Parables are stories that invite the reader to decide who they relate to and what it means to them. Christ didn't hit his listeners over the head with his message; he led by example not lectures.
Christ did tell his listeners to wake up, to stay alert as no one knows when the end of time will come, but that one shouldn't be concerned about that anyway, but instead occupy oneself with doing right, with doing good, and to not be out shopping when the Groom is on the way.
Christ was never a Christian; but he was a radical, social justice revolutionary Palestinian Jewish Road Warrior who told his followers to go out and make disciples; and a disciple is one who follows and does what the Master teaches.
Christ had very few friends inside the Temple Authority for he challenged their job security by claiming the people didn't require ritual baths or sacrificing livestock to be ok with God. Christ told the people the revolutionary and radical news that God was already within them.
The authority of God, up until then, had been external, but what Christ did, was place God in the very hearts of his hearers. Christ didn't lecture them; he told stories that allowed them to draw their own conclusions. Christ taught by example and he presupposed that his listener already knew it all. Christ's message was that the Divine authority is in the heart of every human being. This was then and still is now a revolutionary thought. Rome crucified Christ because he disturbed the status quo of the Empire which ruled by oppression while Christ taught liberation.
The immanence of God and the Divine in the human heart and throughout the ages, has always inspired poets, musicians, writers, artists and prophets, even in modern times.
"If it keeps on raining, the levee's gonna break
If it keeps on raining, the levee's gonna break,
Some people are still sleeping
Some people ARE WIDE AWAKE."-Bob Dylan 2006 Modern Times
Christ did tell his listeners to wake up, to stay alert as no one knows when the end of time will come, but that one shouldn't be concerned about that anyway, but instead occupy oneself with doing right, with doing good, and to not be out shopping when the Groom is on the way.
Christ was never a Christian; but he was a radical, social justice revolutionary Palestinian Jewish Road Warrior who told his followers to go out and make disciples; and a disciple is one who follows and does what the Master teaches.
Christ had very few friends inside the Temple Authority for he challenged their job security by claiming the people didn't require ritual baths or sacrificing livestock to be ok with God. Christ told the people the revolutionary and radical news that God was already within them.
The immanence of God and the Divine in the human heart and throughout the ages, has always inspired poets, musicians, writers, artists and prophets, even in modern times.
"If it keeps on raining, the levee's gonna break
If it keeps on raining, the levee's gonna break,
Some people are still sleeping
Some people ARE WIDE AWAKE."-Bob Dylan 2006 Modern Times
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