Tony Maan

The parables of the kingdom that Jesus told are word pictures that entreat the hearers to engage the imagination and visualize the story.

My children still can’t believe that I am unable to discern the three-dimensional image in a magic-eye picture. “Dad, go like this,” they advise, looking at the picture cross-eyed, or touching their nose to the surface and backing up slowly. But no matter what I try, still no image. Only a vague sense of failure and frustration. “Don’t worry, Dad,” they say with a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, “you’ll get it one day.”

The puzzled look in her eyes told me I would have to suspend judgment and get back to her after I had studied the matter.