Throughout His ministry, Jesus gave many different parables and stories. As a teacher, Jesus knew how to explain concepts in ways that His audience would understand, but also so that those who had no interest in understanding would not get it. Jesus both gave straightforward teachings and taught in mysteries that others would not understand until the prophecies would be fulfilled, but all of them share key themes. So after the Sermon on the Mount, why did Jesus pretty well stop straight preaching and settle for parables? What was His mission with the parables? Let us explore.
First, a parable is NOT from the root “parabola,” in which every aspect of the story has a literal or practical counterpart. I have heard that taught, and it simply doesn’t work. Each parable had a specific purpose – to illustrate a singular primary point. I am not going to go through each of those, but it would be fun to do that sometime. With each parable, Jesus was pointing out specific things and key lessons. We see behavior markers, we see what salvation looks like, we see what false religion looks like, and we see what happens when those who have false religion take action.
One thing I have noticed (initially pointed out in a conference Q&A session I listened to) is that the majority, if not all, of Jesus’ parables make the distinction between true and false believers. Jesus hardly ever compared the believer to the unbeliever, except to point out that the Gentiles often had better faith and better placed faith than the people of Israel did. Jesus often compared and contrasted between genuine believers and fake believers and what they do and how they behave. He did this in the parables of the Sower, the Wheat and Tares, the Banquet, the Tenants, the Talents, and the list goes on; it’s about who belongs to Christ and who doesn’t. The parables teach us how the distinction works.
The Parable of the Sower is the key to understanding it all, as it is one of the few that Jesus explained. A farmer sowed seed on four types of ground, and Jesus explained how they each represent different hearts towards God’s message. Three types do not bear fruit, and only one does. I noticed in this parable that the only soil that bore fruit was the one that the farmer had prepared in advance. All the others were left as they were. If we understand that Jesus is talking about true and false believers here, all those who have heard the Word of God preached to them and how they responded to that word, then it helps us understand the others.
One disturbing thing people have done with Jesus’ parables is that they will say, “Jesus spoke in parables, therefore Genesis could be a parable.” I truly question the literacy and sanity of people who make that argument in sincerity. You cannot take one thing in Scripture and just put it somewhere else without considering the genre. Parables are the only fictitious stories in Scripture, and every single one of them is marked as a parable not only by the text literally labeling it as a parable but also by the fact that someone within the historical account is saying it. It’s not the author of the book saying it; it’s the person in the account saying it. All parables in Scripture are being told by a person in the account to someone in the account. It’s not a narrative by the author as Genesis, Exodus, Kings, Chronicles, etc. are. Take notice that the people making this argument are very selective about where and when they use this argument: at the point of Scripture in which they want it to be controversial, so they can have the “say” on what it should mean. That’s not belief. Jesus used parables, but He did not leave them “open for interpretation” but rather had people seek Him to find out what they meant.
The disciples did not understand the parables, and even when He explained the Sower and the Tares and Wheat, they really only got the message when Jesus explicitly told them. But when they asked Jesus what it meant, Jesus did not ask questions to leave things open, but rather to make people think. He asked the obvious, “Which one did the right thing?” or “What should be done with such people?” Everyone knew the answer because Jesus made the story so simple and clear. Even the Pharisees, who sought to entrap and figure out Jesus, knew what the right answers were. And with some of the Parables, especially the Parable of the Tenants, they knew precisely what Jesus was saying, because it was against them. So while the people would hear the Parables and not perceive them, at the same time, they were also crystal clear that they could not be “interpreted” openly. I find the same is true for most of Scripture. It is so clear that people know precisely what it says to the point of not having an excuse to not know what it says, but also obscure enough that those who don’t want to believe don’t actually get the message. Yes, that sounds like a paradox, but it’s generally how Scripture is written. The parables are not that different. It takes the revelation of God and spiritual discernment to actually get the message, but at the same time, no one has any right to blame God for not being clear.
The parables give us clear snapshots in a known setting to illustrate a spiritual truth. They are designed to give us an understanding of our thinking and our actions. When Nathan confronted David about Bathsheba, he didn’t directly accuse David of murder. He told a parable so David could see the severity of his actions. Jesus would often do the same. He would tell stories about what people should do and not do. The Good Samaritan not only showed the hypocrisy of the leaders who refused to lift a finger so they could “go to church” that the very people they hated the most, the Samaritans, were just as real people as they were… and perhaps better people than the Pharisees were. The real followers of Christ are those who do the things Jesus commands, which includes having compassion and mercy, but also issuing judgment. The false followers of Christ will profess the name but seek the glory for themselves; they do not have the King’s interests in mind at all.
When we read the parables, we need to discern which kind of believer we really are. If we see a discrepancy, then we need to deal with it. Otherwise, we may well not be who we think we are.
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