29 July 2026 - now and then, here and there

 

Today's Reading

(Audio)

 

Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.

Martha seemed to mean that she knew Jesus had no limitations to expressing his power in a way the was preventative, that avoided evil in the first place. Neither did she assume that when he did not exercise this power in response to her specific circumstance that it necessarily meant his power was necessarily any less. But she she did seem to question the degree to which he cared for her and her family specifically. That uncertainty did not lead her to give up on Jesus entirely. She still recognized that God would give him whatever he asked. It was just that it had now become obvious that he wasn't always going to ask for what mattered to her. 

Jesus said to her,
“Your brother will rise.”
Martha said to him,
“I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day.

Given the fact that Jesus could have saved Lazarus but did not do so Martha could only infer that it was not to be during her mortal life. To be sure on the last day, so distant from Martha as to be little more than dream, he would rise. But would it not have been the case that if Jesus cared for her, Mary, and Lazarus in their lives here and now, and not only in the future, that he would have already done what she knew he could have done to save him? If all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose why do some of those things seem to be obviously and entirely negative? It is not enough to say that the last day will more than make up for it, though clearly, it will. The point is that if the statement "All things" really means "All" it must include even those which seem to us difficult to square with divine providence. "All things" must even include the evils that we know that God, in the mystery of his wisdom, does sometimes permit. Yet sometimes we so surrender to that mystery as to assume that God is really indifferent to things that occur in this mortal life, to our daily joys and sorrows, caring instead only that things will be sufficiently good in the end.

Jesus told her,
“I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”

Jesus revealed to Martha what she had not dared to hope. She might have agreed that he would be the resurrection and the life on the last day, that at his voice those who slept in the tombs would awake to life, but she would not have been able to believe or imagine that he was the resurrection and the life now. Her grief had already made her abandon hope that she could experience life from Jesus in the way she desired until the last day. He apparently hadn't helped in the first place. So why would she imagine he might do so now? Indeed, from her perspective, it would have been almost unfathomable to imagine that he might he stayed away for a time just to perform this miracle. After all, wouldn't it have been better to save Lazarus in the first place and spare them the grief? If the purpose was only to restore him to a mortal life in which he must eventually die again one day would not sooner be better? Yet there was something greater that came about because of the choice of Jesus to do this. It was precisely the revelation that he was the source of life now, and not only later, and that by knowing him we could share in that life. It didn't always take the form of miracles, and when it did, they weren't always the ones for which we asked, but it remained available and possible nevertheless. It remains so now. We don't in fact have to wait for the last day to experience the gift of supernatural life from Jesus. And it is precisely this life within us that helps to anchor us as we navigate the trials and challenges of this life. Rather than giving up when God doesn't give us exactly what we want exactly when we want it let us so with Martha, "Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world".

 

 Pat Barrett - The Way (New Horizon)

 

28 July 2028 - pro-seed with caution

 

Today's Readings

(Audio)

 

"Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."

This parable was not primarily about predestination. It is true that some of the plants we now see growing will prove to be from the good seed sown by the Son of Man. And yes, it is true as well that some plants will prove to be weeds fit only for burning. But the actual point Jesus made was that it is basically impossible to identify which is which before the harvest at the end of the age. Therefore this parable has more to do with dealing with this unavoidable ambiguity in the world in even in the Church herself before that time. 

 

The fact is that attempting perfection in the sense of constructing an earthly Church consisting only of those who are perfectly pure is impossible. We may mean well, but even we still sometimes exhaust the soil to a greater degree than we bear fruit. We may simply be branches in need of pruning. But it is yet possible that even we ourselves may not be among those who will shine like the sun of the Kingdom of the Father. Since no one can have absolute certainty about himself while he yet lives how much less so regarding the destiny of others? No one can be excluded as worthless or without hope until the last day reveals it. We tend to be eager to go weed hunting in the world as a way to distract us from ourselves, people with boards in our eyes on the hunt for those with specs in theirs. It is a deeply flawed approach that not only won't benefit the Church or the world but will ultimately injure us and keep us from the growth that we still need.

