Discipling through Metaphor
Stephen Terry
Commentary for the January 11, 2014
Sabbath School Lesson
Then he told them many things in
parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the
seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on
rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because
the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and
they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew
up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced
a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let
them hear.” Matthew 13:3-9, NIV
When I was
in elementary school I developed an interest in reading. During one summer break
my mother took me to the public library in our small town and enrolled me in
the summer reading program. As a child, I was overwhelmed by all the books. While
the library was rather small compared to what even a moderate size city might
offer, with all the choices available, I had no idea where to begin. The
helpful librarian, who had an idea what boys my age might like, led me to the
science fiction section. There I discovered Isaac Asimov and spent the summer
traveling with his hero, David “Lucky” Starr, as he visited the moons of
Jupiter, fought pirates in the asteroid belt, and explored the rings of Saturn.
Those of us
in the reading program were given rocket ships made out of colored construction
paper to post on the cork bulletin board in the library, and as we read books
over the summer, the librarian would give us gold stars to affix to the
rockets. I became so deeply addicted to reading thanks to the exciting stories,
that my rocket had enough stars to look like it was indeed traveling the space
lanes. I have loved reading ever since. Over the years, my tastes have changed,
and I read more history, theology, and philosophy now than fiction, but those
early fictional heroes taught me important lessons about what it meant to be
heroic.
I learned
that heroes stand for the right, not because everyone else does, but because it
is the right thing to do. I learned that when you are down, don’t give up,
because things can swiftly turn around. I also learned that true friends are
heroes as well, and you can count on them when the going gets rough. Perhaps
one of the most important lessons was that those heroic friends can come from
almost anywhere. You cannot identify them by looks, wealth, charm or education.
They may be flawed. They may make mistakes, even serious ones. But when you are
in need, and they stand in the gap for you, none of that matters.
Perhaps it
was these early morality plays acted out on the leaves of books by Isaac Asimov,
Robert Heinlein, Andre Norton, and others that created the foundation for my
later appreciation for the stories of Jesus. The first biblical story I
remember hearing as a child was told to several of us children in Sunday school
at a local Baptist church. It was about a paralytic’s friends ripping up the
roof of a house so they could lower their friend down through the rafters to
Jesus.[i]
I thought, “How crazy is that?” I wondered about the reaction of the home owner
to the destruction of his property. But then I heard the Sunday school teacher
saying that Jesus healed the paralyzed fellow, and he was able to walk out on
his own two feet. Maybe the home owner was so excited to see the healing that
he no longer cared about the roof.[ii]
On another
Sunday, I heard about how doing kindnesses to our enemies would heap coals of
fire on their heads.[iii] I
immediately thought of a certain bully in school running around trying to put
out the fire in his hair. While I have since learned that some bullies don’t
care and will only be enabled by those acts of kindness, I have come to terms
with that and understand that treating people with respect and kindness should
be done for its own sake, and not to make people feel guilty. In any event, any
ultimate Karma is best left up to God to dispense. It continues to amaze me how
many feel that even with limited knowledge about someone or something, they can
feel comfortable passing judgment on who is deserving of the burning coals of
justice and who is not.
As time went
on, and I heard more and more about Jesus and the things He said and did, I
began to see that He lived a heroic life. I also saw that the heroism of His
life was echoed repeatedly throughout the Bible by the lives of others, like
Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon. I felt drawn to this biblical heroism
and my heart was becoming fertile ground for a personal encounter with Jesus.
This happened when I was a teenager and attending a weekly meeting of the youth
group of the local Nazarene church. The adult leader was impressed during the
closing prayer to ask for those who wished to know Jesus better to raise their
hand. I did so and was then taken into the den in the house where we were
meeting and led to give my heart to Jesus.
Something
happened when I was on my knees in that room that evening. A voracious appetite
for understanding the Bible was born. I began reading the Bible with an
intensity that must have astonished others. And with that reading, questions began
coming to my mind. As I raised questions about what I was reading in the Sunday
school, the teachers did not have answers, so I began to look elsewhere. I
enrolled in a Bible Study correspondence course from the Worldwide Church of
God. However, after only a dozen or so lessons, I discovered what they said the
Bible said and what I could see it was saying did not match up, so I abandoned
that effort.
Sometime
later, I discovered another correspondence course and sent an enrollment card
to Box 55, Los Angeles, California. Some may instantly recognize that address.
I have never forgotten it as it was a watershed moment in my life when I
enrolled in studies with The Voice of Prophecy. Ultimately, because of the
questions my continuing studies raised, I was driven from the church I was
attending as they did not wish to deal with them, and I eventually found my way
to the Seventh-day Adventist church where I continue to attend to this day,
several decades later. While I still ask hard questions and some are
uncomfortable with that, no one has yet driven me from fellowship and I
appreciate that open and supportive environment for continued study and growth.
My hunger
for Bible Study has never abated. It led me to majors in Theology and Biblical
Languages from Walla Walla University, and along the way, it changed my life
and continues to change it to this very day. As a result of those studies, I
continue to explore the many tidal pools and estuaries of what I am discovering
is an infinite theological ocean filled with wonders and dotted with islands
containing buried treasures.
When I first
began this lifetime journey, I understood the Bible and God only in the
simplistic sense of those early science fiction hero stories, where right was
right and wrong was wrong and morality was entirely black and white. However, I
have come to understand that God is so infinitely transcendent that I will
probably never be able to see those questions of right and wrong entirely as He
sees them. I simply do not have the vantage point He has. This leads me to want
to repent in sack cloth and ashes for the judging I have done of others,
believing that I was an agent of God for such judgment, a God that I have never
fully understood, yet acted as though I did.
Through all
of this, I have discovered a deep truth that continually astonishes me. When I
was young and read of Lucky Starr’s space adventures, I would sometimes read
them again. However, once I knew how the story went, they lost their magic and
to this day I continue to find it difficult to read fictional works more than
once for that reason. But the Bible is different. I have long ago lost count of
how many times I have read it through. Every time I finish, I begin again. Surprisingly,
each time I read it through, it is like a new book. Subtle nuances of the
verses peer out at me from hidden alcoves I had not seen before, and when I see
these subtleties, my heart is thrilled with wonder at why I did not see them
before.
This is the
glory of the parables of Jesus, as well. On the surface they are simple stories
grounded in the common business of everyday life. Yet, it is possible to plumb
these stories to great depths and never exhaust the fathoms of those waters.
While there is something there to guide us in simplicity, there is also much to
intrigue the most advanced intellect. No matter where we are on our voyage of
discovery, there are always new seas to sail and new ports to explore.
