The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - What if Jesus Told Stories About You? ( Part One)

Episode Date: October 1, 2021

Did you know that Jesus is constantly sharing stories about you through his parables? Today, Jeff walks us through various parables and challenges us find ourselves in those stories and reflect how Jesus is calling us to grow in our relationship with him. Snippet from the Show Who are you in the parables? The prodigal son or daughter, the unforgiving servant, or the good samaritan? The parables are not random stories, they are stories about us. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

You're listening to the Jeff Kaven Show, episode 2.39. What if Jesus told stories about you? Hey, I'm Jeff Kavans. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven show.

And I want to welcome you to welcome you. to the show once again this week. It is absolutely beautiful today. Getting ready for fall in Minnesota is a great time of the year because, you know what, just the colors of the trees and the crisp air in the fall. We absolutely love it in Minnesota. Love to ride the bike and get out and get some exercise. But today is really warm. It's like 86 degrees out. We're way over the normal for this time of the year. But we're going to accept it because we know that winter is right around the corner. I'm really glad that you took the time to join me this week, because I want to talk to you about a discipline in our life that I think will really benefit you, and that is

how we hear the Word of God. I know that so often, you know, when we go to church, or you go to hear a speaker, you know, or you hear a lecture somewhere. It is so easy for us to hear the word of God and then say to ourselves, wow, I wish my brother was here. Or, oh, man, my, you know, my cousin could really stand to hear this. How many times have you done that, you know, where you listen for other people? I've got to admit, I've done that before. I've done that before where somebody will say something. I'll think, oh, I sure wish so and so. We're here to hear that. And what I'm really saying is I want their life to get all straightened out. And this guy, this lady, they had the message that would have done it. But when I do that, I miss out on what God is actually trying to say to me,

in the now, in the present. And so often when we go to Mass, we do hear great readings, of course, you know, from the Bible, but it's either for somebody else, it's not there, or we're paying attention to something else completely. And before you know it, it is gone and we didn't pay any attention to it. We don't even know what the reading was. But when we hear the Word of God, we are really challenged to not hear it for somebody else, but to hear it as if it was spoken to me. If it was spoken to you, right? You're listening to it. And we ask, is this for me or is this for somebody else? Well, it is for you. And it is for me. And so when I, I go to Mass and I hear the word of God, I have to ask myself, Lord, what are you saying about me?

And I think that the parables are great examples here of Jesus trying to get across a truth to you by, in a clever way, bringing you into the story. And that's what parables are all about. The truth is, Jesus is telling stories about you. And he's not telling stories about you like gossip or, anything else, but he's telling stories about you in that he's telling a parable, and he's challenging you to find yourself in that parable. It's actually an amazing literary tool, and the rabbis 2,000 years ago were really, really good at telling parables to get across a deeper truth. A parable is almost like a literary sacramental, if you will. It's a clever way of getting across a story where you feel a little bit disarmed, you know, and, hey, he's going to tell a story.

We all like to hear a story. And then all of a sudden, you realize, as he's telling the story, oh, my word, are you talking about me, Jesus? Or why is everybody else looking at me, right? That's because they're not listening for themselves, that's why. But we do find ourselves in the story. And that really is the purpose of the parables, is for you to put yourself in the story so that you can learn something about the kingdom of God or about worshiping God or something about

prayer or being a disciple that will really make a difference in your life. Now, what I'd like to do today is I'd like to go through a number of parables that Jesus taught, and I'd like you to think of these parables as messages to you and ask yourself a few questions about each one of them. And I think as we ask questions, and then we listen to the parable, it's going to speak to us in a real beautiful way. By the way, if you want these parables, I have them all written out here, all of them that I'm going to use. And if you'd like to get a copy of it, all you've got to do is get my show notes. If you don't get my show notes right now, all you have to do is text my name, Jeff Kaven's, as one word, Jeff Kavins.

