outlandish and then you compared them. So can we can we go with that first?
00:06:33
Speaker
um I'm fully on board with what you said about how story or message sermon can hit people differently um Because that always surprises me sometimes I'll finish up and it works both ways. and I'll go man. Sorry, but that was awesome not clagging just saying it was good and I look out there and I get like you know it looks like an oil painting you know it's like hey wake up this is and then other times when I'm like oh what flunker that was you know they move Chuck and somebody come up to me with tears in their eyes going you were talking to me and I'm like
00:07:17
Speaker
Jim said the exact same thing. Yeah. Okay, back to your question now. Sorry. but No, that's okay. I'm glad you said those things. Yeah, but that's what hit me right away that, you know what? God's word is powerful and it's active and preacher can be good, bad, or otherwise, but some will get some stuff done through it because it works.
00:07:42
Speaker
Well, and you guys work too. So, I mean, just, yeah. Okay, so my prep is definitely pray beforehand. Okay. And here's my prayer. Holy Spirit, I got nothing.
00:07:56
Speaker
I am out. I don't even know what to say anymore. I've said it all before, and I've got nothing new. I don't have a creative bone in my body. Help me, help me, help me. Let's go. That's basically the prayer. And then you just start writing? um No. I start looking up, at first of all time reading what I'm supposed to be preaching on a few times, but then I go to people who are smarter than me.
00:08:22
Speaker
and I pull out let's say it was on the parable of the great banquet I will go to my library and read everything that anybody has ever said about the parable of great banquet and basically steal their good stuff and hopefully I quote them and give them credit but I'm just looking for an idea I looking for a way to connect it to real life and you know I want I think y'all and Ryan you're really a great preacher already too Yeah. And Jim's awesome. And I think what we try to do is we realize this might be our one shot at people. So let's not go through the motions. Let's not assume everyone knows what we're talking about. Let's hopefully do our best so that God can do good stuff throughout.
00:09:11
Speaker
When prepping for The Great Banquet, did you feel, because you guys are trained, to you are educated, you know stuff a little bit more than the average Joe, but did you feel like you had a great understanding of it before you started to preach on it?
00:09:32
Speaker
The basics of it, sure. The basics, I think a child could get it. ah Jesus invites people, and they come up with excuses, and they miss out. Okay, on that very basic. Right. Yes. But then I go to, and they have these wonderful books called Commentaries, where people smarter than I am have dissected every word of that parable and pulled all kinds of stuff out of it.
00:10:00
Speaker
and half the time it's over in my head. But my job, I think, is to take what these geniuses have said and apply it to regular people. Yeah. Yeah. Like, okay, so when I i first got out of the seminary, I did a whole libel study. it was I don't know where it was on. And you know I was just wowing people with my genius. And at the end of it, and I'll never forget it. This was really helpful. At the end of it, this dear woman asked me a question. I said, any questions? And her question was, who was the St. Paul guy you keep talking about?
00:10:42
Speaker
I went, oh no, shoot, I've been talking past you and over you. And and o Chuck, you know, it was like, man, that opened my eyes quite a bit. And I think if I were to put myself in her shoes,
00:11:02
Speaker
That was probably a really brave, bold thing for her to ask. Oh, yeah. That is sincere. She was like... Right. Who's the St. Paul guy you keep talking about? I'm like, oh, wow. And we need that.
00:11:17
Speaker
yeah How about we have coffee? Let's have a look. Yeah, I just missed the whole boat. I haven't even set it up. You know, I was just yak, yak, yak, yak. Would you explain the Great Banquet, the three excuses and the comparison you did for what our excuses would be today?
00:11:37
Speaker
Yeah. And so I just want to give credit to this guy, Ken Bailey. Ken Bailey, he wrote this really thick book and he lived in the Middle East for years and years and years. And he knew his Greek language and Aramaic and the stuff where the Bible, that's the language of the original text of the Bible. And he knows this stuff up and down. And so I got my stuff from him. Okay. So when I read that, I'm like, Oh snap.
00:12:06
Speaker
we i've got Yeah. And then I made up my own excuse. I didn't use him. Okay. He had more kind of fancy language. Right. And I just said, you know, oh, when these guys said I have to try out my oxen, I have to buy this piece of property. He gave the background like nobody in the Middle East just buys property.
00:12:29
Speaker
You go through this year-long process to see if it rains. How does the water work? Is the soil good? Does it grow anything? Because if you buy the wrong piece of property, you die. So nobody just goes out one day and buys property. I said, oh, it's kind of like if you would go out just on a whim and buy a house. Yeah. And tell you what, hey, I'm not going to be late today because I'm buying a house and I want to see what kind of house I bought.
