Leading a Rebellion: Jesus the Story Teller

Leading a Rebellion:

Jesus Told Stories Making the Bad Guys Look Good and the Good Guys Look Bad

Luke 10:25-37; 20:9-19

Rebel: Anyone who goes against authority, control, or tradition.

Intro: Who is the best story teller you know? Some people are really good at telling funny stories, like Bill Cosby or Jerry Clower. They can take an average situation, turn it into a 15 minute story, and have you crying because you’re laughing so hard. Other people can tell stories that can just pull on your heart strings and make you so sad you start to cry.Rebekah, Caleb, and I went to the grand opening of a library in Pensacola, mainly because I heard that they had cake there, but we heard a woman who was really good at telling children stories about a spider. There is definitely an art to storytelling.

The Rebellion:

            Jesus often spoke to the crowds, and taught the crowds through parables, or what we would call “stories.” He did this for several reasons. Sometimes He spoke in parables to confuse people on purpose. This is a different topic for a different day, but look at the things Jesus said when the crowds were the largest. That’s when He said some of His weirdest stuff. Sometimes He spoke in parables because it’s an easy way to remember what’s been taught. And still other times He spoke in parables because it was His way of making deep theological issues understandable by everyone. One aspect of the genius of Einstein is he was known to be able to explain extremely difficult issues of physics and make it easy enough for a sixth grader to understand.

            But tonight we are going to look at how Jesus rebelled by telling stories that made the bad guys look good and the good guys look bad, and this really ticked off a lot of people.

            Let’s look at our first passage of scripture tonight.

Luke 10:25-37: And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” ²⁷ And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁸ And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
²⁹ But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ³⁰ Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. ³¹ Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. ³² So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. ³⁴ He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ And the next day he took out two denarii^[a] and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ ³⁶ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” ³⁷ He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

            Many of us have heard that story before. A man is beaten and robbed, and a priest and a Levite, the part of the Israelite family where the priests come from, both avoided even coming in contact with the man. But who should help him? The good Samaritan. Why is this shocking? Because Samaritans weren’t good—they were hated. There were three types of people in the Biblical world: Jews, Gentiles (Non-Jews), and the Samaritans (which were a mix between Jews and Gentiles). The Jews hated the Gentiles, the Gentiles hated the Jews, and both hated the Samaritans. Samaritans were never seen as good people. Priests and Levites were good people. Jesus just told a story that made the evil villain out to be Mother Theresa, and the saintly people out to be terrible people. This was not a tactic from Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. He was irritating and alienating the most powerful people in Jerusalem.
            But it got worse…or better depending on your perspective. Jesus spent the last week of His life teaching in the temple. He answered questions from the Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees throughout the week. On one particular day, the chief priest, scribes, and elders got together to question Jesus on whose authority He was preaching and teaching. After frustrating their efforts, He told them the parable of the wicked vine dressers.

Luke 20:9-19 And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. ¹⁰ When the time came, he sent a servant^[a] to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹ And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. ¹² And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. ¹³ Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ ¹⁴ But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ ¹⁵ And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” ¹⁷ But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone’?

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

¹⁹ The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.

            This parable was a story about Jesus and the religious leaders of the day, and they knew it. It made them angry. Angry enough to do the exact thing that Jesus said they would do in the parable. They killed Him.

Application: Jesus did a lot of things differently than we would have, or anyone else would have for that matter. He was a rebel. We think of rebels as people who enjoy doing bad things like drinking, smoking, sex outside of marriage, drugs. Jesus rebelled by doing the good things we should have been doing, being nice to people that society would deem unworthy to be nice to, and by looking past the false exterior these religious leaders had put up just so people would honor them—Jesus didn’t honor that.

            You can be a rebel, too. Who is the rest of society flocking to as some great person only because he has money, a particular skill set like playing music, or athletics, maybe they’re in a position of power, but past that front they are not worthy to be honored? Some politicians have highly esteemed positions of power, but are not necessarily worthy of honor. If Jesus came to Washington D.C., do you think He would be impressed with all of the power and influence there?

            And then there are the people that are easy to disrespect. Homeless people, drug addicts, alcoholics, inmates…Jesus spent time with them, which was the biggest sign of honor in Jesus’ time.

            So how can you be a rebel like Jesus? Look past the fluff and non-sense of the false selfs people put up. Respect people for who they are, a person created by God, no better and no worse than anyone else. Show compassion for the poor and beaten down.