Parables

Matthew 13: 1-23; Mark 4: 1-25; Luke 8: 4-18

Matthew 13: 3

³ And he told them many things in parables, saying: ‘Listen! 

After the decision of the political and religious leaders to make plans to kill Him (Matthew 12:14), Jesus, for the rest of His Galilean ministry, only teaches the fickle crowd in parables. The crowd will be needed by the authorities to approve of the getting rid of Jesus and Jesus will on a Human level need to be careful how He teaches to ensure He completes His creating, sustaining and redemptive work.   Parables are common in Judaism with the Greek word for parable occurring around 45 times in the Septuagint; the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. The people would not find parables strange as a form even although they may not understand them.  Parables are extended analogies. Analogies have been previously used by Jesus many times before this in for example the Sermon on the Mount;  see the ‘Salt and Light’ and ‘Wise Person builds’ narratives. A parable is an extended analogy which takes the form of a parallel story that answers a fundamental question for the participants or at least as we will see some of the participants in the story and by implication the reader. Parables answer questions through encoding the problem and solution in common signs as symbolic representations.  The reader or hearer is set the task of decoding the story and finding themselves and others in the narrative.  The form: question, story, symbol and practice is deployed as a vehicle for setting the stage for the answer to the question to be finally realised. Jesus explains the parables to His disciples but not the crowds. The crowds appear stuck in views of themselves and their society in such a ridged way that they cannot conceive of an alternative way of being in the world. They are conservative in their following of conservatism or liberalism, they a zealous as zealots and enthusiastic tax collectors. They don’t seem to get the possibility of the radical change that Jesus is offering, the progressive revelation and the Kingdom of God as a place where God renews and perpetually does the renewing thing. For those who refuse Jesus as the fulfilment of the promises of God to set them free form the powers that rage against them the parables are confusing and problematic.  The crowds and their leaders prefer: ‘signs and wonders’ a ‘trick and a treat’; a free meal with a miracle.   Jesus refuses to offer them signs (Matthew 12: 38-42), and begins to teach in extended analogies. We will examine some of these parables. But first, we need to get the form: question, story, symbol and practice. What are the questions we bring to the text? We have to be prepared to hear the words of Jesus as a first step. We have to be willing to consider the possibility of giving up our self-centred ways of meeting our needs and for free food and miracles. The words of Jesus have to be taken seriously; recognising our part in the story, decoding the symbols and acting upon Jesus teaching. We have to be the good soil that is capable of taking the seed of Jesus teaching and planting it in our lives and providing the medium for the fruit of this seed; that is, we must put the teachings into practice. Our lives are at stake; it’s all about whom we are; what kind of soil we are and what is available for the seed of the word of truth.  We are about to discover who God has created us to be.