00:12:52
Speaker
but No, no, this is bizarre. And that's what Jesus, and he always tells these extreme examples, you know, the most weirdest examples. And so to his original audience, when he said, I have to go out and look at this field I just bought,
00:13:15
Speaker
people would have lost their minds. They would have been like cracking up on that. Like, no, duh, nobody does that. Or, I'm gonna go try out this ox and I'm gonna just pull it. No, no, they would have been like rolling on their side like, oh, come on, nobody does that. But we read that and go, okay. Yeah. Okay, go check out your field. Or the- The third one, of course, was the one that's a little dicey. But I had no clue. Just got married so I can't come.
00:13:41
Speaker
And I was like, oh, well, that makes sense because they're newlyweds and they've got to be together. Kim Bailey points out like the original language is, uh, I'm going to be getting busy with a woman. And we need to hear that. Yeah.
00:13:59
Speaker
So they'll can do it that's that that's what I'm saying is that when you read the Bible, we have to have all of these discussions. We have to know, like, again, that's it just adds yes, to understand.
00:14:15
Speaker
and me What about you, Ryan? Were you pretty confident with the workers in the vineyard or? Yeah, well, it's interesting. i think I think some of the parables Jesus shares are timely and some of them are timeless. And Chuck, you have a very timely one and like Jesus is using these examples. You have to read a book by a guy who lived in the Middle East for years to understand the kind of examples Jesus is sharing. Like we can kind of conceptualize, okay, these people are making excuses, but you don't really get
00:14:52
Speaker
How is it? Yeah. Right, because your whole point was, in our minds, we're not buying oxen and we're not buying fields. No. And so we're like, oh, okay, these are excuses. Yeah. Hey, you're having a Thanksgiving party. You did all the shopping, you did all the stuff, all the prep, and then it's time to eat and people say, I got to go along on a return library. Yeah. Right. and So that's really cool. yeah Like, no. Yeah. no I think that's fun in sermon prep to kind of say, okay, here's these weird examples I don't get. I have to read and dig into like the time and place that Jesus lived and and the kind of story he's sharing and okay, is this a good excuse or bad excuse? So some parables you have to dig in like that to understand versus
00:15:43
Speaker
The workers in the vineyard, that's a tireless example of a person who works eight hours and a person who works one hour gets paid the same, even today we get that that's not fair. ah You don't have to do a lot of translation there. People get, wait, there's one guy that shows up at the beginning of the workday and works all day, and he gets paid the same as a guy who works one hour on the clock. like No matter when you live, you get that something weird and different is going on here. And even in some senses, something unfair is going on. Yes, I really like that. But how do you take that into a 30-minute message?
00:16:21
Speaker
so this one what i try to think through is who's going to be the type of person that pushes back against this. And so there are some weeks that I think the pushback would come from maybe like a first time person, an unchurched person showing up. They're going to hear this teaching you from Jesus and it's going to really challenge them. Workers in the vineyard is a challenge to the people who are in the church and who have been churched. And so that's it.
00:16:50
Speaker
You start off, I start off kind of by identifying, okay, what type of person is going to push back against what Jesus is saying here and why would they push back? And what do they need to hear to trust that Jesus is saying something true and right that we should listen to and follow?
00:17:06
Speaker
So I guess I'm always thinking through my head, if I were to just on the spot share with you, Jesus shares this parable here, what would your first reaction or pushback be to it? So um I'm trying to identify those pieces there. And I'm also thinking through, okay, like I've worked an hourly job before, so I've been in this situation.
00:17:33
Speaker
And so in my experience working an hourly job, like what was that experience like thinking through that and one of the first interesting things I thought of is just because you show up to work for eight hours doesn't mean you're working eight hours. And that was just a funny like way of seeing it that I never thought of before that these workers are obsessing over the hours that they worked. I have worked enough hourly jobs and I have been maybe the hourly worker who clocks in for eight hours
00:18:06
Speaker
and conveniently takes a lot of breaks and goes to the back. And meanwhile, the person that shows up for one to two hours, they're doing a whole lot more than me. Thinking through that experience, I'm like, oh man, how many people have I met in the church who have been Christians their whole lives, been in the church their whole lives and have been comfortable sitting in the back. And then you meet someone who gets to know Jesus at 50 or 60. And they are so passionate and on fire for the gospel that they can do way more in those last 10 to 20 years of their life than than some of us do in 80 years of knowing Jesus. And so to me, that's the big challenge is just because you've been here for a while doesn't necessarily mean, oh, I've i've done more than that person. I've done more than that person.
