¶ Bible Breakdown
Hi everybody welcome to Christian AF . We are talking with Evan on a telephone , a hand telephone a landmine , a landmine . We are talking a little bit about parables today . This is our Bible breakdown .
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Eventually Maybe . It's definitely better than Google . Hello everybody , Welcome to Christian AF . It's like Bush Bush .
Yeah , i'm assuming Bush is an Anizer Bush .
Yeah .
Oh , is it ? I guess I don't really thought that through Bush . Bush . You never see Bush commercials anymore . That's fine , i feel like they don't need it . You do now .
I've never seen them until that commercial .
That's a thing I don't think . you rarely you see , you don't see the Bud Light really . Remember Real Men of Genius , the Bud Light like the Real Men of . Genius . We salute you . Mr Mowing the Lawn and White Tennis Shoes . Mr Mowing the Lawn and White Tennis Shoes Yeah , Those were the greatest .
I don't remember any of those .
Those were the greatest .
Those were the best commercials ever made .
Great Welcome .
They moved from that to and those twins Remember that one with like the blonde like Hooter Girl twins . And now to Dylan Mulvaney .
Anyway , welcome to another Bud Light Will they sponsor us .
I wonder Hard , no , i wonder What do we have ?
to do to get Bud Light sponsorship Give your firstborn . He thought about that way too long , not that one , maybe the middle one Or ?
Bush . Can we just get the Bush like the one that nobody buys ?
I mean that's a higher chance .
Maybe Mad Dog 4040 .
What is the difference ? 4040 . Mag Dog 40 .
Is there a difference between Bud Light and Bush ?
I mean no , it's all It's gotta be the same beer , pure swill .
I don't think I've ever drank in drunken , drunken it .
Bush No , it's not a word .
Drunken , drunken , drunken . We're talking a little Bible breakdown .
It's a Bible breakdown . Sorry , that was a callback to next week .
No , you're wrong . This episode we're recording . We'll come out after .
Isn't next week the fifth Wednesday ?
Oh wait .
No , i guess May starts on Monday or Sunday .
Either way , you're listening to this on the right episode .
We know what we're doing . We're professional .
Today we're doing our Bible breakdown , So , as per usual , it'll be a short one , aka not short at all .
We just go where the wind takes us , you know .
Basically , Today we're talking about No wind to hold them Parables .
No wind to hold them . Who sang that ? That's a- .
We have been on a music kick , is that- ? No , i'm just kidding , i don't know .
I can't search that . I don't want to have my Spotify .
No way to run . You don't count no money What ? You never heard that song , you don't know that one .
Like no- . Is it country ? Yeah , i don't know , but it's like old school country , though , or much like your fake country . One from the other one Teahite , teahite .
Teah-Pain has a very distinct voice . Just because you thought it sounded country in my impersonation .
Well , it's your white-ass bitch voice .
Wow , that was rude It was rude .
I'm sorry , I'm so sorry .
It was Kenny Rogers by the way , rogers , i don't know I was close by Chesney , was there Not close ?
But it Yeah , the Kenny Got a Kenny . Anyway , we're talking about parables today and what they are for . Go ahead .
Pastor .
What's your favorite parable ? The donkey , no , i'm just- .
Who doesn't read their Bible at the table ?
The parables . There are so many that are just ripoffs of the other parable And the Matthew 13 parables . It's like you just told that parable in a different way . Yeah , Come up with a new story , Come on , we know the point . No parables , so they're not true stories . They're not true stories , Obviously by the name .
Yeah , like there is a huge torsion attraction in Israel of the inn for the Good Samaritan .
Oh , really Yeah .
Yeah , however , the Good Samaritan isn't a true story , so it's a parable .
So it's just like they just- .
They're like oh , here's a building on the road that this must have been the inn . No , it's not true story , So probably .
So okay .
Yeah , i feel like we already need to start over .
Why That was awkward , why- .
I'll cut the awkward part .
Why does T-Pain have a country accent ?
It wasn't country , it was still a country . He has to buy you a drink .
The word drank just automatically sounds country From a white person .
Sorry , go ahead . Does he probably need a drink ?
This is the day Jen quit officially .
She took her headphones off .
She's over it . So the point of a parable . So is Jesus the only one who told parables ?
Let's start there . Who else told parables ? A bunch of people . Okay , it was a genre of teaching I mean ASAP , okay .
Okay .
