Preface: This was written for my Digging Deeper: The Parables class when I was a student of Bible & Ministry and submitted September 28, 2000.
Jesus, Why in Parables?
A parable. What is it and what is it used for? The definition for it is a ‘short narrative illustrating some aspect of truth, roughly. It is used to teach hearers significant truths usua;;y for a specific reason. Why did Jesus speak in such a way? Why not just say it how he meant it? There are various reasons, biblical and theoretical, as to why. Just as you must understand who is being spoken to when defining verse applicability to your life, the same applies when trying to understand the reasoning behind the use of parables, I believe. Remembering that all things in the Bible are important, useful and worthy of understanding, but Jesus was teaching a certain audience, which had a level of knowledge, and lack of also, that created the necessity for this approach in order to succeed in his teachings.
Just give a little background on the parables in the Bible and to illustrate the importance of them through their frequency. There are about 30 parables in which the term ‘Parable’ is used as a designation. Seventeen stories in the Bible have been determined to be parables such as the ‘Good Samaritan’ in Luke 10:30-35 and the ‘Prodigal Son’ in Luke 15:11-32. Lastly, there are at least 26 more stories and sayings that are possibly parables, such as Matt 5:13 about us being the salt of the earth. This totals out to almost 75 and to imagine that two-thirds of these are explained! These numbers are amazing to me and I believe that for this reason parables are definitely important in our lives and our understanding of them. Also, I believe, there has to be a parable that will affect each and every person intimately and with that in mind, the whole of Christianity is almost impossible to encompass in one parable, so you must evaluate and attempt to understand all, not just one.
There are reasons biblically supported as to why Jesus chose to use parables. It is explained in many verses, for example Matthew 13:11 and 13 says: “He [Jesus] answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.” Luke 8:9-15, “…Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.” To the 12 Apostles this use of parables made no sense, I believe, as they were aware of the kingdom of God, unlike the people he was teaching who had no idea. Jesus has a follow-up statement to these verses, in my point of view, in Luke 8:17-18 to explain why he told everyone the parables even if they did not understand it at the time the seed was planted in their heart. “For nothing hid is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known come abroad.“ This verse is demanding for Truth to be spoken irrelevant of the audience. I believe Jesus is giving us, the ones that ‘know the mystery of the kingdom of God, a Communications 101 class very subtly. He says ‘for nothing is hid’ meaning to let all of the truth be known, not hidden. Another example of a biblical reason is in Luke 21:29-36. The parable of the fig tree is used for its prophetic meaning.
“And he spake unto them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now high at hand. So, likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.”
The prophecy here being the very last part of the verse, ‘This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.’ His catch though with all of the parables, is to make it stick with the students, was his delivery of the message he was trying to teach. What worked for his audience? Parables. They still work today, just in a more modern form.
Jesus used parables to teach and illustrate like we use clichés and modern-day parables now a days. ‘Early bird catches the worm’ and the ‘glass half full or glass half empty’ story, both clichés commonly used very casually, yet having a subtle truth to them also. Mark 4:33 says, “And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it” Matthew 13:34 adds, “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them.” Due to this repetition, parables became historical, an “established form of teaching among his countrymen.” Mark 12:1-12 consists of the parable of the householder demanding fruit from his vineyard, which illustrates how the parables were also self-evident. Almost like a hidden accusation, persuading you to judge on something with which you were familiar with and then subconsciously making you apply that judgment to an event or issue in your own life where you were previously blind to its importance. Parables were used simply to illustrate a point at some times such as in the parable of the rich fool in Luke 12:16-21, with the explanation beginning in Luke 12:22.
“And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided. So is he that layeth up the treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. And he said unto his disciples, Therefore, I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more important than meat.
Parables can cover many topics, such as Prophecy (Num 23:7), Prophetic messages (Ezek 17:1-10), discourse (Job 27:1), wise sayings also known as proverbs (Prov 26:7,9), and illustration (Matt 13:18) especially when referring to the parables of Christ. The parables of Christ include the ones of the lost sheep, lost money, Prodigal Son, etc. So, when you come across a parable don’t take as just a regular story you would hear as gossip. Rather, as a story in a kid’s book, as they always have an underlying truth, a subliminal message that the author is trying to get across to the reader in light of its simplicity. Personally, I think William Barclay stated it well by saying, “The parable is essentially a sword to stab men’s minds awake.” Parables are Jesus’ story to teach us, if only we would listen.
1 - Numerical statistics from Robert Stein, An Introduction to the Parables of Jesus Copyright © 1981 by Westminster Press, pgs. 22-26.
2 - All Bible verse references from: The Scofield(R) Study Bible Most current Copyright © 1945 by Oxford University Press, Inc. previously published as The Scofield Reference Bible.
3 - William Barclay, The Parables of Jesus Copyright © 1970 by William Barclay, pg. 11
4 - William Barclay, The Parables of Jesus Copyright © 1970 by William Barclay, pg. 16
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© 2000 Shannon Yáñez
