AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME!! We are on our final reading plan. That's exciting and sad all at once. What a fun journey this has been.
Mark 13 is a prophetic passage and should give us lots of interesting stuff to talk about. I can't preach about all of it on Sunday, so this forum may be useful for answering some questions. I'll leave it at that and let the fun begin. Have a blessed week!
6 comments:
Very interesting J--I didn't even consider the oil representing anything. I just took the story as a simple illustration on being prepared for His coming. We don't know when and we can't rely on someone else being prepared and taking us along with them. I guess then that the oil could represent our own faith and trust in God.
I know I'm the guy who said the fig tree is Israel, but I tend to agree with joe/vicky on this one. I think the parable is about being prepared and having personal responsibility. I agree that oil is often representative of the Spirit, so that interpretation is possible, but it doesn't seem necessary to make the point. I think a modern equivalent would be flashlights and batteries. You can't share batteries, because if you take even one out, the flashlight doesn't work. Every person needs their own set. Without it you will be left in the dark (and yes, that's a shameless bit of metaphor).
In my opinion, preparedness means having faith (signified by the sealing of the Spirit) and in the story, preparedness is demonstrated by having oil. Still, this doesn't lead me to conclude that the use of oil as the illustrator has "special" significance. What a great discussion topic! If anyone wants to school me I'm listening.
The parable of the talents has always troubled me. I understand the comparison of using the gifts that God has given us for His glory. It's the part about the servant who thought that what he was doing was right, but it wasn't. That's the part I don't understand, it seems so harsh. What about people who truly believe that what they are doing honors God, but in fact, it doesn't?
I agree it is a bit confusing. The harshness of the master is even a little scary. It would all seem a bit extreme and unfair save a few things. First, I think an important thing to consider is that we don't get to determine what honors God. God determines what honors God. In the story, it is the Master that determines who was good and faithful. The servants don't commend themselves.
Second, we know what honors God because His Word is clear about His expectations. This makes His judgment fair. Again, we see this in the story. It is clear that the master expected a return (thus providing the standard of judgment), and the servant knew this (so he was accountable). The servant made a poor decision out of fear, instead of a smart decision based on expectation. He could have still played it conservatively (depositing the money in a bank) and been okay. In choosing to totally neglect what he had been given, he sealed his own fate, ensuring that he would not please the master.
Thanks, that explanation helps. I didn't get the part about the servant knowing what the Master expected. I only understood that he was afraid and thought he was doing the right thing. It just makes me think about people who may go to a church and do everything that they are taught to do, believing that they are doing good, but the church has failed to teach them about Jesus.
I completely agree that the story is about the second coming and that the different characters and elements represent spiritual things. I'm not discounting that. I simply feel that the story is about being prepared. Having oil represents preparedness, which is more of a concept than a specific item (i.e. the Word). Hopefully I'm making sense. We understand from other Scriptures what it takes to be prepared, so by extension, we can say that the oil represents other things. I just don't think we can make the connection to specific things just from this parable. What we take away from this parable is that we should be prepared for the coming Bridegroom. I think we probably agree more than disagree. I'm really splitting hairs. But it's good discussion!
Vicky,
When the servant says, "Master, I know you. You're a difficult man, reaping where you haven't sown and gathering where you haven't scattered seed," I think it is clear that he knew the master's expectation. I agree that there are churches who do their congregants a disservice. That's why it is important for each of us to know the Bible for ourselves. Even in our church, I'm certainly not perfect and I don't think "because Mike said so" is going to fly in heaven.
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