and you can text it to the number 3377. That's 3377. We'll put you on the list. You'll get the show notes in perpetuity. That is for all the upcoming shows. Hey, before I get to that, let me just say something here. I want to invite you to a podcast that Emily and I are going to be on coming up in the future. If you have children, grandchildren, or godchildren, I would encourage you to join this beautiful podcast by Mike and Alicia Hernan. They've got a podcast called Messy Family Project, and it's very

clever, but they're going to have Emily and I on in October, and they're going to, I think that's towards the end of October, they're going to be talking to us about how to cultivate relationship with the Lord in the word, using the scriptures with your children. And like I said, if you have grandchildren or godchildren, you can do the same thing. And so we're going to talk about that. And then in the second half of the evening, we're going to take questions. So if you've ever wanted to ask me a question or, more importantly, Emily, a question about teaching children to love scripture, then join us.

Then join us. I'll put the information in the show notes. It's www.w.messyfamilyproject.com, and that's messyfamilyproject.com, just the way it sounds. And I hope that you can join us. We're going to have a wonderful evening with Mike and Alicia Hernan, Messy Family Project. Okay, so let's look at these parables. Let's see how Jesus is talking about you today and talking and talking to me. One of my favorite parables, of course, is the pearl of great price in Matthew chapter 13.

It is really, really an incredible parable where Jesus says, again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls. And upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Now, we have to ask ourselves the question. When we hear that parable in the Sunday liturgy, or it might be during the week, or you're just reading the Bible, you've got to ask yourself some questions. Not number one, that's for my brother, or that's for my cousin, you know, or that's for my boss. I sure wish he was in mass today. You have to ask yourself questions like, what do you sell for? What do you sell things for?

What would you sell things for? If you were to start trading in the things that you own for something of really great value, what would you sell things for? Would you sell things for the kingdom of God? Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to part with things of less value for something of the greatest value like the kingdom of God? And when you ask yourself that question, as you hear that in the Sunday liturgy,

you have to ask yourself, am I doing that? not just am I willing to do that, but does my life really reflect this? Or am I continuing to accumulate all kinds of things that have lesser value than the kingdom of God and neglect the kingdom of God? Or another question, what do you put your time and energy into right now? What are you sewing? What are you sewing into? Or a phrase that I like to use when I teach you all about activated discipleship, and that is, what are you right now giving yourself up for? What are you collecting? What are you bringing to yourself that is less than the kingdom of heaven? And if you're a disciple of the Lord, or what I call an activated disciple, are you actively divesting yourself

of things of lesser value? It's a good question to ask. Another question, might be, are you investing in the kingdom of God by divesting yourself in what the world would call worldly treasures? Maybe you don't even consider some of the things that the world calls treasures. You don't consider them treasures, but maybe they are symbolic of the fact that you've made it. But they really don't mean that much to you, but you're holding on to them. Anything that we are holding onto of lesser value that keeps us from really gaining the pearl. of great price is idolatry and a problem. And so when you hear that parable about the pearl of great price in Matthew 13, you really have to ask yourself questions. You can say, yes, I believe that the

kingdom of God really is the pearl of great price. Well, as I say in the activated disciple course, does the shape of your day reflect that? Does the way you spend money reflect that? Does the way you interact with people reflect that, that the kingdom of God is a pearl of great price? The second parable, and I love this one as well, it's in Luke 15. It's the prodigal son, and you probably are very familiar with this story of the prodigal son, where you have two brothers in Luke 15, and one brother, the younger brother, goes to his father, and he asks for his inheritance. Now, 2,000 years ago, if a young man went to his dad and said,

Dad, I want my inheritance right now. Now, normally you would get your inheritance when your father did what? When your father died, that's when you would get the inheritance. But if you went to your dad 2,000 years ago and said, I want my inheritance now, then what you're basically saying is, Dad, drop dead. That's really what you're saying. Drop dead. I want my inheritance now.