The weeds are the children of the Evil One,
and the enemy who sows them is the Devil.

It is true that there is evil in the world that goes above and beyond mistakes and innocent errors. There is in fact a force hostile to God at work, trying to sabotage his works. We do well to remember this rather than approach life with a naive optimism, only to be disappointed when not everything is sunshine and roses. But while remembering it, we keep in mind that the evil we face cannot be identified with any specific individuals, even those who seem openly and directly hostile to us and to the plan and purpose of God. Our warfare is not finally against them, or any who are flesh and blood, but rather against the devil who has co-opted their freedom and is using them for his purposes. Our warfare requires love for our earthly enemies in order to defeat the spiritual powers who oppose us.

"To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head" (see Romans 12:20).

It is impossible to ignore the constant thread of salvation history in which God called his people back from their sins to himself. No one was ever so fixed in his position that an appeal might not win him back to the side of goodness, truth, and beauty. We see such a response from Jeremiah on behalf of the people, many of whom seemed to be weeds, but with whom he yet identified himself.

We recognize, O LORD, our wickedness,
the guilt of our fathers;
that we have sinned against you.
For your name's sake spurn us not,
disgrace not the throne of your glory;
remember your covenant with us, and break it not.

Jesus, too, only makes sense in when recognize that he came to offer us a choice, one which he ensures we have sufficient freedom to make. He did not come merely to categorize the righteous and the wicked. Rather, he came to invite all men to be saved and come to knowledge of the truth, just as his Father desired. How different the mission and ministry of Jesus would have looked if it was predicated on preaching to people only in order to seal an eternal destiny they could not control. He never told anyone they were so good, so well situated, that there was not work that remained for them to do. He never told anyone that they were too broken or compromised to change. Rather, he always made sure that speculation about matters known with certainty only to God never got in the way of the work that remained to be done. It is only in this context that the plea in today's psalm makes sense:

 

Let the prisoners' sighing come before you;
with your great power free those doomed to death.
Then we, your people and the sheep of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
through all generations we will declare your praise.

Dan Feiten - Seed, Scattered and Sown

27 July 2026 - branching out

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.

The Church started so small that it seemed it could never make a significant difference in the world. Jesus may have possessed divine power and authority along with heavenly wisdom but he and his disciples did not seem positioned to effect much beyond the backwater of Israel let alone transform the world. Yet the Church did become a bush so large that the birds of the sky could come to dwell in its branches, just as God intended for Israel. It was through God's covenant promise to Abraham that all nations of the earth were to be blessed, and the temple was meant to be a house of prayer for all peoples. Yet the expansion of these blessings beyond the boundaries of Israel were always hesitant, halting, and incomplete during the times before the coming of Jesus. But one might wonder. If Solomon was as close as Israel came to fulfilling its destiny to be a light to the nations, drawing people from the ends of the earth to hear his wisdom, wouldn't whatever finally did fulfill that destiny be, by necessity, large and obvious? Yet it was precisely in the mustard seed of faith Jesus entrusted to the followers, and in particular to his Apostles that this promise was eventually realized. They were successful because they took Jesus at his word. They were under-resourced, outnumbered, outmatched, but they didn't let this stop them or even slow them down once the Holy Spirit sent them forth on the day of Pentecost. Even then, supernaturally equipped, it might not have seemed like what they had was all that much when faced with all the resistance of the world, let alone enough to address all the needs its brokenness. But by being faithful to the small seed entrusted to each of them they changed the world. The period of history that their efforts ushered in would be entirely unintelligible if not for these mustard seeds to explain it. 