Oh , that's a fable . So fables are animals . Allegories are stories where every aspect of the story means something . Parables are untrue stories that are proving a point or exposing a truth . So , whereas fables are like the torus and the hare , or mother goose or ace up , yeah , and where the animals play the role or animal farm , or those are all fables .
Or Disney , or Disney Like Robin Hood , yeah , classic Yeah . Oh , sorry , i was trying to think of the little John little . Robin Hood , little John walking through the forest , scooping up the field mice and bottom on the head . That's why I was going to say that It does have the same .
Even it's not at all right . It's not .
Robin Hood . Little John walking through the forest is right .
What's that ? That's a different like scooping up the field . That's a little bunny .
Who walking through the forest scooping up . Wow Okay , we've been on anyway , that was a journey .
¶ Understanding Parables in the Bible
I'm not even sure where we are , what day is it parables . May man . Basically kicking my ass .
It's April 27th .
No , but this is coming out of me , so just leave it alone .
You're about to go on vacation , it's all right .
That's actually more stressful vacation to leave , yeah , when you're like when , yeah , anyway .
I love it . I love being like Oh , can't contact me for two weeks . I love it . Even I would if I could .
Yeah , that doesn't work that way , anyway , so if we ? if so , the Bible is with parables , you're saying , is made up story to prove a point or prove a truth , or expose the truth .
Is there not exposed Reveal a truth .
Okay And are I'm just trying to think of , like the right way to say it , what I'm trying to say , where they are they like ? because I think when I hear people teach on parables , a lot of times they come to different conclusions or use like the same parable to reveal like five different truths .
There's only one truth , yeah .
But you know what I'm saying . Right Like people use tend to interpret them , which I guess people do with the Bible quite frequently in general . Right Like trying to prove the point they want to with a , with a parable or with any part of the Bible .
And so I think , especially if we hear people teaching on a parable , what's the best way to fact check , if you would .
Yeah , right .
Because I think our gut is to like , just trust whatever we hear from someone in a teaching capacity within the church , but or like , give us an example , i guess , of like , if so , like what someone could say is the point of one and what , how to kind of reflect on that .
Yeah . So parables again , they are made up , stories that are rooted in common situations or common reality , that are trying to prove a truth or trying to expose or present a truth . So I think there are six things that parables do . The first thing is parables always make truths concrete rather than abstract .
So , for instance , the parable of , let's say , the Good Samaritan , the parable of the Good Samaritan , is not necessarily about the Samaritan , not necessarily about the Jewish guy got beat up , but it's . It's about the nature of religious elitism and religiosity versus the way of Christ . Christ in the story is the Samaritan .
He is the one who steps in regardless of belief and helps . That's the story of the Good Samaritan . Jonah is a parable . The book of Jonah is a parable And Jonah a common . It's a common understanding .
So , like back to the Good Samaritan , it was widely known by the people who heard it that the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was very dangerous in terms of robbers and all that stuff . It's also widely known that there were ends , various ends , where you could stop in and grab a drink , rest your feet for a little bit . So that that was also true .
It was also well known that wherever a priest goes , so does a Levite , because a Levite was a like the priest's assistant . So with the priest and the Levite walking around , the beat up guy , and it's also widely known that if somebody was dead .
So in other words , if a priest and a Levite are walking to Jerusalem from Jericho , they're going there to fulfill their temple duties . And to fulfill their temple duties you had to be fully clean . Now , if you were to touch a dead body , then you have to pause your temple duties for seven days and bathe for seven straight days .
So the story unpacks the truth of we've gotten so bogged down with religious ritualism that we fail , we fail to recognize the humanity of people , that we're so focused on ourselves and our own religios that we're not willing to stop and help , not willing to stop and care for .
But the Samaritan was the one who is hated was , if you look at the story of Jonah , common reality . God called historically , god called prophets and others into non-believing communities . What does it look like for a prophet to be called into a non-believing community and then does not do the job well , and what does that expose ?
The truth is God loves a non-believing community just as much as he loves the believing community . That's the truth exposed there , not that Jonah got eaten by a whale . We've talked about that before . On episode 47 . I don't know . I don't know what episode that was Ultimate . We did it in this room , so it was at least a year afterwards .
Bible breakdown , Jonah , Except we've been .
I've been in this office for two years , So it's been a while And so parables ? so they make truth concrete , not abstract . So truth is truth , is truth is truth . Whether you like it or not , it's still true . So that's that's what truth me . Parables make truth concrete , They bring it into this reality and they expose it , or they reveal it in this reality .
I think the second thing that parables do is they . You were very close It was 48 .
