Parables are used when trying to communicate something unknown or difficult. The use of a parable allows the listener to enter into the drama themselves and evaluate how they might behave or with whom they identify. 

The parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector is a masterful piece of storytelling as it causes all of us to react in a particular manner.  Using this parable, Jesus challenges us all to examine our capacity to judge those around us. 

The parable's setting is specific to a first-century Jewish audience who could have easily placed themselves into the drama.

It is set at the sacrifice (tamid) that occurred daily at 3 PM at the temple in Jerusalem. This sacrifice was significant in the faith of all Jews, whether in Israel or throughout the diaspora. 

The daily afternoon sacrifice also becomes a key theme throughout Luke's Gospel and the Book of Acts. 

Join me as we explore the many details of this incredible parable and how it still speaks to the deepest part of our humanity today. 

To help you with your studies, please see the lesson plan below: 

Listen on Apple Podcasts

This video is the second in a two-part series covering the Rich Man and Lazarus, found in Luke 16:19-31. 

If you haven't seen part one, I recommend watching that first as it lays the foundation for today's lesson. Part one can be found here. 

In this second video, we look at the Biblical and cultural references that point to the corrupt priesthood that Jesus includes in the story. 

Join me for the second half of this remarkable parable. 

​To help you with your studies, see the lesson plan and parable notes below:

Listen on SoundCloud

​Throughout the Gospels, Jesus repeatedly conveys a warning to those who find themselves in power but wield that power incorrectly.

The message of those ‘in power’ vs. those ‘out of power’ is particularly focused in Luke’s gospel. More than Matthew, Mark, and John - Luke emphasizes that those in power must take responsibility to act on behalf of the poor and disaffected. 

Into this motif comes the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).

The parable is a masterpiece of storytelling. Jesus uses a framework that would be familiar to his listeners in his first-century Israeli culture (see here or here – are the examples cited most by scholars). 

The familiar folklore surrounds two common themes:
     
    1. The theme of a “role reversal” or a reversal of fortunes – Rich v. Poor. 

    2. The living receiving a message from beyond the grave as a warning. 

Jesus then adapts these common themes to his message and imbues it with references from the Old Testament and cultural thinking from first-century Judaism. 

These combine to create a pointed warning for those in charge - “repent,” or you will lose your inheritance.  

Join me for this two-part series as we explore this parable.  

​To help you with your studies, see the lesson plan below:

​The first century was a volatile time for the nation of Israel. Rome was hated. Religious institutions had been corrupted. The ordinary people suffered injustices of many kinds. 

Jesus came on the scene c.a. 30 AD with a message of forgiveness. Jesus' message is that the path forward to peace is through forgiveness, not violence or hatred of one another (think Zealots). 

Jesus' message was that "a house divided cannot stand" (Matt. 12:25). One must be able to forgive their brother/sister for any upset that has been caused.

Even more than forgiving your fellow Israelite, you must also choose to forgive your enemy and those who persecute you.

This was a hard message to accept. In fact, they rejected it.  

"The Burnt House" museum in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem. 
​This house was burned by the Roman army in 70 AD. 

​Over the next forty years, the violence towards and hatred of one another increased in Israel.

In 66 AD. Rome put it's boot down, and a war began. By 70 AD, Jerusalem was under siege. Eventually, under the command of Titus, the Roman army destroyed both God's Temple and the city of Jerusalem. 

As the Rabbi's reflected back on this period and how God's house could be destroyed a second time, the answer they arrived at was "baseless hatred."

"Baseless hatred" - they hated each other for no reason. 

Join us in this lesson as we compare Jesus' message of forgiveness with the idea of "Baseless Hatred."  

One can' help but recognize the similarities to the times in which we live today. 

To help you with your studies see the lesson plan below:

This is the second of two videos looking at the Parable of the Wicked Tenants (Mark 12:1-12).  

In this video we will look at Psalm 118:22-24 - "the stone the builders rejected" - and look at how Jesus claims to be the "stone."  

Additionally, we will look at a Rabbininc saying that will help us understand a comment that is added in Matthew (Matt. 21:44) and Luke (Luke 20:18). 

​If Jesus is the stone - then woe to the one on whom it falls. 

Stones from the Temple Mount thrown down by the Romans in 70 AD. 

For more photos of the area known as Robinson's Arch at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, click here - Jerusalem Robinson's Arch

To help you with your studies - see the lesson plan below: 

Reference Material:

Brad Young, Jesus the Jewish Theologian -  has an extended discussion of this parable and the connections to Jewish thought. 

The parable of the Wicked Tenants (Mark 12:1-12) is a masterful weaving together of Old Testament passages. 

Jesus directs this message towards the religious leaders - the priests and the teachers of the law. 

With Psalm 2 as a backdrop, Jesus integrates Isaiah 5 and Psalm 118 in a way that conveys two things:

      1. Jesus' identity as the Messiah (the Christ).
      2. the actions of the religious leaders in opposing him. 

By the reaction of the religious leaders, they knew the parable concerned them. 

The confrontation in Mark 12 takes place here at the temple mount in Jerusalem.

A Faith Lesson from this parable is that religious leaders everywhere should be wary of themselves turning into the "tenant farmers" and restricting the fruit of the kingdom through their own actions. 

Let us all - especially those in leadership - take this message to heart. 