 

The disciples didn't let appearances stop them. It was a little like the scene in Star Wars were Yoda explained that the appearance of size was not the deepest truth, and then preceded to lift the crashed X-Wing from the swamp unto dry land by his power. Our faith, it is said, can move mountains, which are larger still than X-Wings. However it can only do this if we don't take for granted what we have been given, but rather choose to place our faith in the wisdom with which Jesus has apportioned to us the gifts and opportunities that constitute our lives. The mustard seed is inherently something that doesn't seem that valuable apart from the fact that Jesus said it is valuable, and the promise he attached to when it is faithfully sown.

He spoke to them another parable.
“The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened.”

The yeast is a small fraction of the recipe yet has a disproportionate effect on the resulting loaf. Just so, even when the Church is a minority in the world it nevertheless has an effect beyond what scale would suggest is possible. Especially now, in an age where the faithful are a remnant, rather than a dominant cultural, force this is reassuring. But we should remember that the initial presence of the yeast in the dough is hidden. It is meant to be mixed in with the other ingredients. It is only over the course of time that there is any evidence of the batch rising and obtaining to a higher destiny of deliciousness. Our own role in helping to address the challenges of our times is similarly often invisible at first. But it does require that we not keep ourselves entirely isolated from the world around us. We can't simply remained sealed in yeast packets. We must be unleashed if we are too have the intended effect, even if, at first, we seem to be lost in a much larger mixture.

 

 

Newsboys - Secret Kingdom

 

26 July 2026 - wise decisions

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 

What is the one thing for which we would give everything? Is there anything so valuable to us that it would be worth sacrificing all that we have and all that we are in order to obtain it? For the person that found the treasure in the field this wasn't a question of 'should'. He didn't sell all that he had because he knew he was supposed to want the treasure and therefore forced himself to take the steps to obtain it. Rather, once he had seen the treasure he could do nothing else. He was so captivated by it, and perceived its value so clearly, that to part with all else that he owned was not a difficult choice. This may not be our own experience of Christianity. Indeed we probably can't always possess such clear intrinsic motivation. But the parable is meant to make us consider the worth of the things that we do value, things that we are loathe to let go, for the sake of obtaining the treasure present in Christ. The parable is meant to help us to recognize the relative lack of value that even the best things possess when compared to Jesus himself.

St Paul understood the value of the treasure. He wrote, "Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" (see Philippians 3:8). We are wise when we trade that which we cannot keep in order to obtain that which we can never be taken from us. By contrast we are fools when we choose the things that moths eat and rust destroys instead of a Kingdom that will last forever. Treasure in heaven is the only kind truly worthy of the name. But, at a certain point, we actually have to be convinced of its value. It is true that we know that even if we gain the world we can only keep it for a limited time. But even so, we will not be able to lay down our lives for Christ if we don't recognize the value of the result, that "whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it" (see Matthew 16:25). The motivation that obtains the treasure is not something we fundamentally possess in advance. Rather it is a draw that comes to us inexorably from the beauty of the treasure itself. It is grace, not nature, that enables us to make a response that transcends the merely natural, and to set aside earthly treasures for treasure in heaven.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls. 
When he finds a pearl of great price,
he goes and sells all that he has and buys it. 

Our translation seems to indicate that this merchant was looking to collect a variety of fine pearls. What, then, must he have seen to act in such a well as to rule out the possibility of attaining in others? He had seen, no doubt, many fine pearls by then. What must he have seen in the pearl of great price to decide it was the only one he would ever need from that point forward? We too have seen many good things. We live in this world looking for goods like possessions, choices, and relationships. But we see too that all of these are tarnished to one degree or another with imperfections. But in Jesus we meant to find one so good that we are willing to rule out other options in order to have him, or rather, to have him take hold of us. At this point, if we're still thinking, 'Yes, but I like my other possessions', or, 'I can't rule out the possibility that there are pearls that may yet be worth acquiring', it means we need more grace in order to see more clearly the value of what is on offer in the person of Jesus himself. This is the kind of recognition which is truly transformative, the purity of heart that leads to the vision of God. This is what John meant when he wrote, "we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is" (see First John 3:2).

