Jesus’ Parables Today Might Refer to Hardware Stores and Hazmat Suits
If Jesus were preaching today, his parables might well focus on topics like hardware stores, hazmat suits, and frogs as an indicator species. That’s the thinking reflected in “Your Photo on God’s Fridge Door,” a new book by Gordon S. Jackson, a Spokane author and retired journalism professor. The book offers readers parables on these three themes, among others.
“Jesus was a master teacher, whose parables about the good Samaritan and the prodigal son still capture our imagination today,” Jackson says. “That’s because he used pictures and stories that connected immediately and powerfully with his listeners.”
Jackson says the 101 entries in his book provide similarly teachable ideas drawn from our times and daily life. The title piece suggests that like those of us who put photos of our grandchildren or other loved ones on our fridge doors, God too cares so much about each of us that he would do the same with our photos. Jackson says the entry, like many others in the book, is playful, noting that it’s obvious that God doesn’t need a fridge because nothing can spoil in heaven. But the point of this modern parable is God’s care for each of us.
Other examples of how he imagines Jesus using contemporary ideas include the pilot light in our gas fireplaces and the drug Pitocin to speed up labor in expectant moms.
Jackson grew up and worked in South Africa as a journalist before earning his doctorate at Indiana University. He then taught journalism at Whitworth University in Spokane for 32 years before retiring in 2015. The book, which is Jackson’s 20th, is published by Mt. Zion Ridge press.
(Source: Christian Newswire)
