}

Love is the Way
To the Kingdom of God

Useless

"I have Trouble Hearing You, God"

A couple weeks ago I posted that "Love is the Way!" And is the only way to heal a fragmented world. After all, Jesus' message can summed up as "Love is the way." The parables tie Love to the "Kingdom of God"--"The kingdom of God is like ...." Each parable, a metaphor for the Kingdom of God being wrapped in love. Each parable, I believe, is prophetic: A prophetic aspect that has nothing to do with the future, but everything to do with the present. The Hebrew Testament prophet was one who shared God's message for the present situation. The parables share share what it means to prophetically live out the kingdom of God in the present. Read the parable not as an allegory, but as a metaphor for how love works in the kingdom, and how it should work among us who claim to be God's people. To do so, opens up the very phrase, "Love is the way."
Like Jesus, one can (and should) prophetically challenge both the religious and political systems in a strong way, while wrapping the challenge in a cloak of gentle love. There is no chastisement in the parables. [Don't confuse the Gospel writers interpretations with the words of Jesus.]

Love is the Way, but Love as Jesus demonstrates does not make us into bury our head in the sand followers of Jesus. It does however require that we have an eye that sees and an ear that hears.

[Inspired by Opening the Parables by M. D. Hayden (2024)]

Frank A. Mills
Sheffield Lake, OH
January 23, 2025