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Jesus' parables are Hebrew, not Greek. The Hebrews had no concept of intellectual belief separate from participation with the whole of life. The Greeks did. The Greeks—so philosophical, so removed, so proud of their lofty ideas—cleverly batted around concepts from a distance, untouched, unscathed, uninvolved. Jesus was not like the Greeks. His teachings were Hebrew: they demanded participation, action, anger—anything!—on the part of the listener.

Jesus knew the nature of truth. That mere ideas are not truth. That reality is truth. And getting humans to step into this realm of reality with their minds and thoughts and hearts and fears and hopes and joys was the real path to truth. This is why he sowed seeds of reality, not mere ideas or concepts. This is why Jesus ended a teaching with the simple but crucial phrase: "Go and do likewise."

Remember Jesus' response to the lawyer who wanted to debate, discuss the law, and talk theory (Luke 10:25-37)? Instead of playing that man's sophisticated game, Jesus answered him with a kindergarten lesson about the law, a seemingly simple story and that one, chilling, brilliant phrase: "Go and do likewise."

The difficulty of submission

We often claim to "wrestle" with a passage of Scripture. But doesn't our wrestling usually end with us claiming victory over the text? We "pin" a passage, getting it to stroke our preexisting assumptions. Why not just lay down our assumptions and submit ourselves again and again to Jesus' words? And let them pin us.

Let us major in Jesus' teachings, then. And submit all to them.

Sounds great, right? So why don't we study Jesus and submit to his words more often? If Jesus really is so brilliant, then why do we hesitate to submit to his teachings? I think it's because, when it comes right down to it, we just don't like what he's teaching.

After teaching his disciples one day, Jesus asked them: "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I tell you?" (Luke 6:46). It's an important question because I believe it has an answer.

Why do we do that? Why hear words from the lips of Logos and yet not submit ourselves to them? Well, when you study the beginning of Luke 6, you get an idea of why. You see, Jesus is asking his question at the end of a time of teaching. And when you back up and look at all he had just taught the people, the answer to his question becomes as plain as rain: Why do we not do what you tell us, Jesus? Well, have you been listening to what you've been saying? All your teaching is upside down and nonsensical and weird.

We call you "Lord, Lord" and do not do what you tell us because you tell us to do such strange things.

Consider a few of his teachings there in Luke 6: The poor are lucky. The rich are unfortunate. Congratulations to those who mourn today. Give to everyone who begs from you. Bless those who curse you. Do for others what you would want them to do for you … And that's just a sampling.

Why do we not do what Jesus tells us? Because (when we're perfectly honest) our common sense makes more sense to us than the words of Jesus. His teachings may be well intentioned and inspirational, but it doesn't seem like they would really hold in everyday life.

"Blessed are you who are poor" sounds sort of nice and spiritual, but when it comes right down to it, it's really the rich whom we think are lucky. "Give to everyone who begs from you" is inspirational talk, but it's overly simplistic and doesn't really work on the streets of our broken cities. "Do to others as you would have them do to you" is admirable sounding, but when I'm really honest about what I want done to me (lots of gifts, surprise parties, regular encouragement, care about my needs, a ready ear to listen to me), I realize what an impossibly high standard of love this is.

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July (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49