Parable Concerning what Jesus said about speaking in parables, read
Matthew 13:34-35; Mark 4:10-12, 33-34
1. In what ways, if any, did this story help you to get a better understanding of the person of Jesus? How could you use Joshua
as an evangelistic tool to talk to someone about Jesus?
2. If a parable is a teaching device, what is the lesson in this story? Why is it so inspirational?
3. Discuss the similarities between the story of Joshua
and the gospels' account of the life of Jesus (for example, Marcia and Mary Magdalen).
4. Discuss the significance of the wood carvings of the apostle Peter for the Anglican priest, Father Jeremy Darby, and the pastor
of a black congregation, Rev. Osgood Rowland. What was the message of each statue? Also, discuss how Christ knows us better than we know ourselves and is able to give us what we need, even when we don't initially see
it. Has this ever happened to you?
5. Discuss reasons why Jesus spoke both to the masses and to individuals in parables. (Story is not soft theology, but can express deep theological truths.) Also, discuss how Christ
can use different artistic mediums to speak straight to the heart of individuals and move them closer to where he wants them to be.
6. Many of the Jews of Old were too wrapped up in their legalisms to accept Jesus the
first time he came. Could there be a possibility that Christians have in many ways become like those ancient scribes and Pharisees (p.187, 194)?
7. Joshua speaks a lot about freedom for God's children (p. 215).
How would you explain this to someone who sees the Church as a watchdog and policeman? See Galatians 5:1
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Verses 13-15: "You, my brothers, were called to be free.
But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' If you keep on biting and devouring each other,
watch out or you will be destroyed by each other" (NIV).
8. Discuss what Joshua says about Christian denominations and how it is not their following of Jesus that makes them different from one another, but their
denominational practices that make them different and keep them apart, thus bringing ridicule onto Christianity and destroying the united influence it could have on the world (p.102-103, 137). "Jesus prayed
fervently that his people would be one. . ." (p. 137); see John 17:20-23
". . . May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me, and have loved them even as you have loved me" (NIV). Non-believers don't care about our arguments, only the issue of Christ.
9. When Joshua is asked what he thinks about religion, he responds by asking, "What do you mean by religion? The way that it is, or the way that God intended it to be? There's a big difference, you know"
(p. 73-75). Do you agree, and if so, in what way?