And so this young man, the younger brother, he went to his dad and said, basically, drop dead, I want my inheritance. And the older brother, he stayed on the farm, basically, and he remained faithful at doing what he needed to do and, you know, obeying his dad and so forth. While the younger son went off and he squandered everything he had, he squandered it all on loose living, and he got to the point where he was broke. and he started to cry out. You know, he's broken.

He said, you know, my life was, my life is terrible now. And I would rather go back to my father and even go back as a servant because the servants have it better than I do right now. And so he turned around and we could call that repentance and returned to his father who came out and met him. and he sacrificed the fatted calf, the robe, and the ring, and everything. And the older brother was really bummed about it because he said, hey, you got this big party for my younger brother who went away and wasted everything.

I've been here. I've been the faithful son. How come you didn't have a party for me? The father said to the older son, son, you misunderstand. I have been here the whole time for you, and you didn't see it. And so the party was for the prodigal son. But what I want you to focus on here is you hear that parable. is, see yourself in the parable.

Are you the prodigal son? Are you the prodigal daughter? So some questions that you could ask yourself as you hear that parable, know for sure. Yes, Jesus is talking about you. And he's not talking about you behind your back. He's doing it right to your face. So have you left the Lord in any area of your life?

Have you squandered the inheritance of the Lord and you took off in your own path? And maybe not with your whole life, but maybe an area of your life? Have you? Have you gone away? Or are you estranged from your family? Is there somebody in your family? Maybe you're estranged from your daughter or your son. It's kind of a reverse thing here in that somebody has left you and you feel the pain of

this estrangement and you can pray for them to return. and you are welcoming of them? Or is the path you have taken in pursuit of your dreams been a big, fat disappointment? And are you crying out? Are you empty? You're at the end of your road. You're at the bottom of the barrel.

You're scraping it, in fact. And you're thinking to yourself, man, I have really, really squandered what God has given me in my life. This happens to people today. they get going down the wrong road and they lose everything they lose their family they lose their wife their children their their finances their home it's awful is that you then do what the prodigal son did return to your father who's waiting for you and he's waiting to celebrate your return see when you hear that when you hear that beautiful parable you can you can listen to it as an

outsider. Or you can just admit he's talking to you. And to what degree is he talking to you? It doesn't, you don't have to have gone, you know, off the rails as bad as the prodigal son, the younger son, but maybe you're to some degree that prodigal son. And so it's good to ask some questions. I love the Good Samaritan parable in Luke chapter 10. I'll put this in the show notes as well, Luke 10, 29 through 37. Most people know the good Samaritan. They know the Good Samaritan story. And that was this guy who he falls in the midst of thieves and they rob him, they beat him, they basically leave him to die on the side of the road. They stripped him of his clothing and left him half dead. And then the parable describes how a priest

happened to be going down the same road and that when he saw the man he passed by on the other side and then the story moves into a Levite who came to the place and saw him but passed on the other side as well and then the third one was a Samaritan now Jews don't have anything to do with Samaritans

but the Samaritan as he traveled he came upon the half-dead man too but then what does it say when he saw him he took pity on him and he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. And then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn, and they took care of him. And the next day, he took out two denari, and he gave him to the innkeeper. He says, look after this guy.

And when I return, I'll reimburse you for any extra expense that you may have. And then Jesus asks the question, which one of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers. Now, this whole thing came about because, you know, they were looking for the answer of, you know, love your neighbor. Who's my neighbor? Who's my neighbor? And then Jesus tells the story.

And so there's some questions you can ask yourself after you hear this amazing parable, the Good Samaritan, you can ask yourself, for example, am I blind to the need of someone at work? is there someone at work that is sort of speak half dead laying on the side of the road i've heard about their broken marriage i've heard about their addiction i've heard that their son their son committed suicide am i the priest and the levite who goes down a different hall so i don't have to go by their desk am i the one that consciously avoids people that i don't regularly hang out with am i

I like the priests and the Levites, or am I like the Good Samaritan? Am I the one who notices a complete stranger and I do something about it? Or is there a broken relative of yours that could benefit from the healing of Jesus? Maybe it's an extended relative. Maybe it's not someone at work. Maybe it's, it's not a neighbor, but it's actually an extended family member. Are you consciously avoiding someone who is socially beaten up, beaten up on social media, ostracized, canceled even? That's silly that we talk about that today. By the way, I heard Shaq. Shaquille O'Neal this last week, he came out publicly and said, I am officially retiring from

celebrity. He said, this is so bogus what we do to people as celebrities and we cancel people. We're woke, you know. And he says, I've had it with this. Don't even consider me a celebrity anymore. Yay, Shaq. I don't know anything about him other than I look up to him, literally. But I thought that that was really good.

