Parables in Jesus’ Teaching

“The disciples came to Him and asked, ‘Why do you speak to the people in parables?’ He replied, ‘The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them in parables: Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. 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.’ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.“ (Matthew 13:10-16, NIV).

We turn now from a biographical study of some notable people of the Old Testament that we’ve followed for several days to a study of some of the parables of Jesus. Before we look at selected parables (there were at least 51, most scholars agree), let us examine Jesus’ stated reason for using parables in his teaching. Just after he had given the parable of the seed and the sower, His disciples asked Him why he spoke in parables. His response reveals that parables were specifically for the ears of those who could hear and understand. He reminded them that the prophet Isaiah had predicted that hard-hearted people would blind themselves to the truths He taught. It was a matter of the heart—whether calloused or believing. And the parables would fall on listening ears and receptive hearts of people who could believe and act upon the truths revealed.

Many parables deal with the kingdom of God. It was not intended as a military kingdom. For a long time many had longed for Messiah’s coming and envisioned a victorious reign of a mighty leader who would overthrow the Roman bondage the Israelites were under and set up a kingdom of power and peace. When Jesus taught “The kingdom of heaven is like,” he was trying hard to get believers to see the nature of the kingdom as God intended it. Many of the parables Jesus used grew out of conflict situations when Jesus was answering his religious critics. He was fearless in exposing self-righteousness and extolling the kingdom of God. Peter Rhea Jones says of Jesus’ parables: “…appearances take a pounding. Grace shines on worship and revelation happens!” (“Parables, in Holman Bible Dictionary, 1991, p. 1073). May Jesus’ purpose for using parables help us as we look at selected ones over the next several days and learn His truths. May what Jesus said to his disciples long ago be true of us today: “But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear” (Matthew 13:16, NIV). May we pray to be given more understanding and an abundance of it, as Jesus promised.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Saturday, August 28, 2010