"Why Do You Speak...In Parables?"

Technically, this was in yesterday's reading, but I intended to write about the Parables in general at some point. Matthew 13:10-17 (pp1338-39) provides Jesus' reasons for his use of parables, and I'll expand upon it, with liberal use from this Wikipedia entry.

Depending on how you count and define them, there are approximately 40 parables of Jesus, but Jesus wasn't the only one to use them. Depending on the commentator, Old Testament parables can be found in Judges 9:7-15 (trees make a king) and 2 Samuel 12:1-4 (the poor man's ewe). It is commonly held that Jesus' parables are only found in Matthew, Mark and Luke, although I'm unclear as to how the description of the Good Shepherd in John 10:1-5 isn't a parable, but that's really not important. What matters more is what the parables represent.

As we read these parables, I strongly doubt that there will be instances where you'll be scratching your head and saying "Huh?!?," and I'll go one step further and state that if that does happen, it will be because you don't understand the imagery used and NOT because you don't comprehend the underlying message. For any number of reasons, you may not know that a mustard seed is small, but you certainly understand that God can take the tiniest thing in his creation and use it however he wishes to extend his kingdom. The fact you might not know that about the mustard seed itself is irrelevant.

The real reason that Jesus spoke in parables is contained in Matthew 13:13, which states:

This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see;
   though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

To the non-Christian, a mustard seed growing into a great tree is simply a description of what happens in life. To the Christian, we understand how it relates to the growth in God's kingdom, as well as how we (as mustard seeds) can grow through the Holy Spirit. The Wikipedia entry makes distinctions between parables, metaphors and similes, stating that while parables share characteristics with the other two, they aren't exactly the same. 

The most important point I can make is that even though a given parable is easy to understand, this does NOT mean that the meaning is trivial or inconsequential--far from it, and I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't know. Going back to the mustard seed again, it is not trivial that God can make something great out of the tiniest or least consequential item, since that's the basis of the hope that we have in him. Just because something is easy to understand doesn't make it easy to do. One of my major themes throughout this year has been the simple concept that understanding something and implementing it are completely different, with implementation being more difficult--and much more important. God isn't interested in what we know, but with what we DO with what we know.

The Wikipedia entry is fairly extensive and can be a great resource as we move forward, which is why I tagged this entry with "Parable" so that you can refer back to it as you wish. In addition to giving an overview, it has links to all the individual parables, which can assist you if you wish to delve a little deeper into some of them, but keep in mind that this will provide only additional information--chances are very good you'll already know everything you need to know to understand the parable. Some things in the Bible are confusing and difficult to understand--the parables are NOT one of those items.

Scott