First of all, sorry for the lack of posts lately. This pesky dissertation has proven to be a bigger drain of time that it deserves to be. The last two story are only loosely related to each other. As each of them says at the beginning, they have to do with the knowledge of the kingdom of God - the good and bad things that happen with the people entrusted with that knowledge.
The first story was about a man who was consumed with his acquisition of "food" to the detriment of all other concerns - even the sustination of the people he was called to lead/serve. The second story was of a couple with a desire to give/sell their food but were unable to prepare and serve it in a form that was apatizing or palatable. The first lacked the desire to give, the second the ability. Both of these stories are as much a commentary of things I'm guilty of as it is of other Christ followers that I've observed. Let me explain each a little more fully.
The first story about the prince really characterized to me the mature Christian with a genuine love for God and desire to know him more. This Christian is characterized by the open hand, an earnest desire to recieve from God the knowledge and insight he makes available to us. There's a danger in this as well though because, while our personal walks with God are of first importance, this Christ follower can become so preoccupied with their pursuit of more knowledge about God that they forget there's a whole world out there that doesn't even know him. We should be careful that while we feed ourselves on the riches of Christ's blessing that we don't forget there's a world starving to death for the same. The canabalism at the end of the story was an intended element because I see our world, for lack of the knowledge that we hold so dearly, eating each other live in the pursuit of an alternative.
The second story characterizes another danger the mature Christian can face. The couple in the story represents Christ followers with a genuine love for God and desire to share the knowledge of God with others. This Christian is characterized by the extended hand. Unlike the prince, the couple recognizes that love is meant to be shared. Characteristic of many people that are passionate about something, they desire to share that passion with others. Their committment is admirable and their sacrifice is real and genuine, but they mistake their passion for sharing God with the actual ability to do so. With as much planning that went into picking a site for the tavern and buying the best food, the couple took shortcuts when it came to learning to prepare the food in a way that would apatizing and palatable to others. Characteristic of the tavern owners in the story, many Christ followers are eager to share a Gospel they have taken little time to know and understand themselves. This does not speak to the new Christian who, by virtue of their newness to the faith, shares what they do know even as they learn more. Such a new Christian should not be discouraged from doing so and should not wait till they "know enough" to start sharing the Good News of Christ. This story has more to do with the so-called mature Christian that have followed Christ for a while but has difficulty seeing people respond when they share what they know about Christ.
The reason why "evangelism" has been largely impotent in America for several decades now is that Christians got too focused on the packaging to the exclusion of the message. For all the slogans and diagrams we teach, many Christians have a very shallow understanding of what the Gospel is and what it means in practice. I worry that Paul might be talking about us sometimes when he says, "They want to be teachers of the law, by they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm." (1 Tim. 1:7) We would do well to put down our books on evangelism and pick up the Bible for a while. In the same breath I'd say that we as a church must find new, fresh, and creative ways to communicate what we know of Christ. But, again, this can only spring from a deep personal understanding of the Gospel.
In short, as I understand it, the Christian walk is characterized by the open hand and the extended hand. A mature Christian must desire not only knowledge (Phil. 3:10) but also the ability to share it (Eph. 6:19-20).
I sincerely hope this thought came out half way understandable. I'm pretty darn fried right now from disseration defense prep. Please pray for me as a I gear up for that.
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