I struggled to listen to the pastor in church this morning. It was not because of the rain that was pouring down outside, effectively drowning out his voice at times. It was not because I was thinking about the water that rain might bring to my basement or the long drive to my father's house through that torrential storm that lay ahead. It was not because the pastor is not skilled at holding a crowd and evoking a response. It was because of what he was not saying.

Once the scripture had been read, John 3:14-17, the pastor failed to take even one opportunity to teach us of God's Word. This day, one set aside to celebrate and reflect upon the magnitude of the greatest gift ever given to mankind, was lost in one humorous tale after another. Contemporary tales...tales from the past...tales from man.

Christ used parables to teach. There is nothing wrong with illustrating a point with that which might spark understanding. But He also used those tales because He was speaking to those who did not have eyes to see or ears to hear. Today the room was not filled with scoffers and scholars ready to pounce. The room was filled with those ready to worship.

Why not take the time to weave the tale of the near sacrifice of Isaac? The parallel of a father being willing to sacrifice his son, of obedience, of a substitute? Why not tell the tale again of a man willing to stay with a woman he had not touched as she bore a child that was not his, of a woman who bore the burden of carrying a child from a source she did not quite understand, of those who came from afar to worship, of the obedience that wrapped around them all to the glory of God?

Why not tell the tale of a birth that took place so that same child could die? How the death was the only way that we could live? A tale that was foreshadowed and foretold throughout scripture. The mystery, the joy, the pain, the sorrow?

We do not know scripture well enough to set aside an opportunity to study the intricate weaving of a message told over many years and through many voices that still ring so very clearly today.