But what about people who are socially canceled and beaten up? Friend, daughter, colleague. Are we avoiding this situation? Or are we more like the Good Samaritan, the neighbor? Love your neighbor as yourself. Those are some really good ones. You know what? I'm going to take a break. When I come back from the break, I've got several more that I want to share with you before the end of this show.

Again, what we're looking at today is we do definitely know that Jesus is telling stories about us. And I know something. He's telling stories about you too. He's telling stories about me. Question is, am I putting myself in a position to actually hear him? Or is it just a good story about somebody else? You're listening, my friend, to the Jeff Kaven show. How do I capture and pass down insights and truths that are meaningful? Hi, I'm Jeff Kavans, the creator of the Bible Timeline Learning System, and I created the Insight Journal. Within the Insight Journal is a system to keep track of the best insights of life in an organized and easily accessible way.

No more rummaging through journal after journal to find that one insight from prayer that you want to share. I have done months of research to create the best journal for you to keep your golden nuggets of truth. Get ready to write your insights from Mass, the Bible, talks, and more in a beautiful cloth-covered journal with a ribbon, strap, and interior folder. To order your copy of the Insight Journal, go to ascensionpress.com. forward slash Insight Journal. Thank you for coming back. We are looking at the parables today, and we have confessed that Jesus is telling stories about us.

He's definitely telling stories about you. Kidding. You know he's telling stories about me. And when I hear those parables in mass, boy, I put myself inside of those parables. And you know what that is? that's like meditation. Meditatio. When you do Lexio divina, you read, you read Lexio. Then you meditate. Meditatio. Then you pray oratio. And then you contemplate. And so when you meditate on the

word of God, you get into that story. You're a part of it. And the story is for you. What a way to change your life on a daily basis if you just jump inside that story. So here's one. the 10 virgins in Matthew chapter 25. You might remember this story at the time, the kingdom of heaven will be, it says, Jesus says the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. And he says that five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps, but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, they took oil in jars along with their lamps and so they were prepared. And the bridegroom was a long time in coming and they all became drowsy and they fell asleep and at midnight there was a

great cry that rang out here's the bridegroom come out to meet them then all the virgins woke and trim their lamps and and then it says that the foolish one said to the wise give us some of your oil our lamps went out and they said no they replied there may not be enough for both of us me and you instead go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves but while they were off trying to get oil, the bridegroom came, and they missed the boat completely. So you can ask yourself some questions as you hear that parable, like, are you not preparing for the return of the Lord? I mean, right now, are you not preparing for the return of the Lord? Am I not preparing for the return of the Lord? Am I so busy with everyday life and building my kingdom and my house and

so forth, that I'm not even thinking about his return and preparing my heart for his return. Well, then he is telling stories about you. You're one of the foolish virgins. But if you say, no, I'm ready. Every day I prepare, every day I take stock. And I don't want to miss it when he comes. Then you're one of the wise virgins. Another question, are you more invested?