00:18:55
Speaker
And so what really happens in that parable is, is you see people playing the comparison game and we all get the comparison game. Like I've done more than them, therefore I deserve more than them. Or really what it means is I've been here longer, which means that person deserves less than me. It's one way to think I've been here longer, so I deserve more.
00:19:22
Speaker
than someone else. When you realize what you're really saying is, I've been here longer, which means they deserve less than in the parable of the workers in the vineyard, what's happening is the people that have been around all day, have been working all day, think that those who have come to the field later deserve less than they do. To translate that to the church, it means someone like me who's been in the church my whole life thinks that someone who comes to know Jesus at fifties is somehow less deserving of the rewards of Jesus than I am.
00:20:01
Speaker
And that's the real challenge there, I think, to to us lifelong Christians. To say, if you if you give into this kind of mindset that you deserve more because you've been here longer, what you're saying is somehow that 50-year-old that comes to know Jesus later in life doesn't deserve the full reward that Jesus won for them. And really, it's Jesus' reward and payment to give to begin with. So it's not up to us to decide who deserves it and who doesn't. And I think truthfully, Jesus's reward was generous for all of us. And so none of us, right? we I think I dug into Romans five. All of us are sinners and fall short of the glory of God. All of us, even those lifelong Christians, which means everything we get from Jesus is generous.
00:20:56
Speaker
And so, you know, that's kind of the end of the passages. The master is like, are you angry at my generosity? Almost like those first-hour workers are forgetting that that master was generous, that the worker was generous with them.
00:21:10
Speaker
So that's kind of the process that I went through for this is what would someone, when they hear this message about the parable of the workers that have been here, what's gonna challenge them? What's their pushback? And so for this one, yeah, the pushback point was, if I'm a lifelong Christian, don't I deserve more? All right, well, what about The Narrow Door? That was the very first one of our series, right? Wasn't it? I think it was. Yeah. I think it was, yeah.
00:21:39
Speaker
basically told a story about how I was on a field trip with my daughter and I was a little stressed about when the tour guide said coming up to Fat Man's Misery and my daughter looked at me like but oh want i like I got this but I was actually level and go oh a about this and just as a way of introducing Jesus was talking about and I would that little story that Jesus tells
00:22:13
Speaker
should wake us up a little bit and it and it naturally does when he says only a few are going to be able to fit through he's talking about you know the door to heaven and all of a sudden we go oh okay we start questioning am am i going to make it and maybe he gets this little worried until you realize he is the door and just follow him Any final thoughts on these the lesser known parables? oh me i just We could have done this for five months. Well, yeah, that's the question. How many more would you have taught on? I would have done it only five for sure, personally. But you do start to pick up similar themes in times of parables, always talking about money again.
00:23:05
Speaker
You know, they're he's got like five or six that are about what you're hoping money. since That goes back to what i'm said what I said at the beginning is one parable might not hit someone, but that other parable which has the same meanings hits another person. So it's like, why not teach on those? Some of those parables don't get answered at the end. Like they don't get resolved. Like many times he just leaves the story hanging. You go, well, now what?
00:23:34
Speaker
What happens next? What happens next is what happens to you. How do you read it? Are you going to just make any difference to you at all? So you get to say that you have the three parables in a row with Luke 15. You mentioned the the lost sheep and and the lost coin here. That one, I did that one, which we were doing lesser. But I wouldn't talk about lost coins. I'd talk about lost credit cards. Then we go, oh, yeah.
00:24:01
Speaker
Right. That's a big deal. Oh, that's right. Well, I lost growing like yeah, what's a big deal? So what yeah, well if you lose your car keys or you know Also, you aren't really sweeping the house and looking around go. Where's my stupid car keys for liquor and when you find it you're like the Right, that's in the point is that's God's the father's reaction when somebody comes to him he goes whoa Awesome. some We got a celebrating party And then you get to the parable, the prodigal son, you got the, you know, the son of water's off okay, and he comes home, and then you got that the older brother who represents the the religious types. And then, that the father goes out to him, to the older son and says, hey, come on into the party, we gotta go celebrate. The end. And we don't know, does he go in and celebrate?