Wow , look at that .
Lucky .
Episode 48 . Sorry , parables also . They begin in common situations , things that we understand . So a modern parable would not be a sower and seed . A modern parable might be something like you know , a baker was at their shop making bread And some of the flour fell onto the floor where it didn't get into the dough . You know something like that .
So it begins in the here and the now , but it points to the expected thing , so it points to the kingdom or points to a greater Christian truth . So the parable is sower and seed , for instance in Matthew 13 . That is , some seed fall in the path , some seed fall in the rocky soil , some seed fall in the thorny soil , some seed fall in the good soil .
That is a picture or reality that most people would have understood in Jesus day . What happens when you scatter seed as it goes wherever the seed decides to go . So it begins in the here and now , but it always points to the there and the then , or the , the promised truth .
The third thing that the parables do is it compels interest , so it creates conversation . Parables are , i think , intentionally confusing so that people will talk about it , so that people will go away being like what did that mean . I don't know , what do you think I mean ?
Well , i think it meant this , and then it spurs on kind of a little bit of a conversation , a digging of truth , to really kind of reveal it , which leads to , i think the fourth thing is that it helps people discover truth on their own terms , rather than being told black and white right or wrong .
It helps truth be revealed fully when a person is ready for it to be revealed . Go back to this over in the seed , what is the truth ? The truth is the seed doesn't change . Our response to the seed changes , or our response to the message of the gospel changes . The gospel doesn't change truth . How we respond to it does .
We can either be like a brick wall . Like a brick wall or we can be a sponge . Which are you going to be ? But it helps people discover and think about it over time to recognize and discover truth on their own . I like this . I didn't come up with this fifth one . Parables conceal truth from those who are too blind to see or too lazy to think .
So if you're not , parables have truth in them , but if you're not willing to think about it , then the truth is going to avoid you in the story . So if you're a type of person who's just like I , just want you to tell me yes or no . I want you to tell me black or white . I want you to tell me how I should live .
What Jesus is saying in a parable is I'm not going to tell you how you should live , but I'm going to point you in the right direction and allow you to walk the path into journey , because faith is a journey . Faith is not a decision . Jesus understood that . So parables conceal truth from those who are too blind to see or too lazy to think .
And then I already said the sixth thing parables have one point . There's one point being displayed in parables . So , like if you look at Matthew 13 , which is the big parable thing in the book of Matthew , you have the sower and seed , which is the first one . That's what we already talked about Path , rocky , thorny , good soil .
Then you have the pair of the wheat and the weeds , where a sower goes out and he plants some seed And but along with it , weeds spring up . What do you do ? Do you burn down the whole field or do you gather it and then separate it later ? You gather . And so the first one is about how you receive the gospel . The second one is what's going to happen .
But one of the things in that second one is Jesus explains a little bit and he says it'll be the weeds or the people who cause sin Those will be thrown into the fire . That's the wheat . So not the people who it's , not the sinners who will be thrown into fire . Who cause sin will be thrown into fire , matthew 13 , let's say 28 .
I just picked a number .
Look it up , i bet you it is 24 something , but what I just said , being caught those who cause sin will be thrown into the fire . It's like 28 . I think maybe 31 something , it's not 31 . 31 is the 11. , not 28 .
You're wrong .
What is 28 ?
The servant said unto him will thou then that we go and gather them up ? That is that . That was , King James , What came up man , i just Googled it Right .
And then you have . So after that , after the wheat and the weeds , the two will be separate . Let them grow together , separate them afterwards .
So in other words , let let flourishness happen , whether you're a wheat , a wheat or a corn stock , or whether you are weeds , let them grow And then , at the end of days , it will be separated by not man , but by God . 29 points , look at that . Close again , close again . Just one off Close again Underestimating . Close isn't getting it .
And then after that you get to the parable of the 11 . So the yeast and the mustard seeds And the mustard seeds in the yeast . Which is that truth ? So if the truth , the first truth , is receiving , the second truth is what's going to happen to those who are causing sin .
The third one is about how the kingdom forms , and that's through mustard seeds in the yeast . So it's a insignificant kingdom and an invisible kingdom . So , while the church Speaking of the church , in our day , the church that gets publicity is the loud , bombastic , fancy churches . They get all the publicity , the Carl Lenz's .
But the kingdom is this underlying thing that you don't really quite see or you don't really quite understand . Those are the people who don't care about notoriety or making money or being famous . Those are the people who build hospitals , care for the sick , the poor , the least lost slowly . That's that .
