Resources For "Scandal of Grace" From Each Harderwyk Preacher
I. New For This Week
Jesus' Parables – Scandal of Grace
This Sunday we will kick off a new series on the parables of Jesus we are calling Scandal of Grace. Our companion for the series is, “Scandalous Stories” by Price and Sorensen and we will have copies of the book on Sunday. We are jumping right into the parables with a brief introduction to the parables, but honestly we could have given that introduction a Sunday of its own. We come to the parables with many assumptions and sometimes we try to do more or less than they were intended to do.
Scandalous Stories is a great book that the three preachers are using together as well. CLICK HERE for Amazon link to purchase you own copy for about $10.
Scandalous Stories Discussion Group - Will use the book and previous Sunday Sermon to follow on with a Discussion Group on Wednesday evenings at Harderwyk following Community Night dinner.
“As part of his campaign, Jesus told stories. They were, for the most part, not simply illustrations -that is preacher’s tricks to decorate an abstract thought or complicated teaching. If anything they were the opposite. Jesus’ stories are designed to tease, to clothe the shocking and revolutionary message about God’s kingdom in garb that would leave the listeners wondering, trying to think it out. They were stories that eventually caused Israel’s leaders to decode his rich message in such a way as to frame a charge against him either of blasphemy, sedition or leading the people astray. Whatever the parables are, they are not as children are sometimes taught in Sunday school – earthly stories with heavenly meaning. Rather they are expressions of Jesus’s shocking announcement that God’s kingdom was arriving on earth as in heaven.” - NT Wright (Jesus Stories)
The Power of Parables - “Direct communication is important for conveying information, but learning is more than information intake, especially if the learner is someone who already thinks they understand. People entrenched in their current understanding set their defenses against direct communication, and end up conforming the message into the channels of their current understanding of reality. But indirect communication finds a way in through the back window to confront a person's view of reality… A parable’s ultimate aim is to draw in the listener to awaken insight, to stimulate the conscience, and move to action. Jesus’ parables...are prophetic instruments...used to get God’s people to stop, reconsider their way of viewing reality, and to change their behavior.” - Klyne Snodgrass, “Stories with Intent,” (pp. 8-9).
A BibleProject Announcement - this video by the bibleproject is an excellent overview and I would encourage you to take the 5 minutes to watch.
Watch: How to Read the Parables of Jesus Video | BibleProject™
Additionally, bibleproject just released a new app for smartphones and tablets. It is an incredible resource with all their videos, podcasts organized by theme as well as a new feature called journey that will be a combination of reading through scripture, video aids that keep you engaged, and a even a brief quiz to check comprehension. During that journey you will unlock different skills that help in understanding the scriptures as well. I have just begun exploring but it seems pretty neat especially if you have ever found it challenging to just sit down and read in huge chunks.
Here is a link that explains the app very well. - A BibleProject Announcement
II. From The Commentaries On This Passage
From Philip Graham Ryken in his 2-volume commentary, "Luke". - "The only thing we know about this woman is that she was a notorious sinner. This is mentioned three times: by Luke (Luke 7:37), by the Pharisee (Luke 7:39), and by Jesus himself (Luke 7:47). People usually assume that she was some kind of prostitute, and they may be right. Luke describes her as someone off the streets, which gives the connotation of sexual sin. But in a way it doesn’t matter, because a sinner is a sinner. Whether she was a gossip or a call girl, she was still a sinner.
This is why she came to see Jesus. Sinful as she was, she knew that Jesus was the friend of sinners. His friendship has been apparent throughout this chapter as Jesus has shown compassion to the centurion, the widow, and other poor sinners who stand outside the people of God. Each episode
'describes a need which God alone can meet; and when we think of the people concerned, we realize that their “poverty” consists precisely in this—that in the eyes of Jesus’s contemporaries such people have no resources to meet those needs, because they have no claim on God: the centurion is a mere Gentile, the widow a mere female, the woman at the party a mere sinner. They are outside the circle of privilege. For God to help them at all they have to receive his help gratis' (quoting Michael Wilcock from The Message of Luke)."
"Spoken like a true Pharisee! The man’s attitude was judgmental. He was quick to condemn other people for their sins, and when he did, he placed them in a different category from himself. He was righteous, but they were sinners. This was typical of the Pharisees we meet in the Gospels, with their holier-than-thou lifestyle. They were always looking down on people, snorting with indignation over their sins...The only thing he could do with sinners was condemn them; he had no grace to give...But the Pharisee had no room for grace in his theology. He believed that grace was unavailable to sinners like that woman and unnecessary for a righteous man like himself."
"The more we feel that we do not need to be forgiven, the more self-righteous we become, and the more self-righteous we become, the less love we give. We only do the minimum; we do not pour out our lives like fragrant perfume. If we love Jesus so little, it can only be because we have little idea how much we have been forgiven. The way to get a better idea about this is not to go out and become bigger sinners; all we need to do is see how big our sins already are. This means being honest about the sinfulness of our worry, our greed, our gossip, and our rage. And it means coming back to God again and again in repentance, even after we first come to Christ."
III. Ongoing Resources
1) Spiritual Formation Resources Page - CLICK HERE - This is still a work in progress, but be a part as we look to build
2) Scotty Smith’s Heavenward Daily Prayers - CLICK HERE - to see the daily prayer blog of Scotty Smith. You will see an option to have them delivered to your email inbox each day as well.
3) Simple Lectio Divina Overview - CLICK HERE - for a simple introduction of the spiritual practice of a more personal way of experience the Word through contemplation and reflection.
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