When it is full they haul it ashore
and sit down to put what is good into buckets. 

There are many fish currently in the net. Some will prove good and some will prove rotten. But before the end of the age the final determination of which is which has not yet been made. That means we still have time. It implies that obtaining the treasure is not really a once and for all choice on our part, not what we call colloquially 'one and done'. If we have not yet recognized the full value of the treasure in a transformative way there is still time to do so. But if we don't take seriously what we have discovered there is the possibility of losing even what we have. The treasure in the field was obviously unearned. And even though the merchant had been looking for pearls he had no right to hope to find one so vastly superior to the others. It too was ultimately a gift of grace. So too for us. The only way to gain is on the basis of the gift we have been given. The only way to ultimately lose is to refuse it. As Jesus said, "For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away" (see Matthew 13:12). We know where the treasure is found, and the pearl of great price is in our midst. There is no need for us or for anyone to experience "wailing and grinding of teeth". Let us turn the eyes of our hearts toward the treasure that God never ceases to offer us.

having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints (see Ephesians 1:18).

Sonicflood - Open The Eyes Of My Heart

25 July 2026 - forecasted reign

Today's Readings
(Audio)

 

"Command that these two sons of mine sit,
one at your right and the other at your left, in your Kingdom."

When we look back upon this ambition of the sons of Zebedee we are rightly scandalized. We know where Jesus was heading. We perceive how insensitive it was to request worldly position, power, or privilege from one who was on the way to a cross. To make us realize this Matthew placed this event immediately after Jesus made one a prediction of his passion, one of several throughout the Gospel. It almost seemed like the brothers were pursuing an emergency backup plan. Humanly speaking, if Jesus wasn't going to be around to run the Kingdom himself, perhaps they could be the ones to ensure it continued in his absence. But was this not insensitive to the imminent destiny of one who was their friend and teacher? How could they only think about what would be left for them if Jesus was no longer present?

We ourselves are not so different from these two. However much we disapprove of what they did, it is easy to do so from such a great distance with the context supplied by the Gospel. Yet it is harder to recognize the times in our own lives when we try to co-opt Christianity for our own purposes, and the times when we try to salvage what we can when it does not meet the expectations we had when we began.

"You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?"

When we pray we tend to ask wrongly, to spend it on our passions (see James 4:3). We often forget that Christianity is fundamentally about coming to share the self-sacrificial love of Jesus himself so that we can live forever in the mutual self-gift of the Trinity. Instead, we use Christianity as a way to advance our own goals and achieve our own purposes, which are sometimes quite noble and others less so. Sometimes we use it as a strategy for self-validation, as a way of proving our value to ourselves. We want to feel that we are in the right place and doing the right thing. Fine and good. But we must not twist Christianity to give tacit approval to what we have already decided. We must let it shape our values. We are meant to share in the rightness of Jesus, in his own righteousness. But this means we can no longer decide or define for ourselves what is meant by righteousness.

They said to him, "We can."
He replied,
"My chalice you will indeed drink,

It was helpful that they were motivated. From our perspective it is reassuring to see that Jesus can use even imperfect motivation to keep us on the path pursuing his Kingdom. If he could not, we would be in bad shape, because we rarely if ever experience motivation that is entirely free from self-interest and even self-deception. We might not always recognize it in ourselves. But the degree to which it bothers us when we see it in others is illustrative.

When the ten heard this,
they became indignant at the two brothers.

They all seemed to be asking how dare James and John express such naked ambition. And yet their own response demonstrated that they too were caught up in ambition, competition, and selfish desire. They might have expressed sympathy, recognizing the wounded place from where this request for James and John had come. They could have played a supporting role as Jesus helped them to see things more clearly and correctly. But instead they allowed it to divide them, just as the enemy intended. Yet Jesus would not let the enemy have his way by causing any permanent division among his band. To counteract it he helped them to see what was meant by truly reigning in his Kingdom.

Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

He tied it all back to what he came to do, the very thing that they wanted to ignore and avoid. In doing so he helped to prepare them for the truly glorious destiny which he did in fact have planned for them.

Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (see Matthew 19:28).

There was no way to true glory that didn't lead through the cross. Jesus came, not to go to the cross so we could reign on earth, but to lead us to the cross ourselves so that we might reign with him in heaven.

 

 Newsboys - He Reigns

24 July 2026 - not fruit barren

 

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

 

The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the Kingdom
without understanding it,
and the Evil One comes and steals away
what was sown in his heart.

There are several reasons why one might not understand. The first is that one is unable to do so, in which event we must assume that God will intervene for the sake of his little ones and help them receive the seed. The second is that one is not sufficiently interested. But one would naturally be interested in the most important truth in the world. To not be so implies that one has succumbed to the distractions and addictions that plague the attention economy. This is the mental posture of one invited to a wedding feast who yet prefers his daily obligations of work to an incomparable celebration. The third is that sometimes facts adjacent to the message make us not give it due consideration. If we hear it from a person we hold in suspicion we might not consider it on its own merits. If we hear it along with other things that make us emotionally reactive we might reject it on this basis of how we feel rather than what is true. Fourth, we sometimes realize that we might understand something if we made the effort, but we do not deem it valuable enough to do so. We could, perhaps, figure out how to unlock the treasure. In fact, we seem to have been given instructions for precisely that. But, then again, haven't we been doing well enough without such treasure? Aren't we fine and OK as we are? Well, we may think that staring at the locked chest. But there are many other times when we know that we are not OK and that we do in fact need and desire more. If receiving more is not automatic, but requires a full investment of self, let us realize it and go all in in hope of abundant fruit. What we ought not do is be content with what we know to be excuses.

The seed sown on rocky ground
is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy.
But he has no root and lasts only for a time.
When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,
he immediately falls away.

Enthusiasm is a good place to start. But as with any relationship, it can't be the only motivating force. Husbands and wives who only act with love when they feel warm feelings probably won't stay together long. When their relationship encounters tribulation they are at risk of falling away from each other. So too with the seed of new life given to us by Jesus. We need a sufficiently deep root to persist even when our feelings make us want to give up. How can we have such a root? Intentional learning, leading to understanding, as described above, is certainly a part of it. Understanding leads us to acknowledge that trials are part of our life as disciples. When we have this understanding we can make a firm resolve in advance to meet them, knowing too that Jesus himself will give us the grace we need. We can know that we have this grace even when we don't feel like it. And this can eventually lead to a deeper confidence than the fickle nature of our superficial feelings can supply. We learn to rely on God rather than ourselves. Another aspect of rootedness can come from community, when we are surrounded by like minded people. Such people will soon be tested, or are be tested now, or have just made it through a time of testing. Pursuing the same path with them will help us to realize that things have not gone wrong in our individual case, but that they are normal. We will thus be more likely to persist, with the encouragement of those around us.

Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world (see First Peter 5:8-9, emphasis mine).

The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word,
but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word
and it bears no fruit.

We believe it may be worldly concerns that are the greatest risk to people who have been walking with Jesus for a while. We are disposed to recognize the dangers of insufficient understanding and lack of root. But we treat the anxieties of life as relatively harmless, in spite of the way they often monopolize our attention and neutralize our effectiveness as disciples. How many things might we have done for our Lord and his Kingdom had we merely possessed the mental bandwidth to make a proper response to some invitation from the Lord or some prompting from his Spirit? We can't wait for the enemy to finally stop supplying fodder about which we might be anxious, as this will never happen. Nor are we meant to simply become tougher and face anxiety head on by our own strength. Instead, let us listen to Saint Paul.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (see Philippians 4:6-7).

This verse from Philippians coincides with the command of Jesus himself:

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? (see Matthew 6:25).