And then to like the other one , which is the kingdom , is also like priceless pearl , which , once you find it , you purchase it and keep it close . So in other words , once you have the kingdom of God , you don't ever want to lose it . Or also the treasure in the field .
A guy went out , found a treasure , bought a field , bought the field that he found the treasure in and buried it and left it there . He sold everything in order to have a have a grasp of this priceless treasure .
So you have reception , you have what's going to happen to those who cause people to stumble , you have the pricelessness of it , like once you've received the kingdom . The kingdom of God is like something you're never , ever going to want to get rid of .
And then , and so that all of those parables which in the book of Matthew are combined together , then you have , like the net with the bad fish and the good fish , you have the storehouse of truth , things like that . But it paints a picture of the kingdom to where it's , it's aversive , to where we don't want to .
We don't like that version of the kingdom , right ? We don't like a kingdom that is invisible or insignificant and created by insignificant people , aka the disciples . We don't like a kingdom that allows pathway people and rocky people and thorny people to be involved . We want people to be perfect .
We don't like a kingdom that requires us to give up everything in order to have it , to sell everything in order to purchase the kingdom , as in the , the priceless pearl or the treasure in the field , and we don't like the storehouse of truth with the storehouse of truth is the kingdom of God is like a teacher of the law , who who reveals the storehouse of
truth , both old and new , and so we don't like that . That truth is everything , not just what we believe it to be , and so parables bring up . Each parable has a distinct point as a distinct truth that is trying to express to us . The truth is that life is a journey At the kingdom of God while it is at hand .
It is something to be achieved and grasped and received and held on to At least Jesus parables . I don't know about the other Rabbi's parables , do you ?
think any . The context , like the overarching themes of any of those individual parables are not changing Ever . It's like like a lot of things can be interpreted based on culture . Yeah , this and that , but like the in your , your idea of it . It's just like the .
Yeah , i believe truth is truth , is truth is truth . Yeah , so I believe like actual truth doesn't change things . That change Means that what we believed about before wasn't actually true . It was just like a maybe a glimpse of truth . Whatever , it was wishy-washy , it wasn't actually found a found foundational truth .
But I think if , if , as followers of Jesus , if we believe the kingdom of God in its truest form is true , then it is Never changing And that we should look at the world through the lens of the kingdom of God . So read Matthew 13 , if you're listening .
Read Matthew 13 and Then begin to look at the world through that lens , rather than looking at Matthew 13 through the lens of the world , and allowed that to transform your perception of the world . Right , like I love that .
¶ Seed Spreading and Parable Understanding
The siren seed , or the parable of the soils , because it is . Don't worry about How people are , who are receiving , just worry about spreading the damn seed . That's the truth of that . Just worry about spreading the seed . Who cares ? who's listening ? who cares how they receive it ? just worry about spreading the seed .
Because , essentially , you're not In charge of the soil right like you're not in . It's not your .
It's not your job to convince Jesus . Yeah , not try to convince Pharisees who he was . He let the Pharisees kill him . Yeah , it was his job to spread the truth and .
Then , however , it was received . It was received .
Yeah , whatever received was received .
Yeah soil It fell on to yeah , you will .
So it's as followers of Jesus , our job to spread the seed is why apologetic sucks , because apologetics is focused on Changing somebody's soil through humanistic terms , rather than allowing this , rather than planting the seed over and over and over and over and over again , and Hopefully the Holy Spirit will soften the hearts .
So how do you , when we like say you decide somebody does listening , decides to read Matthew 13 ? How do we ? is there a few easy ways for them to read that scripture to make sure that we're getting to ? yeah , like Not the right answer , but you know , i'm saying like to the actual truth , because I think , it is easy to be distracted .
Yeah especially because it's like okay , This is a story about a farmer .
Yeah .
What do I need to get out of this ?
Yeah , so either resources or Yeah well , the beauty of Matthew 13 is Jesus explains to the parables . So he explains the parable of the sorencies or the soils , and He explains I believe he explains the wheat and the weeds . I Think , yeah , the wheat and the weeds . Jesus explains The other ones . I think it's funny when you read them at face value .
They At least how I have read them in the recent weeks They kind of our self-explanatory almost , like I Think we , whenever we think of scripture , we try to . We try to read between the lines a little bit too much Rather than Look at it face value In the face value scriptures of Matthew 13 . Those parables are fair , it's fairly obvious , like it's .
