Heard Enough?

A small boy was visiting his grandmother for the first time. She lived in a small Wyoming town–cowboy country. On arrival, the boy’s initial reaction was to cry out, “Grandma, look at those bowlegged cowboys.” The grandmother was shocked and embarrassed, fearful that someone might have heard the outburst. Consequently, she immediately took her grandson to her home and there devoted much of the day trying to refine his vocabulary. The next morning, as they were walking through town, the lad again commented on the local gentry, this time trying his best not to embarrass his grandmother. He said, “Grandma,

Hark! What manner of men are these
Who wear their legs in parentheses!”

The story illustrates, among other things, that there can be many different ways of saying the same thing, making the same point. Jesus employed many different ways of communicating the Good News of God’s love to his disciples. He instructed them through prayer. He instructed them through miracles. He…