The parables of Jesus are intended for everyone, revealing deep truths about God, the Kingdom of Heaven and what it means to be a human being. Each story is, in effect, an invitation to engage with the God of mercy, compassion, forgiveness and love. At the same time the parables, quite purposefully, challenge us, provoking a response, which also make them a call to action. At the heart of this process is Jesus who comes to reveal the nature and being of God but does so through the ordinary things of everyday life. Ultimately, what we discover in the parables, is a God who is closer to us than we could ever imagine and loves us more than we could ever know. This is the compassionate father of Jesus Christ who is our father too. This book invites the reader to spend time with the word of God and in so doing find a truth which has always been there just waiting to be discovered, like the father waiting for his wayward young son to return home. This truth is that the parables not only reveal what God is like but what we are called to be and in them, therefore, we find the potential not only for ourselves as individuals but for the church and the entire human race. By reading and engaging with the parables of Jesus, we find the Holy Spirit alive, active, and working in us, feeding our minds and inspiring our hearts.
As a fruit of his ministry of preaching Deacon Sean offers these insights in a style that is both readable and accessible. I am most grateful to Deacon Sean for his generosity in offering these prayerful reflections and for the way in which he enables the reader to encounter the presence of the living God through the rich teachings that the parables of Jesus continue to offer for our world today.
Bernard Longley - Archbishop of Birmingham