Parable of the Wicked Tenants Lesson Plan

Reference Material: 

The first book is by Kenneth E. Bailey. If you want to understand more about Jesus and the Eastern Culture as well as a number of his parables, this book is a must-read.
Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels

The second book is by Brad Young and explores many of Jesus' parables through a Rabbinic perspective: The Parables: Jewish Tradition and Christian Interpretation

See also: Jesus the Jewish Theologian by Brad Young
​
The final book is best if you're further down the road in your studies. The book is a compilation of Rabbinic Parables, but the authors do not spend time going through Jesus' parables. 

They Also Taught in Parables: Rabbinic Parables from the First Centuries of the Christian Era by McArthur and Johnston. ​

The Parable of the Mustard Seed is one of the most well-known and widely discussed of Jesus’ parables.

Perhaps its simplicity is what has captured our imagination.

The parable itself is only two verses long, and yet, the brilliance of its allusions keeps the discussion alive after nearly two-thousand years.

In the final analysis, the parable of the mustard seed – along with the parable of yeast (covered in Introduction to Parables part I) – paint a dynamic picture of the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God is a dynamic force. It requires only a small amount to get started. And yet, from that small amout, it permeates all areas of life. 

Once the kingdom of God begins to advance, no man can stop it.  

Mustard Seeds at Bet Shen, Israel.

We are called to be "kingdom builders." Our job is to plant the seeds where we can. 

Like the mustard seed - our seeds can be small. Yet, through the power of the Holy Spirit, those small seeds grow into a magnificent tree that the kingdom to flourish. ​

Mustard Seed Lesson Plan

​Listen on SoundCloud

Reference Material: 

The first book is by Kenneth E. Bailey. If you want to understand more about Jesus and the Eastern Culture as well as a number of his parables, this book is a must-read.
Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels

The second book is by Brad Young and explores many of Jesus' parables through a Rabbinic perspective: The Parables: Jewish Tradition and Christian Interpretation

​
The final book is best if you're further down the road in your studies. The book is a compilation of Rabbinic Parables, but the authors do not spend time going through Jesus' parables. 

They Also Taught in Parables: Rabbinic Parables from the First Centuries of the Christian Era by McArthur and Johnston. ​

All of us have read Jesus' parables. Some parables have been read over and over through the years.
​
How often, though, have we read a parable and then found ourselves thinking, "Now what did that just mean?" 

Parables (and other storytelling techniques such as fables) are foundational to communication in the ancient Near Eastern culture. Both the Jewish Rabbis and their audiences were expecting teachings to be expressed in vivid stories that captured their imagination. 
​
Telling a parable with a simple story helped the listeners carry the teaching about God with them as they went about their day. The story, woven together with Biblical references, points to "truth-principles" about God, his kingdom, or how we are to live our lives. The story allows the lesson to be told and re-told.  Over time, the truth contained within emerges in powerful ways.

Lesson Plan: 

Reference Material: 

There are many good books on parables. I will provide a reference to three.

The first book - mentioned in the video - is by Kenneth E. Bailey. If you want to understand more about Jesus and the Eastern Culture as well as a number of his parables, this book is a must-read. Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels

The second book is by Brad Young and explores many of Jesus' parables through a Rabbinic perspective: The Parables: Jewish Tradition and Christian Interpretation

The final book, which I mention in the video, is best if you're further down the road in your studies. The book is a compilation of Rabbinic Parables, but the authors do not spend time going through Jesus' parables. 

They Also Taught in Parables: Rabbinic Parables from the First Centuries of the Christian Era by McArthur and Johnston. 

The Bible is an ancient Near Eastern document. As such, communication is always preferred in a "concrete" manner. One of the ways of making an abstract idea "concrete" - and therefore easier to communicate - is to speak in metaphor using something that everyone would know from their surroundings.

A favorite is the use of specific plants. It is the characteristics of the particular plant which carries the message.

In today's video, we look at a peculiar plant that is used by Jeremiah to communicate about those who do not place their trust in God. Join us as we explore this desert plant of Jeremiah 17.

Lesson Handout: 

Reference Material:

For this lesson I refer to a book by Nogah Hareuveni called Desert and Shepherd in our Biblical Heritage.  

​As a note - Nogah Hareuveni is Jewish - so the "our" in the title of his book "in our Biblical Heritage" refers to Jewish heritage. Many of his quotes are from Jewish writings such as the Mishna or Talmud. 

The fastest growing religious cult in the 1st century surrounded the worship of a god called Mithras. Many link the birthday of this god - December 25 - to the dating of the Christmas celebration as we know it today.

Mithras was envisioned as a powerful god who had the ability to control the cosmos. There are no sacred writings from this cult, only the sculptures found within the Mithras worship sites - called Tauroctony.  The Tauroctony tells the story of Mithras through the symbols of the zodiac.

Due to the discovery of the Procession of the Equinoxes by Hipparchus many in the ancient world were looking for a god that was bigger than the cosmos. By the time of the advent of Jesus the world is primed to be looking for a God that has the power to enter the cosmos and bring shalom. 

Join us in this faith lesson as we explore the origins of this mystery cult. 

For further study I recommend the work by David Ulansey. 

You can find an article on the Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras at David Ulansey's website. A link is provided here: http://www.mysterium.com/mithras.html

I also recommend an article that was published in the Journal of Biblical Literature on the cosmic symbolism found within the gospel of Mark. A link provided here: http://www.mysterium.com/veil.html