This post is written by Andrew Hall as a companion for Unit 23, Session 4 of The Gospel Project for Adults, Volume 8: From Wonder to Rejection (Summer 2023).

From infancy to adulthood, people are enamored with a good story. Tell them a tale and you can draw in the most eager of listeners to the biggest skeptic. People love to pick up a good novel for their summer vacation, and movies that have well-written plots draw millions of views over time.

But some stories excel at mystifying and capturing our imaginations. The Oxford literarist C. S. Lewis was a masterful storyteller, writing his Chronicles of Narnia series in a way that was accessible to children yet drew the wonder and amazement of many adults. Picking up on the grand ideas of human dignity, the problem of the world, and the need for redemption, Lewis found a way to capture the hearts of readers and listeners, young and old alike.

All great stories are imitations of the greatest story ever told. The Bible is the book that tells the greatest story of all time because our God is a story telling God. And the story that God tells is one that includes many parts—poems, history, laws, genealogies, proverbs, and prophecies.

One of the ways Jesus captured imaginations with His teachings was to tell stories that both revealed and concealed. By the telling of parables, Jesus would tell stories that would reveal more about who He is and what He had come to do for those who had ears to hear, while at the same time, His parables concealed His true identity and mission from those who were hard of heart.

In Matthew 13, Jesus tells several parables—riddles wrapped up in story—to tell about the kingdom of heaven. And being the master storyteller that He is, His parables include a twist that causes readers and listeners alike to stop and go, “Why did He say that?” A man finds a treasure in a field, buries it, goes and sells everything he has to purchase this field while not disclosing the discovered treasure (Matt. 13:44). A woman works some leavened dough into fifty pounds of flour (Matt. 13:33). A small mustard seed becomes a tree for all the birds of the air to gather in, but mustard trees are bushes and are far from the greatest tree of all (Matt. 13:31-32).

In a similar way, Jesus takes everyday, ordinary events and brings meaning to eternity from them. Fishermen haul in a net full of fish and sort the catch on the shore, keeping the good fish but discarding the worthless ones (Matt. 13:47-48). A woman mixes dough (Matt. 13:33). A jeweler finds the rarest of jewels and wants it for his collection (Matt. 13:45-46).

For those with ears to hear, Jesus is telling us something about the kingdom: it grows like a mustard seed and transforms like yeast in dough; it is valuable and precious to those who know its worth. The familiar can cast our eyes heavenward if we would look and see. Jesus’s kingdom will be a pure kingdom without spot or spoil or sin. His kingdom will grow. His kingdom is worth everything.

And just like that, Jesus’s parables draw us in and invite us to consider not just the kingdom that He brings but our lives in relation to it. Do we trust His methods of growth? Will we pursue the value of this kingdom? Are we preparing ourselves with pure lives to be fit for the kingdom of heaven?

Jesus has a story. But it’s not merely for our entertainment. If you have ears to hear, you might just discover that He’s calling you to embrace His story as the one that can reshape your life.

Andrew Hall is the Lead Pastor of Community Bible Church, located in Ilderton, Ontario, Canada. He is a graduate from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Melanie, have four children.