Ch 8: Called to be Dreamers, Parables and Miracles

1. What is the one key idea of this chapter. Pay attention to the title of the chapter!
2. Write about two major ideas you want to remember. Write a short paragraph on each clearly stating the idea and then telling why you want to remember it.
3. One image that captures the chapter for you.
4. One significant question you have from this chapter. It can be intellectual or personal.
5. Do one of the "Living the Gospel" questions at the end of the chapter. Write out the question, reflect upon it and write out your answer.

1. The key idea of the chapter is "Called to be Dreamers". Jesus taught in stories so that the people could understand, but he also taught so that the people could interpret and fill in their own morals of the stories. To spread his message, he performed miracles. The miracles opened the eyes of many people because what was happnening right be for their very eyes seemed outrageous, but it was real. When the chapter says "called to be dreamers" it means that I am called to dream, interpret, and understand the holy unexplainable deeds of Jesus Christ.
2. I want to remember the aspects of parables that make them stories of wisdom and truth. They are explained on page 141 in the box. Parables were important to Jesus ministry. Each parable had religious and moral truths. They were taken from the audiences everyday circumstances so that they would be able to relate to them. They revealed truths to believers and did the opposite to skeptics. They present the audience with a challenge to respond to God. I want to remember this because it is always interesting how a person tells a story. You can't just tell a story and expect someone to get the same thing out of it as you do. The reactions of audiences is amusing and fascinating.

   Another thing I want to remember is the wonderment and awe the Jesus projected onto the people when he performed his impossible-to-the-common-mind miracles. They spanned from amazement to claiming that it was the work of the devil. I don't see how, when things amazing happen before you, you have to shut off the possiblity that it is a work of God and say it is the work of the devil just so that you can condemn the miracle worker. I want to remember this because I think it proves a point about man's concupisence. It is man's tendency not to believe and to shun any possibility of being saved.

3. 
4. Q: What would have happened if Jesus told his message straight out?

   A: I think that he would have been less welcome and listened to because his message is so other-worldy and of high intelligence. The parables brought his glorious message down to the people's level of understanding. If Jesus hadn't spoke in parables, it wouldn't have caught the attention of the people and more people would have considered him a lunatic. Sanity is relative. Being sane is only a comparison of how normal and average you are. Anyone that has a different, almost radical view is considered insane. During these times, he would have been put into a madhouse had he not used parables to conceal his message in the form of story.