00:24:52
Speaker
Does he not? Does he stay outside? What happens? It's a Christopher Nolan movie. It's the ending's up daughter's interpretation. Oh. Oh. The question kind of turns to you. What would you do? Are we going to celebrate? Are we going to mens? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mic drop. Yeah. I like this because ah even I got old disclosure, I think Jim, Parable of Fig Tree was the least known of the whole because full disclosure, he says, Hey, I'm doing the parable of fig tree. Now there's two fig tree moments with Jesus. There's one where he curses a fig tree and then there's the parable of fig tree. And so Jim says, I'm doing the fig tree one. And I'm like, Oh, where Jesus curses the fig tree and goes, no, the parable of fig tree. I'm like, Oh yeah, right. Parable of fig tree. And I walk out of the room and I Google, what's the parable of fig tree?
00:25:46
Speaker
Sure, that one. That's a good one. ah So even I was like, wow, because it's such a short one. And because it's so short and kind of happens, right? It's in Luke. It's never even been one in my mind that I would think of as this is a parable, but it is a parable. So I loved it for that reason. I'm like, oh, shoot, I learned something.
00:26:09
Speaker
And the punchline of all these stories that Jesus tells is they're really outlandish for the first time listener. The original listener, these were outlandish stories and they're always upside down. It always caught people off guard. They'd never make sense. You get the the shrewd manager or the guy gets busted for cheating and he kind of gets rewarded for it.
00:26:35
Speaker
You're like, what? The worker's in the vineyard, you know? Guy works one hour and he gets paid the same, you're like, what? And all these parables are like, at the end, you're like, what? He's like, yes, my kingdom is totally upside down. It does not work the way this world works and it's much more fun, all I mean. And I think I can't help but read it. As a Christian, I'm like, these are all This is all good news. this is all These are all great stories that we all should agree with and think is great, but then you, yes, like you said, you think back to those first years, I think a lot of them were actually really challenged by it and some of them even turned off by it. They wanted to kill him for it. Ever since, he's telling the story. Hey, I remember, and guess what? You ain't coming. And they're like, excuse me? Uh-huh.
00:27:27
Speaker
What? Yeah. And then when he walked out, I'm like, they said, we got to kill this guy. Yeah. So like a deep dive, like, I didn't get into this because ah I'm not Jewish, so I don't think it would work. but um I was thinking through mine with the parable, the workers in the vineyard, Jesus is talking about people who've born the heat of the day all day long and then you get these kind of last minute workers coming to the end and they get all the same reward. And I'm thinking, I wonder if he's also talking about
00:28:00
Speaker
when he brings the Gentiles into the church. And these Jewish people he's talking to have gone through centuries of suffering. They've had slavery, they've had exile, they've had suffering under foreign rulers, they've borne all these things as God's people, but they thought, man, I have the reward at the end. And then when Jesus comes in and welcomes the Gentiles, and I'm sure some of them felt like They get to come in for free when us and our people have suffered all this time for you, God. Like I'm, we hear, oh, the guy that comes in last minute, like gets to go to heaven, get, you know, get saved for free. That's great. That's good news. But for those people, they're probably like, that was probably a little bit insulting. I bet, I bet they were,
00:28:53
Speaker
Angry to hear that to think what has this 2,000 years of suffering 3,000 years of suffering been for I thought we were the special people and so Yeah, even in mine you go back and look back at the original people hearing it and it's like oh I could see them being frustrated at that with the fig tree the original the symbol for Israel was the fig tree and he's saying if they ain't gonna produce I'm cutting that I'm cutting it down yeah I'm sure they went they they went out of their minds they're like look at the rocks all of a sudden I throw this guy yeah but I mean Jesus is yeah like we we might look at these don't look at them as cute little stories so
00:29:37
Speaker
They are loaded. They are loaded. And offensive. I have to say this as a listening to you guys and Jim, I could sit here, I'm like a kid, and I could sit here and listen to you guys talk like as if you were there. like I can see it in your minds. like The way that you guys can tell these stories and these facts and these events, and I just sit here like, wow. like That's really cool. The passion and the way that you talk about it to where somebody who just has, you know, still learning, I'm like,
00:30:18
Speaker
it It's really cool to witness, and I'm just like, it doesn't matter. I vision i get visualize what we have in um our family room where the kids go, and it's ah it's a picture of Jesus with all the kids like pulling on him, and then some of them are sitting and he's reading, and like you don't have to be a kid to be doing that. like I feel that way right now, listening to the way you guys ... You were there. like You know what happened. That's cool.
00:30:47
Speaker
It is cool, but never forget, they pay us money to sit in our offices and read and learn and somehow communicate. Well, I appreciate that. And don't forget to follow us on Instagram and Facebook at normalgoestalongway. You can also head to normalgoestalongway.com and feel free to contact any of us. All of our contact information is there and we would love to hear from you. you And if you have a topic or a guest that you think that we should tackle, please, please let us know. Again, all of our contact information is at normalgosalongway.com.