Are you, it's a good question. Are you more invested in your 401k than the kingdom of heaven? It's a good question, isn't it? Are you more invested in your 401k than in the kingdom of heaven and prepared for his return? More prepared for so-called retirement, which seems to be going by the wayside, by the way, these days. And people are finding out they're not actually retiring. They just have to supplement their income because times they are changing. Bob Dylan said. Another question, are you assuming that you have a lot of time before you

die? What makes you think you have a lot of time to prepare? What makes you think that this might not, this might not be the last week? The last year, the last decade, you can go as far out as it makes you comfortable. But the truth of the matter is, we're not guaranteed tomorrow, and we need to prepare our hearts. And so, like the 10 virgins, we have to be ready and not just sleep and slumber and think, I've got time, I've got time. We've got to be smart. So I love that one. And then I love, oh, this is so good. Matthew 18, it's the unforgiving servant. I got to tell you, this is, I think this is one of my top three parables. I really do. If you don't remember the story, it is so gripping.

It's a story of a guy who owns 10,000 talents. Now, a talent is a measure. And one talent is like a 10 years salary. It's a lot. It's a lot. That's one talent. Now, this guy owed to the master 10,000 talents. That's like 10,000 times 10 years.

That's a lot of salary. not salary, salary. That's an awful lot. And so this guy owes all of this money and he goes to the master and he says, look, I can't pay. Don't sell me. Don't sell me in my family. Please don't. I'll pay you. And the master had pity on him. And he, get this, the master released him of his debt. But that same guy that was just forgiven, the 10,000 talents, went outside and found a guy that owed him just a few days' wages and said, pay me, pay me. And the guy that owed him just a few days' pages started crying out, oh, he was beside himself. He said, please don't sell my family. Please, I'll pay you. But the guy didn't listen, and he put him into jail.

And somebody oversaw this, and they went to the original master and said, you know what, let me tell you what, the guy that you forgave, 10,000 talents, let me tell you what he did. And he did. He told him, oh, he was in trouble. That master went out and said, you wicked servant. And you know what he did? He put him into jail. He put him into jail until he could pay back everything. That's pretty sobering. And then Jesus says at the end of Matthew 18 there, he said, so will my heavenly father do to you. See, Jesus brought you right into the story there. Good story until he brought you in. So will my heavenly father do to you if you do not forgive your brother from the So you can ask some interesting questions there like, who are you refusing to forgive?

Who am I refusing to forgive today? Did I just say it in word, but not indeed? Did I just say it that my heart wasn't there? Are you refusing to forgive someone? If you are, you might find yourself entrapped in a prison. You could manifest in all kinds of goofy ways with buying or addictions, anger. but another question may be are you taking advantage of the mercy of God in the face of your debt that he has forgiven you so much are you taking advantage of that are you celebrating the fact

that he's he's forgiven you so much are you celebrating that by releasing other people in your life am i doing that in my life well i know he's talking to you no i'm kidding. I know he's talking to me. I know that. Another question, do you respond to God with gratitude for the enormity of your forgiveness? Just responding gratitude. Oh, God, I praise you. I thank you. I love you. Thank you. Thank you. Now, there's so many more that I could get into here today, and maybe we'll do that at some other show. I got so many. I only got through those few. And what I'm going to do, is that's five of them. I'm going to put those in the show notes for you, and I'm going to give you that information so that you can meditate on that a little bit further. Hey, as I get ready to close out

today, stick with me here just for a moment, please. I know you're all, you've got to go into the meeting. You're in the parking lot right now, but just listen for just maybe a minute. We are living in very difficult times right now, and people are looking for two things. They're looking for a brighter future and someone to trust. And they're not finding it in the government. Some would argue they're not finding it maybe in their local church. But I want you to know something. Jesus has a plan for you. That is amazing. He loves you and he has a plan for you and you can trust him. I want to encourage you to take this message of the gospel and begin to share it with people that you normally would not share it with. People,

that you know are broken, like the Samaritan, the Good Samaritan. But to seriously take this message and begin to share with people who are broken in the world. I'm looking forward to being back with you already next week to talk more about the kingdom of God and talk more about being a disciple. Let me pray with you real quick. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord, I lift up my friend to you right now and ask you, Lord, to continue to lead them and guide them and correct them. I thank you for comforting them with your word and the presence of the Holy Spirit. To you be all the glory today, Lord, we pray in your name. Amen. God bless you, my friend. Have a great week.