And just like that, the year is half over. That means it's It's time for a special mid-year check-in about what's been lighting me up so far in 2025. Life & Creativity Despite all the heaviness and anxiety surrounding everything in the world, I've managed to have a pretty solid six months. I started the … Continue reading What’s Lighting Me Up (July 5, 2025)
In the last post, we looked at the Parable of the Sower. We saw that the emphasis of the story is on the generosity of the sower, who sows liberally without regard to potential yield. But that isn’t the whole story. For this is one of the rare times when the Bible records Jesus interpreting … Continue reading The Parable of the Sower: Part 2, Jesus’ Interpretation
So far this series on Jesus’ parables has dealt with introductory material, looking for a definition of what a parable is, and trying to understand Jesus’ surprising rationale for using them. While I thought it was important to tackle this last piece before jumping into any of the parables themselves, all three of the Gospels … Continue reading The Parable of the Sower: Part 1, The Story
Last week, we defined a parable as a short story that twists scenes from everyday life to speak on some spiritual theme, requiring a leap of understanding that subverts the audience’s expectations. Then last time, we discussed some of the added complications we have today in reading the parables well. But today we’ll see that … Continue reading Why Parables?
Last time, as we started this new series on the Parables, we attempted to define what a parable is and compared and contrasted Jesus’ parables with those from other ancient Jewish literature. We left that study understanding that parables are short stories that twist scenes from everyday life to speak on some spiritual theme, generally … Continue reading Reading the Parables Today
Matthew Root 