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The Parables of Jesus: Better Than Fiction

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The Parables of Jesus: Better Than Fiction Winter 2018 Book 1 The Parables of Jesus: Better Than Fiction Home Bible Studies Evangelical Free Church of Green Valley Coordinated with messages by Pastor Steve LoVellette Lessons prepared by Dave McCracken ii Introduction The parables of Jesus can be found in all the gospels, except for John, and in some of the non-canonical gospels, but are located mainly within the three Synoptic Gospels. They represent a main part of the teachings of Jesus, forming approximately one third of his recorded teachings. Bible scholar Madeline Boucher writes: The importance of the parables can hardly be overestimated. They comprise a substantial part of the recorded preaching of Jesus. The parables are generally regarded by scholars as among the sayings which we can confidently ascribe to the historical Jesus; they are, for the most part, authentic words of Jesus. Moreover, all of the great themes of Jesus' preaching are struck in the parables. Parables are not fables, not myths, not proverbs, not allegories. Jesus' parables are short stories that teach a moral or spiritual lesson by analogy or similarity. They are often stories based on the agricultural life that was intimately familiar to His original first century audience. It is the lesson of a parable that is important to us. The story is not important in itself; it may or may not be literally true. Jesus was the master of teaching in parables. His parables often have an unexpected twist or surprise ending that catches the reader's attention. They are also cleverly designed to draw listeners into new ways of thinking, new attitudes and new ways of acting. Each of Jesus' parables teaches only one or two important lessons. It is a mistake to look for meaning in every sentence or detail of the story. If we get bogged down analyzing the details of the parable, we may miss the central point. When He was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked Him about the parables. And He said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; in order that they may . ‘Listen continually, but don’t understand! Look continually, but don’t perceive!’ Make the hearts of these people calloused; make their ears deaf and their eyes blind! Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, their hearts might understand and they might repent and be healed.” (Is. 6:9b-10, Luke 8:9-10 NASV) iii Jesus told his disciples that not everyone would understand his parables. Did Jesus mean to say that He was deliberately confusing his listeners? He was aware that some who heard his parables refused to understand them. It was not that they were stupid, but rather, their hearts were closed to what Jesus was saying. They had already made up their minds to not believe. God can only reveal the secrets of his kingdom to the humble and trusting person who acknowledges the need for God and for his truth. The parables of Jesus will enlighten us if we approach them with an open mind and heart, ready to let them challenge us. If we approach them with the conviction that we already know the answer, then we, too, may look but not see, listen but not hear or understand. http://www.rc.net/wcc/parable1.htm D. Schwager, The Parables of Jesus, 2008 Barclay explains it this way: “When Isaiah spoke he spoke half in irony and half in despair and altogether in love. He was thinking, ‘God sent me to bring his truth to this people; and for all the good I am doing I might as well have been sent to shut their minds to it. I might as well be speaking to a brick wall. You would think that God had shut their minds to it.’" So Jesus spoke his parables; He meant them to flash into men's minds and to illuminate the truth of God. But in so many eyes he saw a dull non-comprehension. He saw so many people blinded by prejudice, deafened by wishful thinking, too lazy to think. He turned to his disciples and he said to them: Do you remember what Isaiah once said? He said that when he came with God's message to God's people Israel in his day they were so dully non-understanding that you would have thought that God had shut instead of opened their minds. When Jesus said this, He did not say it in anger, or irritation, or bitterness, or exasperation. He said it with the wistful longing of frustrated love, the poignant sorrow of a man who had a tremendous gift to give which people were too blind to take. (Read Luke 8:9-10) If we read this, hearing not a tone of bitter exasperation, but a tone of regretful love, it will sound quite different. It will tell us not of a God who deliberately blinded men and hid His truth, but of men who were so dully uncomprehending that it seemed no use even for God to try to penetrate the iron curtain of their lazy incomprehension. God save us from hearing his truth like that! (Barclay, commentary on Mark 4:1-12) By nature, a parable invites the reader or listener to supply the interpretation, and some of Jesus' parables have been interpreted in more than one way. Jesus, Himself, supplied the interpretation for some of His parables. But in other cases, it is left to us to determine the meaning and lesson. Some of the parables are difficult to interpret, but the meaning is clear in most cases. Even Jesus' enemies often understood His parables, even though they did not accept the lesson. Jesus' original audience in first century Palestine probably knew exactly what He was saying in most cases. Those of us who are far removed from that time and place need some help from historians and Bible scholars to understand the original cultural context and issues involved. iv Table of Contents Winter 2018 Home Bible Study Date Topic Scripture Page January 14 Seed, Sower, Soils Luke 8:4-15 1 January 21 Kingdom Parables for Life Now Matthew 13 5 January 28 The Rich Man and Lazarus Luke 16:19-31 9 February 4 The 10 Minas Luke 19 13 February 11 From Bitterness to Forgiveness Matthew 18:21-35 17 v The Parables of Jesus: Better Than Fiction Lesson 1, January 14, 2018 Luke 8:4-15 The Seed, The Sower, The Soils The good soil represents the hearts of those who truly accept God’s message and produce a huge harvest – thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted. Matt. 13:23 NLT “I’ve made my choice,” wrote the basketball star. “I love Jesus Christ and I try to serve Him to the best of my ability. How about you?” That testimony is from a tract written years ago by Bill Bradley, the former United States Senator, who tried to win the Democratic Party’s nomination for President. In an earlier Breakpoint Commentary, Chuck Colson talked about how Bradley professed faith in Christ while he was a student at Princeton University. There he became very active in The Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and by the time he was playing for the New York Knicks, he was a very outspoken Christian. But things changed. In his 1996 memoirs, Bradley says he was put off by the exclusive truth claims of conservative Christianity and bothered by the uncharitable and racist attitudes displayed by some Christians. He now says he embraces all religions, from Buddhism to Islam, “so long as they seek inner peace.” Bill Bradley by his own writings condemns his soul. He has lost his zeal for Christ and gives us a perfect and sad example of what it means to have faith that is strong at first, but then withers away, because of a lack of commitment. The cost of temporary faith, is the loss of faith. C. Frailey, The Parable of the Four Soils, 2002. Read Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23; Luke 8:4-8, 11-15; Mark 4:3-8, 13-20. (Luke 8:9-10 is discussed in the introduction to this series.) The parable of the soils describes what becomes of seed that is sown in four different types of soil. The sowing of the seed symbolizes the spreading of the gospel. The seed which is sown is the word of God. The first type of soil is the hardened soil of the pathway. This seed does not penetrate the soil at all, but is quickly snatched up by the birds of the air. The second type of soil is the rocky soil, a shallow layer of earth, barely covering to rock below. The seed which falls upon this type of soil quickly germinates, aided by the warmth retained by the rock, but hindered by a lack of depth and by a lack of moisture. The seed which germinates quickly also terminates quickly. The third soil is populated with thorns. The seed falling into this soil germinates and begins to grow, but is eventually crowded out by the hardier thorns. The fourth soil is the fruitful soil, that soil which produces a bountiful crop. Having told the story, Jesus put an exclamation point after it by adding these words: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Luke 8:8). First: Planting on a footpath. 1. Who is Jesus talking about here? Also read 2 Cor.
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