TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED
The subversive stories of Jesus
By Melvin Tinker with Nathan Buttery. Christian Focus. 144 pages. £5.99
ISBN 1 84550 116 0
This book has 13 chapters, each dealing with one of the parables of Jesus.
I thoroughly recommend this book for four reasons:
1. Accessibility: each chapter has the feel and sound of a talk — we learn from the preface that the book was originally a series of sermons. The style is chatty, simple and extremely readable.
2. Evangelism: the talks are aimed at the reader (listener?) who is ready to hear the teaching of Jesus, yet may not have realised the true meaning of Christian faith, and of what it is to follow Christ. Each chapter is evangelistic. The writer is relentless in returning to the main issues of sin, faith, repentance, heaven and hell, the grace of God, the person of Jesus himself.
3. Introductions and illustrations: the writer is a master of interesting and attention-getting illustration. There are references to: Alexander the Great, Abraham Lincoln, LA Law (the TV series), Henry Fielding, John Newton, Charles Spurgeon, the Turner Prize, Emma Nunn (who was given an air ticket to Sydney Nova Scotia instead of Sydney Australia), and many others.
Preacher, don’t you wish you had used such a wide variety of illustrative material? But you will, you will …
4. Exegesis: there are no detours to get hung up on technicalities. The main point is identified, and deftly explained. The context is never forgotten, but never majored on. Salvation-history is never lost sight of, but not permitted to get in the way of application to present-day readers. Each parable is taken pretty much as a stand-alone story.
It took me a few chapters to realise what a gem this book is. I found it focussed the main issues of the gospel freshly for me, and stirred me to try to present the gospel with the same clarity.
Philip Wells,
full-time elder of a small church in the centre of Bohemian Brighton, where he has served for nearly 30 years
