Jesus Parable

No one has ever seen God. 
It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, 
who has made him known.


I've been thinking about yesterday's responses in worship, about we're noticing in John.  The one I'm focused on at the moment is Brian's observation that the parables are missing.  Well, maybe not gone missing, becuase they were never there in John's account.  But missing to our minds.  The "synpotic gospels," Matthew, Mark, and Luke, that form the backbone of our usual lectionary based worship ignite our imagination with "ahah" inducing parables.  But John is one conversation after another, held together with movement between Galilee and Jerusalem.  And, to be truthful, Jesus' part in those conversations gets prgressively more lopsidedly long and strange.

Meanwhile his cousin John keeps saying, look at him, look at him.  And Jesus keeps saying essentially, "when you see me you see God." (as Cindy noticed.)

What if instead of telling parables, Jesus IS the parable in John?  What if Jesus is the strange Word of God sent to provoke our "ahahs?"  Afterall, everything he does in this Gospel seems designed to get attention, while at the same time he insists that we turn that attention to God.

When the first would be followers approached Jesus, he asked, "what are you looking for?" (John 1: 35 NRSV) and when they ask where he's staying, he answers, "Come and See."
Jesus' encounter with Nathanael is basically a case of "I see you, can you see me?"

John calls Jesus, "light, "full of grace and truth,""Lamb of God,"
Jesus's signs, the surprising things he does, "reveal his glory" (John 2: 11).

Now here's the rub.  If Jesus is the parable who reveals God to all who come and see, then what are we as we become the Body of Christ?  Are we peculiar enough to be authentic God revealing parables ourselves?  Or are we content being mass produced?

Hmmm....if I were a parable..........