It doesn't take that much . But if you do want a resource , william Barkley , his Commentaries . He had a new , it's called the New Testament , it's like the New Study Bible or something There's . He has a volume or two per book in the New Testament but his Gospel ones are really good . Background context , pretty easy .
It's not as commentary , not as academic as like some of the more academic commentaries , but they are a really really good , really really solid . Just helps you get the basic understanding of some of the stuff a little bit of little bit of language study in there , but not too much to be annoying or boring , so that's a good resource . Another one is a book .
He is finding his backpack .
I Got it in my bag . It's called are the Gospels reliable or something like that . Can we trust the gospel ? Gospels by Peter J Williams Great book . It's not that long , it's like a hundred and 38 pages long , pretty quick read , but it's good . Are the Gospels reliable ? We should get that guy on the podcast at some point .
Yeah , maybe if you'll , if he wants to .
Please be our friend so parables ?
they conceal truth . They make truth concrete . Well , they make truth concrete . They allow people to discover truth on their own terms . They conceal truth to people who are too lazy to think , think not just think , but think outside the box , specifically , and to think deeper , and they Reveal a truth and the then .
That truth is if you're willing to think about it and wrestle with it because parables are to be wrestled with Then truth eventually will Will reveal itself . Don't read parables like you're reading a book of rules or laws , or black and white . They are to be things to be chewed upon and wrestled with over time .
That's about parables .
That's about breakdown parables .
Record .
I don't know .
No , but I think that's helpful like . I think it's easy to say Like you read Matthew , for example , the Matthew 13 , and it's like , oh , i've heard this story . Yeah and you , you just have then whatever knowledge you have from when you've read it before , but it doesn't necessarily mean you've looked at it through .
That one , those lenses , right , like so to just I think , as you Continue learning and especially , like we talked about , a lot like read it for yourself . Yeah and not just like what you've been told from the front of a church service and have a Conversation with somebody about it , or read it with someone and talk about it , you know .
Yeah , cuz they're meant to be . They're meant to be debated .
Yeah right . They're fine to that , yes to find the truth .
They're meant to be debated and they're meant to be discovered in conversation , in community Christianity at least at our church , we believe Christianity is a communal faith , not an individualistic faith , and so it should be practice and wrestled with and debated within the context of community , rather than because that leads to , i think , a more true version of
Christianity . Fundamentalism and progressivism . Progressive Christianity , fundamentalist Christianity both lead itself to a hyper individualistic , either rigid or either too rigid or too loose version of the faith , rather than a true version of the faith In those happen only when we'd stop having conversations .
So do a small group study on the parables and read them together and talk about them , and don't get mad either , like stop getting mad . That's like our whole pockets . Don't be mad . Yeah , be nice .
Be nice , be nice , dean .
I was doing the key and be nice a a wrong Yeah .
Jacqueline Jacqueline .
Oh my luck is my favorite .
Okay , oh , shaq Hennessy , principal of Shaughnessy . I was talking to our friend Philippe about Have you ever seen the gay wedding one ?
Well to watch it after this .
It's hilarious .
They're . Who did you see ? was it what ? did you send it to me ? this video of these people whose lives were like ruined by the key and Peel video , but it's like a spoof video and there's this guy's name is Blake , it's like a meetup group . Yeah , it's like a .
There's multiple a like a support .
Yeah , but yeah cool .
All right , well , like usual , you can go to our website Christian , have podcast calm if you have questions . Comments concerns . I don't know about concerns , i don't send us your concerns on questions for Evan after a Bible breakdown .
I'm sure he'd love to answer you and I'd love to be like you're wrong loves to say that I have a hundred and twenty thousand dollars of student loan debt that says you're wrong , we you can buy . I'm not joking about the debt .
I am .
¶ Podcast Promotion and Humorous Banter
You can buy us a drink on there . You can find our socials , you can find past episodes , etc . Um , you can leave us a review if you feel so inclined , and .
If you want to give me a hundred and twenty thousand dollars , speaking of , to pay off my student .
You can just do that by me a drink button if the Lord is putting that on your heart , yeah . Yeah , so until next time question your pastor .
Parables no , not yet . Why I just throw it out there . You gotta do the other two question your pastor , your faith your church faith And now your parable understanding , parables parables You guys have made fun of me a lot . Don't do dumb things .
Anyway , like a sing T pain in a country .
Accept , i'm no singer Okay .
Yeah , my name is T pain .
You might could buy me a drink .
Anyway , i'm Jesse , i'm Evan .
I'm T pain .
That was that tractor pain .
Christian a good bye .