Ramblings...

If "Theology" is knowledge of God, then the letters of Paul are not really Theology, and the parables of Jesus are...

...why then do we quote the epistles, yet ignore the words of Jesus?

Why do we answer the question, "What must I do to be saved?" with quotations from Romans, instead of with the very words Jesus used to answer that exact question?

Certainly I am not disparaging the words of Paul, only contextualizing them. They are primarily pastoral, not theological (this of course includes and implies theological content). Paul addresses issues of "Christian living," Jesus answers the question, "What is God like?"

I have before remarked on the unique situation of quoting Jesus and having a brother contradict that statement with a quotation of Paul. (Obviously we should use Jesus as the lens with which to view Paul, and not vice versa.) What is it about the words of Jesus that we Christians find so inflammatory? Is it that they challenge our religiosity? Do they imply that our religion cannot save, or that the "theologies" we have built for ourselves have nothing to do with God? Jesus cuts through our worked up definitions of "how to get to heaven" with simple parables that point out that our hearts are too black to enter that place...

Isn't it typical of God to reveal himself through make-believe stories and simple acts of compassion...

...true theology is never spoken, but rather acted.

And another train of thought...

Someone spoke the other day about the parable of the "Prodigal Son" and it dawned on me that there was yet another way in which this parable defines my relationship with God. (I have often seen myself in this story as I was raised in the Church, then lived in the world for several years, until ruin befell me; upon which I returned to God.)

The son comes to his senses and plans to return to his father, but he thinks to himself that he is no longer worthy to be a son, he will return as a servant. But this shows that the son never truly understood the depths of his father's love. The father's response to this attitude in his son is to interrupt him with love and blessing.

When I returned to my spiritual father, I did so with fear and trepidation (as is proper) but also with unconscious doubts about His goodness and wholehearted desire to bless. For several years I was afraid that God desired to bring calamity upon me. I thought that He could use me as a servant, and that my humiliation would somehow bring Him glory; but I could not believe that God would still treat me as a son, I had squandered my Father's blessing, He would not bestow another upon me...

...but I had failed to understand the goodness of my Father. God continued to speak to me, "My son, I love you and value you deeply, I will throw a costly party to celebrate your return!"


Thankfully God's patient persistence won out over my fear and unbelief!