What is a Parable? Jesus parables are short stories that teach a moral or spiritual lesson by analogy or similarity. They are often stories based on the agricultural life that was intimately familiar to His original first century audience. Some aspect of an unfamiliar concept, such as the kingdom of God, was compared to something from everyday life that could easily be understood. It is the lesson of a parable that is important to us. The story is not important in itself; it may or may not be literally true. Jesus was the master of teaching in parables. His parables often have an unexpected twist or surprise ending that catches the readers attention. They are also cleverly designed to draw listeners into new ways of thinking, new attitudes and new ways of acting (Getty-Sullivan, pp. 2-4). Each of Jesus parables teaches only one or two important lessons. It is a mistake to look for meaning in every sentence or detail of the story (Lockyer, Parable). If we get bogged down analyzing the details of the parable, we may miss the central point, as in the proverbial saying, You cant see the forest for the trees. Why Did Jesus Teach in Parables? When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; in order that ‘they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.’ ” (NRSV, Mark 4:10-12) Jesus explanation seems harsh and out of character. Was He deliberately trying to hide the truth by speaking in parables? Were the mysteries of the kingdom of God to be known only by the disciples? Both experts and lay persons are puzzled, and many different explanations have been proposed. Jesus quoted from Isaiah 6:9-10. The prophet Isaiah had found that people were so lost in sin that they resented hearing Gods Word and deliberately turned away. Jesus experienced the same disappointment and frustration. Thus, the most common interpretation of Jesus saying is that the peoples hardness of heart (pride, arrogance and prejudice) prevented them from understanding and accepting Jesus teachings. Barclay explains it this way: When Isaiah spoke he spoke half in irony and half in despair and altogether in love. He was thinking, God sent me to bring his truth to this people; and for all the good I am doing I might as well have been sent to shut their minds to it. I might as well be speaking to a brick wall. You would think that God had shut their minds to it. So Jesus spoke his parables; he meant them to flash into mens minds and to illuminate the truth of God. But in so many eyes he saw a dull incomprehension. He saw so many people blinded by prejudice, deafened by wishful thinking, too lazy to think. He turned to his disciples and he said to them: Do you remember what Isaiah once said? He said that when he came with Gods message to Gods people Israel in his day they were so dully un-understanding that you would have thought that God had shut instead of opening their minds; I feel like that to-day. When Jesus said this, he did not say it in anger, or irritation, or bitterness, or exasperation. He said it with the wistful longing of frustrated love, the poignant sorrow of a man who had a tremendous gift to give which people were too blind to take. If we read this, hearing not a tone of bitter exasperation, but a tone of regretful love, it will sound quite different. It will tell us not of a God who deliberately blinded men and hid his truth, but of men who were so dully uncomprehending that it seemed no use even for God to try to penetrate the iron curtain of their lazy incomprehension. God save us from hearing his truth like that! (Barclay, commentary on Mark 4:1-12) THE MYTH THAT IS JESUS ENDURED THE SAME STRUGGLES THAT I DO TODAY!
Posted on: Fri, 24 Jan 2014 05:48:29 +0000
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