The point of Jesus was not that we should be reckless. Rather it was that we should ultimately allow the fact that God is in control to be more important to us than our anxieties. With Peter we must take up the practice of "casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you" (see First Peter 5:7). It isn't that there is nothing about which we might be anxious in the world. It is rather that we know him who holds the world in his hands.

But the seed sown on rich soil
is the one who hears the word and understands it,
who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.

We can profitably consider what moments who led to the greatest yield of fruit in our lives, what study, sermons, retreats, small groups, revelations, or other encounters have done the most to enhance our growth? Are we still seeking to be the kind of soil we were then? Or are we content to rest on our laurels? We should not presume that we can simply live comfortably without fruit. The opposite of fruit is barrenness. And there is ultimately nothing worse than that.

The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away (see Psalm 1:4).

 

The Dameans - Speak, Lord

 

23 July 2026 - parables in a china shop

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

“Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?”

Why not just be straightforward about the message? If he wanted them to get it, why speak about it obliquely? If he didn't, why teach the crowds at all? Even though the disciples often heard the parables explained in private they still made it clear that they found the teaching style of Jesus to be difficult. When they finally heard something that sounded simple and direct they got excited, saying "Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech!" (see John 16:29). It seemed easier to respond when Jesus was more direct. The disciples in that particular scene from the Gospel of John seemed to believe that they had attained the next level of faith. But it didn't actually help them remain faithful when they were tested during the hour of Jesus. 

The parables, by contrast, required an investment of effort that was less likely to lead to overconfidence or arrogance. Even with the full explanation one was never quite sure he understood how all the pieces fit together. Even in the parables that seemed simple one was never certain he had exhausted all of its possible applications or ramifications. What means Jesus used to teach in a particular instance, understanding was not an automatic result in his listeners. Whether he spoke in parables or directly his words required the Spirit to create true understanding in his listeners. The Spirit was the one who enabled eyes to truly see and ears to truly hear. But the advantage of the parables was that it kept the limits of the understanding of the audience at the forefront so they would know their need to look to a deeper level for enlightenment. 

In a way, the parables were so close to the crowds, drawn from the examples of daily life. But this was similar to Jesus himself, who, though close to them, contained hidden depths. If one explained those depths too directly the risk was that people would think they got it before they really opened themselves to understand. Jesus held back the fact that he was the messiah for similar reasons. It wasn't always helpful to just state the fact without the Spirit to aid in understanding.

Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven
has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.
To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;
from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

When one was willing to open himself to understanding (that is, standing under, rather than above) the parables, he had a starting place from which to grow. It required and therefore demonstrated docility before Jesus the teacher. The parables required a posture of humility that was off-putting to the experts but often amicable to the unlearned. Can't those of us who are somewhat educated imagine that difficulty accepting a popular movement of this kind? How could such rabble think they understood better than ourselves with our college degrees? Nowhere else in society would we be happy to see such a reversal. But Paul made it explicit, writing, "God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise" (see First Corinthians 1:27).

By contrast, those who try to pierce the parables with their own intellectual prowess would find themselves repulsed by their own effort. The more they tried to master them the more they would be rebuffed. They would find them overly simplistic, stating in a convoluted way that which could have been said directly with more clarity. They seemed to put a mask of mystery over what need not be complex. More to it, the evident solutions didn't even line up nicely with the imagery. They just never seemed to work in a way that was entirely satisfactory to the intellect. They were, in a way, like the koans of Buddhism. They called for transcendence more than a correct answer. 

It's no wonder that many people encounter the teachings of Jesus with some initial curiosity but end up looking elsewhere, just as many people did in the time of Jeremiah. The risk of forsaking the source of living waters is ever present. The Spirit himself is the living water whom we must not forsake. So let us instead run to him, and drink deeply of the only source that can truly satisfy our thirst.

Two evils have my people done:
they have forsaken me, the source of living waters;
They have dug themselves cisterns,
broken cisterns, that hold no water.

Vineyard Music - The River Is Here