Changing Jesus’ Vocabulary
Now, I wouldn’t presume for an instant to put words in
Jesus’ mouth. But I’m nevertheless convinced that if he were preaching today,
his parables would use words and concepts like the Superbowl, hazmat suits, and
frogs as an indicator species.
That’s led me to put together 101 contemporary analogies
and parables that I could imagine him using today. Hence my new book, Your
Photo on God’s Fridge Door.
Jesus was a master teacher and his parables about the
good Samaritan and the prodigal son still capture our imagination today. That’s
because he used pictures and stories that connected immediately and powerfully with
his listeners.
The title piece suggests that like those of us who place
photos of our grandchildren or other loved ones on our fridge doors, I think
that God too cares so much about each of us that he would do the same with
photos of us. This entry, like many others in the book, is playful: it’s obvious that God doesn’t need a
fridge because nothing can spoil in heaven. But the point of this modern
parable is God’s care for each of us.
Most entries rely on
contemporary metaphors and similes, using concepts unavailable in Jesus’ time.
A few entries, though, are modern-day parables, such as one about a man with a
laptop that he couldn’t connect to his home network, or the centipede with gout.
Other faith-related lessons are drawn from individuals as
diverse as Olympic long jumper Bob Beamon and US Vice President Hubert Humphrey,
and topics such as flying fish, hardware stores, and entropy. And God’s fridge
door, of course.
The book is published by Mt. Zion Ridge press. It’s also
available in Kindle format.
PS: A quick shout-out for my actor son, Matthew, who did
the audio version of the book.
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