What is a parable?
Story – with a lesson, to a specific audience and to all of us
bonus – anyone know the diff in simile and metaphor?
Simile – Matt 10:16 – 16. “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
Metaphor -John 10:7 – 7. Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.
Transference:
One critical item to remember in reading the parables is that they teach by transferring truth. It is important to know that this transference is grounded in reality. This means historical context is critical to understanding the parables.
Why is it important that the good Samaritan is specifically a Samaritan?
Why is it significant that the prodigal son asks not simply for money but for the inheritance?
Is the friend who comes to the door in the middle of the night asking for food being rude or acting according to cultural convention?
How should we expect the owner of the vineyard to act toward his workers?
Sometimes parables make their point through exaggeration, but even then, the exaggerations emphasize the point based on the essential reality.
Joke/twist:
In many ways, parables are like jokes because they are not supposed to be interpreted as much as they are to be experienced. Jesus’ audience would have known the points of reference, and so they would have gotten the point, or the twist, because they would instantly recognize what he was implying and when the story took an unexpected turn.
Jesus taught in parables. Why?
Read Matt 13:10-17
10. The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
11. He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
12. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.
13. This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
14. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “ ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’
16. But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.
17. For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
10. The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
Notice the disciples asked him why he taught like that. It must not have been clear to them.
Did they ask with curiosity?
Did they ask with contempt?
11. He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
What does this mean? Is Jesus excluding some people and teaching others?
Jesus explained that He used parables so that the hearts of those rejecting would not be hardened further.
A. “The parable conceals truth from those who are either too lazy to think or too blinded by prejudice to see. It puts the responsibility fairly and squarely on the individual. It reveals truth to him who desires truth; it conceals truth from him who does not wish to see the truth.” (Barclay)
B. “Thus the parables spoke to the crowds do not simply convey information, nor mask it, but challenge the hearers.” (Carson)
It is a way to speak to everyone in the crowd “where they are at” It is not “mean, or exclusive,” but rather, like all God does, it is done with love.
12. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.
What does this mean?
Those who are open will learn more, those who are closed (hardened) will be worse off. Like the old adage, you are not staying put – your either growing or shrinking, either getting closer to God or further away. Nobody stays the same…
13. This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
What does this mean?
They see Jesus speaking, but do not see that he is the messiah. They see him with their eyes, but not with an “eye of faith.”
They hear Jesus words, but do not care to “hear” their message.
A. Parables are an example of God’s mercy towards the hardened. The parables were given in the context of the Jewish leaders’ building rejection of Jesus and His work. In this sense they were examples of mercy given to the undeserving.
14. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “ ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
Hear Jesus quotes Isaiah
Read Isaiah 6:9-10
9. He said, “Go and tell this people: “ ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
10. Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
This verse in Isaiah is referred to by Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and by Paul in Acts and Romans.
This is a foretelling of the people who would hear Jesus but reject him. Jesus fulfills prophecy by teaching in parables.
Back to Matthew
15. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’
16. But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.
17. For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
In light of this, those who do understand the parables of Jesus are genuinely blessed. Not only do they gain the benefit of the spiritual truth illustrated, but they also display some measure of responsiveness to the Holy Spirit.
“You under the Gospel are made to know what the greatest and best of men under the law could not discover. The shortest day of summer is longer than the longest day in winter.” (Spurgeon)
The parables are teaching opportunities, but they also expose the nature of people’s hearts.
In this way the parables reveal to us a balance between a dependence on God’s divine revelation and human effort. We must ultimately rely on God to reveal his truths to us. But it is also our responsibility to cultivate hearts that are open to his truths.