Scot,
As I read this post early this morning, I found my self encouraged in just hearing the story of what Jesus imagines. Very powerful!
What prevents us from such invitations? I suspect that in part it is because we have lost our imagination. We no longer see the possibilities that Jesus sees.
Maybe, just maybe, it is also because we have long forgotten that we too once received an invitation to the table. While that may not seem as radical as the sinners and tax collectors being invited, we are still present at the table only by the grace of God.
Thanks.

Scot,
Thank you for highlighting this. I have long enjoyed looking at how Jesus takes familiar scenes of Jewish life, and then presents them upside-down, getting the story “wrong” by most standards of the day.
Peace,
Randy G.
Captcha “poseur veridical”

Your question – what prevents us such invitations?
Currently, politics !!
“They” will never change, never respond, never listen, never …., never …., never ….
However, as I read the Gospels, Jesus kept on making His invitations. And, He told His disciples to think about “carrying a cross”, not about a rose garden.
Should we be ashamed?

Unlike Jesus, I think many Christians have lost the ability to imagine–if they ever had it. When it comes to spiritual matters, I think some feel that the imagination or independent use of the mind God gave us is not necessary. Therefore, we end up stunting real growth and not experiencing all that God would have for us.

Scot ?
Thanks for this topic. I am interested in how it will develop.
For me, the reasons I do not follow Jesus? lead are always fear and selfishness. I know that perfect love drives out fear, but just knowing does not seem to get the job done.

Every coin was found, every sheep was found, every son returned.

From Lutsk, Ukraine.
I agree with the comment that the use of the imagination and Christian teaching have been divorced. The didactic, straight-forward propositional approach is imperialistic. Stories are for kids…and good movies, but not for something as hallowed as Christian theology. Maturity, it is thought, outgrows the need for stories. “Give me the facts, M’am, just the facts.” For a time a wave of Christian fear actually equated imagination with Eastern mysticism, and we all know the dangers of that! So, this serious look at Jesus’ use of stories to appeal to the imagination is so crucial. As NT Wrigth so succinctly wrote, “Stories change the world.”
captcha “sketch Sundays”

If you think that a first-century tax collector was more akin to Bernie Madoff than to an IRS employee, it his hard to imagine Jesus dining with tax collectors, no matter how often you have read the parables.

The point that a neglected theme in the parables is that “finding” is connected to the repenting sinner resonated with me. I travel in a circle that has been trying so hard to be welcoming and inviting to the outsider or stranger that we have diminished this “theme” in our lives. It was a good reminder that to practice this “imagined world” is to welcome the other with an invitation to another way of life in Jesus.
Thanks for the reminder of the world that Jesus called us to live into.