Parables of Jesus

It is difficult to find the words that adequately convey the power and impact of William Barclay's writings. I believe that he was the finest commentator of the New Testament in the 20th century. This book is one of the crown jewels of his over 70 publications. Barclay's knowledge of the Greek language, the Jewish culture and religion, and the Roman occupation during the New Testament era is phenomenal. Furthermore, he has the unique ability to convey this immense knowledge in a manner which is very easy for any reader to understand. William Barclay has the ability to convey to the reader not only what that passage meant to the people to whom Jesus spoke to 2,000 years ago, but what those passages say to us today. On countless occasions, I have felt that Barclay was speaking to me personally as he discussed the relevance of the passage in his commentary. His insights have brought me to tears at times; he has both challenged and inspired me. William Barclay's writings have truly changed my life. Barclay's clearest message is to convey the unconditional love of Jesus for all people.

The best way to convey the power of Barclay's writing is to convey two examples:

(1) "The basis of God's judgment is our reaction to the needs of others. God will not some day ask us to recite the creed, or put us through an examination in scripture knowledge, or investigate the orthodoxy of our theology. The one question which is basic is: 'What did you do to make life easier for others?' And again, that question is not based on the great contributions to human welfare which the newspapers report and the history books recount, but on our action and interaction upon the people with whom we come into contact every day."

(2) "No one can ever have hurt Jesus so much as Peter did and yet when He rose from the dead Jesus sent a message to Peter to tell him that He still believed in him. The very fact that Jesus believes in us should fill us with a new self respect and a new determination not to fail him...so long as we keep on trying to follow and serve Christ, however inadequately, we are never shut out; but when we refuse to make the effort we can in the end shut ourselves out and pass the final judgment on ourselves."