These three brief studies reveal teachings of Jesus that are seldom if ever discussed from the pulpit or in Sunday School. These studies assume, as many Christians do, that our most careful translations (e.g., the Revised Standard Version quoted here) more or less accurately represent the meaning of the original texts, that the original texts more or less accurately represent what Jesus said, and that what Jesus said is what He meant.

WHAT THE SON OF GOD TAUGHT ABOUT...

...THE POWER OF PRAYER.

Throughout the New Testament we are urged to ask God for things. Such appeals are often called "petitionary prayer". Of course there are other kinds of prayer--prayers of praise and thanksgiving, for example; but petitionary appeal to God is a wholly respectable form of prayer to which Christians frequently resort, most notably but not always in times of trouble. In droughts they pray for rain, in suffering they pray for relief, and so on. Christians often pray for the welfare of others as well as for themselves. Now what are the chances that God will grant such prayers? For the answer we turn to Jesus. The following remarks are selected from at least a dozen similar remarks throughout the Gospels.

Jesus saith: "If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven." [Mt. 18:19] And again: "Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will." [Mk. 11:24] "Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name. Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." [Jn. 16:23-24] In brief: God gives believers everything they ask for.

In the epistle that bears his name, James--on the authority of Jesus' promise--says: "Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed." [5:14-16] Nothing could be clearer.

What are Christians taught in their churches about petitionary prayer? They are taught that God answers all our requests...but that the answer is sometimes "No". Or they are taught that God gives us not what we ask for but what is best for us--what we ought to ask for. Or they are taught some such thing. These teachings may be true. But they are not what Jesus taught. Why do the Christian churches not teach what Jesus taught--that God gives believers everything they ask for? The answer is simple: what Jesus taught is so obviously false that no sane person could preach or believe it with a straight face.


...THE POINT OF PARABLES.

Why did Jesus so very often speak in parables? The answer seems obvious to the Christian minister: Jesus spoke in parables so that the simple, often illiterate multitudes whom He addressed could understand the points that He wanted to make. He used homely, familiar, rustic images to carry the good news of the Kingdom to the masses. He spoke in parables so that His messages would get across to as many people as possible.

Few Christians seem aware that His disciples actually asked Him exactly this question--"Why do you speak to them in parables?"--and He told them why He did. The episode is recorded in only slightly different versions in the gospels of Matthew [13:1-13], Mark [4:1-12], and Luke [8:4-10].

First Jesus delivers the parable of the sower, some of whose seeds fell along the path, some on rocky ground, some among thorns, and some on good soil, which latter alone brought forth grain. Without further explanation of the story, He concludes the public message with "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Later, some of His disciples "asked him concerning the parables": "Why do you speak to them in parables?" To which Jesus replied, in Mark's account (universally acknowledged the oldest of the three): "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables; so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven." He then proceeds to interpret the parable for the inner circle alone.

The Son of God tells us that He speaks in parables in order to obscure His message, so that the masses will not understand it, for fear that if they understood it they might change their ways and be forgiven. That is why Jesus spoke in parables...or so He said.


...FAITH VS. REASON.

The first half of the story of "doubting Thomas" [Jn. 20:24-29] is familiar to most Christians. Told by the other disciples that they had seen the risen Jesus, Thomas is properly skeptical: "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe." He says that he needs solid evidence for so implausible a claim. Eight days later Jesus appears to the disciples, and invites Thomas to touch His wounded body and believe, at which Thomas says, "My Lord and my God!"

That's where the Sunday School and the preacher's account often end. But Jesus goes on to deliver the punch-line: "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." There are two sorts of people: (1) those who, like Thomas, have rational grounds for their belief, and (2) those who have no good reason for their belief. Without explicitly disparaging Thomas's responsible belief, Jesus reserves His special blessing for those with groundless belief. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

Copyright © 2003, William A. Wisdom