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Surprised by the Parables: Growing in Grace through the Stories of Jesus is unavailable, but you can change that!

Jesus’ parables can’t simply be interpreted, they must be experienced. In the gospels, Jesus used parables to teach transformative lessons and convey deep spiritual truths about the kingdom of God. But he often used them to confront and challenge his audience as well, forcing them to open or close their hearts to the kingdom. Jesus understood the power of stories, but there are some things lost...

of giving approval to their conduct.17 The expectation would have been to draw firm boundaries between the righteous and the unrighteous to uphold the law, but Jesus breaks social convention by associating with and eating with them.18 Jesus sees people as created in the image of God, which means they are of great value. He sees their worth and responds to it. Jesus does not expect people to be sinless like he is. Instead, he is willing to meet them where they are. That is what grace is about. It
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