Secret Message

"Jesus' secret message in word and deed makes clear that the kingdom of God will be radically, scandalously inclusive. As we've seen, Jesus enjoys table fellowship with prostitutes and drunks, seeming to shift the locus of spirituality from the temple (which he says will be destroyed) to the table of fellowship and reconciliation."

"Yes, Jesus hid his message in parables: 'The kingdom of God is like a man who planted a seed... it's like a man who had two sons... it's like a woman who put some yeast in some dough.' But his message took root (like that seed), precipitated reconciliation (like that father and his younger son), and began infiltrating and transforming humanity (like yeast). And as a result, if you asked Paul, 'What is the kingdom of God like?' he didn't need to repeat Jesus' parables. Instead I have a hunch about what he would have said.

'Let me tell you a story about my dear friend Onesimus... Or better yet, 'Come with me to Colossae, and I'll introduce you to a community that includes two friends of mine, Onesimus and Philemon. I want you to get to know them and hear their story. Then you'll know what the kingdom of God is like.'

Is this beginning to make sense? Can you see how the secret message of Jesus is meant not just to be heard or read but to be seen in human lives, in radically inclusive reconciling communities, written not on pages in a book but in the lives and hearts of friends? Can you see how the kingdom, originally hidden in parables, began to be hidden in new places - in the stories of real people... Can you imagine yourself and your community of faith as a living parable where the secret message of Jesus could be hidden today."

Brian MacLaren's The Secret Message Of Jesus