2/25/14

On Cinnamon Toast and Parables.


I made cinnamon toast for breakfast this morning. Every time I make cinnamon toast I think of my dad and my grandpa. Growing up my grandpa would make cinnamon toast for my dad and his siblings. There were eight kids, but for whatever reason, my grandpa would always make ten pieces of toast. This presented a dilemma. Did you savor your piece of toast, or did you rush through it in hopes of getting one of the two extra pieces. We all know this story by heart because every time my mom made toast my dad would tell this story. And now, whenever one of us makes cinnamon toast we tell the story as well.

As I made toast this morning I thought back to our small group a few weeks ago. We are going through the book of Mark and as a group we were discussing the fact that Jesus taught in parables. We talked about the fact that he used every day items, things that his listeners would no doubt be familiar with, to get his point across. Farming, fishing, sheep, slaves, vineyards were all things that would have been part of the day to day life of his audience.

I am sure He did this for a number of reasons. If you are trying to teach knew knowledge it only makes sense to build on previous knowledge. I do not claim to be a Bible scholar and I hesitate to presume anything. But, as I look at the cinnamon toast on my plate and think back on the familiar family story, I can't help but wonder if that was part of the point. I think about the farmers that may have heard the parable of the sewer and wonder if any of them were ever able to plant their crops again with out thinking about that sermon.

Maybe I am off base, maybe not. But Jesus changed how people saw a lot of things... so why not change how they saw a seed?