Have you understood all this?

I am currently reading Lamb: the gospel according to Biff, Christ's childhood friend. It is a funny tale of 1st century adventure that attempts to fill in the 30 or so years that our gospels miss. Levi, called Biff, is said to be the inventor of sarcasm, and Jesus, to his credit, does his best to turn his friends invention right back on him.

I imagine Jesus utilizing his gift of sarcasm in today's gospel lesson. After peppering the crowd with parables of the Kingdom of Heaven (five of which we hear in the lesson) Jesus stops and asks, "have you understood all this?" I'd love to see a stained glass image of this exact scene - Jesus with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek asking the crowd, who never, ever, understood anything if they are on board with his veiled and vague parables for the Kingdom of Heaven which is so vast, so amazing, so incomprehensible that 1000 parables would do it justice.

The stained glass image would have to represent the moment just after the crowd shouts "Yes!" in unison. Jesus' tongue is still in his cheek but now he is posed like a V-8 commercial with his right palm smack against his forehead.

The challenge for the preacher this week is in this exchange between Jesus and the crowd - be honest about our misunderstandings while doing her best to paint as clear a picture of the Kingdom of Heaven as she can by bringing out of its treasure the highs and the lows; the good and the bad; the old and the new. Should be a fun week of study!