ii. Jesus' Relevance for our Age
So many of the questions that Jesus posed are still just as pressing as they ever were: can we know and trust God? What brings human happiness? Why is there so much suffering in the world?
Another dimension of Jesus’ genius was his skill as a teacher. He did not try to bombast his listeners with longwinded tirades or displays of knowledge. He often answered a question with another question; he shocked with paradoxical sayings, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God” (Lk 18.15). His parables have passed into literary history, such as the Good Samaritan (Lk 10.30-37) and the Prodigal Son (Lk 15.11-31)
His stories are like gleaming pools in a gentle stream. We are tempted to jump in but we discover they are deeper than we anticipated and full of unsuspected traps. They stop us in our tracks, making us ask questions such as, how real is my virtue? Do I truly love others or do my own needs subtly shape my relationships? As we keep on reflecting on these stories we find that we cease interpreting them but rather they begin to interpret us.
Source: Catholic Discovery
Catholics and Jesus