How do parables work and how we can let
them speak for themselves? How can we let them do their cutting, exposing work
as we preach them?
In all of the synoptic gospels
(Matthew, Mark and Luke) the parable of the sower, together with its
explanation and the quotation from Isaiah 6, seem to function as an
introduction to the parables – what they’re all about, how they work, why Jesus
is using them. It doesn’t tell us everything about parables or
necessarily apply to all the parables but it is an introduction and
one we need to take seriously.
- Parables
are about the kingdom (Mk. 4:11) – they are not morality
tales, they are about the secrets of the kingdom –
especially the Messianic secret of Jesus the Christ who will inaugurate his
kingdom as he is crowned with thorns (Mk. 15:2,9,12,17-19,26,32).
This does not mean that the parables are necessarily ‘an earthly story
with a heavenly meaning’ as some of us have been taught to understand
parables. The story of the sower is an earthly story but the kingdom
that it is really talking about is heavenly and earthly.
It is the kingdom of a king who is fully God and fully man, who suffered
spiritually and physically to bring us into a kingdom-relationship with
himself which starts now in the earthy everyday-ness of life and will
continue eternally in the New Heavens and the New Earth.
- Parables
divide (Mk. 4:11-12) – ‘a filter, or a sieve’ (Melvin
Tinker, Tales of the Unexpected, p. 11) – some are given ears
to hear (Mk. 4:9) and the real meaning is divinely revealed (Mk. 4:11), to
them more will be given (Mk. 4:23-25); to others the parables will drive
them further away (Mk. 4:12) – as in the days of Isaiah’s ministry the
turn to symbolic and metaphorical language is a sign of judgment.
Preaching the parables is a fearsome business – it will not leave the
hearers the same – it will open eyes or harden hearts.
- Parables
may sometimes (but by no means always) be allegories (various details in
the story having a particular meaning – e.g. Mk. 4:14-20) but even when it
is an allegory not every detail has a hidden
meaning (e.g. there being more than one bird, the trampling of
the seed (Lk. 8:5), whether the yield is hundred, sixty or thirty-fold
(Mk. 4:20).
- Parables
very often have a twist – a shock or a
sting in the tail (or ‘sting in the tale’ as one book on the parables was
titled). The shock in the parable of the sower is the massive
fruitfulness of the seed when it does find good soil. A decent wheat
grain yield is 1:15. But this super-seed gives staggering yields of
up to 1:100 (Mk. 4:20). The problem is definitely not with the seed.
Now let’s look at Luke 18:9-14:
- Luke
tells us to whom the parable is spoken and why (Lk. 18:9). He does
the same thing at Luke 18:1 and 19:11. That’s very helpful!
Let’s not miss those pointers. We’re supposed to identify with the
Pharisee in Luke 18:9 – it is supposed to convict us.
- It’s
a study in contrasts – as so often in the parables and
especially in Luke’s (cf. Lk. 16:19-31). There is a great reversal
brewing – the lowest will be highly exalted and the highly exalted will be
laid low (Lk. 1:52-53).
- It’s
not ‘an earthly story with a heavenly meaning’. The story tells of
two people relating to God and that’s exactly what it is about – two ways
to relate to God.
- It’s
not an allegory. The tithes in the story don’t ‘mean something’ –
they are real tithes. The Pharisee thought his tithing would impress
God and people hearing the parable, then and now, think that their tithing
will impress God. In a similar way the parable of the Good
Samaritan is not an allegory – ‘going down to Jericho’ or the ‘two coins’
don’t ‘mean something’ they are just part of the story.
- The
sting in the tale is that it is the irreligious, despised,
probably-corrupt revenue authority official who goes home justified
(instantly, completely, permanently in the right with God) rather
than the upright, fasting, tithing, most-religious-looking man in
town.
- The
parable is saying
one thing. Jesus gives us the punchline (Lk.
18:14). He does this in many of his parables and in Luke it’s
often made even more obvious with an ‘And I tell you...’ (Lk. 16:9; 18:14;
18:8). Again this is very helpful! This is Jesus’ theme and
aim sentence so it makes sense to make it our theme and aim in our
preaching.
One final thought – let’s tell the
story. The power of the parable comes in its narrative power.
It draws you in then swings you round with the twist before knocking you out
with the punchline. Wherever possible let’s just tell the story, make it
live and preserve the surprise so that it comes with its full force to convict
us, humble us and lift us up to Jesus.
Comments
Post a Comment