The disciples came up and asked "Why do you tell stories?"
He replied, "You've been given insight into God's kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight, it hasn't been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That's why I tell stories, to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen til they're blue in the face and not get it.
Matthew 13,
from the Message
There is a Zen saying that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. It seems to me that this something like Jesus is saying here. But the teacher is the story! Each story has something to teach. We may or may not be ready for the teaching; but we remember a story. The stories I've shared with you this week are stories I've heard for years. Some of them have been around for centuries, just waiting to teach something.
Another thing I've learned from stories is that they don't always teach the same lesson to the different people who hear them. And they don't necessarily teach me the same lesson I may have gleaned the first time I heard the tale.
How many sermons have you heard of the good Samaritan, or the scattered seeds, or the widow sweeping her home? And how many different "lessons" have you considered? Too often we may have believed that this or that lesson is the correct meaning. This must be what Jesus really meant by his parable.
But I think otherwise. I think the story may indeed have different lessons to teach at various times and to new generations of hearers. When we are ready we can learn the lesson that is right for us. Even these ancient stories can give us new insights if we let them. Let your heart be open to whatever new lesson the Spirit wants to teach. Let the story nudge you into a new direction.
That's my advice today at the end of this week of stories.
Posted by Marion
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Thank's Marion for the stories you have shared this past week. Love the gentle teaching and wisdom within them.
ReplyDeleteThanks Carole.
ReplyDeleteAs a sometime creator of stories I've learned that a story can bring a lesson that even the creator didn't think about. The story can stay with you until the time is right to learn its lessons.
And it's best not to try to explain "what it means" You can never finally tell.
Hooray for stories!