3 Questions About Jesus: Jason Coker
Today I’m beginning a new series called “3 Questions About Jesus.” The idea is to ask different people how they would explain Jesus Christ to someone who had heard about him, but really knew nothing about Christianity. Their questions are:
- Who is Jesus the Christ?
- What has he done?
- Why does it matter?
I’m of the opinion that most presentations of the gospel tend to answer only one or two of these questions, or answer all of them in a way that reduces the scope of the gospel drastically. The challenge of this series will be to try answering these questions in a way that does justice to the depth and breadth of the gospel without trying to give people a pocket-sized systematic theology (because nobody would sit and listen to that).
Every Monday for the next few months I’ll host a different person who will attempt to answer those questions in 300 words or less. I’ve encouraged people to be as creative as they like. And, of course, we’d love your interaction and feedback.
I’ll go first with, “The Parable of the Apple Tree.”
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Jesus is like the story of an apple tree.
Once there was a farmer who gave his three sons an apple orchard, saying, “This is my gift to you. The orchard will care for you all your days if you will care for it.” But the sons despised their father’s gift and neglected it. Soon the trees died and the sons grew hungry. They called their father for help, who came and said, ”I will feed you.” Then, he knelt on the cracked earth and planted a seed.
Every day the sons begged their father for food, and every day they watched him water the seed and pull the weeds, saying, “I will feed you.”
Every day they watched him prune and tend the tender branches, and every day they begged for food. “I will feed you,” their father said.
Finally the tree grew strong and apples hung heavy from its branches. “This is my gift to you,” the father said. But the sons were bitter that they had been neglected for a tree. In a rage they cut it down and tore its limbs apart until their evil was exhausted.
As they sat ashamed at the foot of the desecrated tree their father brought apples plucked from its branches, saying, “This is my gift to you. Take and eat.”
The first son did not trust him. He refused the food and cursed his father, rejecting the gift. The second son bit into an apple but despised its flavor and cursed his father, rejecting the gift.
But the third son found the apples sweet and gratefully ate his fill. The father dug out the seeds and placed them in his son’s hands, saying, “This is my gift to you,” and beckoning toward the other sons, who were still hungry and ashamed, he added, “Now feed my sons.”
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Jason Coker is the host of Pastoralia.org. You can read more about him at the About page.
Love this, Jason. My initial inclination when asked questions like the above is to try to give some kind of thorough, theologically watertight answer, but I don’t see Jesus doing this when confronted with questions. He does what you did: tell a story that dismantles preconceived notions and points to a truth that has been concealed underneath a lot of pat answers.