THE PARABLES OF JESUS
THE PARABLES OF JESUS
'CP' denotes 'compare passage'
Parables are sayings that teach truth by comparison. The word parable means a placing alongside of; a parallel, comparison or similitude. In scripture it is a story drawn from nature or human circumstances to teach a moral or spiritual truth. Its purpose is to arrest and hold the attention of the hearer. The meaning of the parable has to be studied - it is not the story that is of value but the lesson it teaches. There is a comparison being made and the hearer has to perceive the likeness of the things compared to learn the lesson. Christians in the contemporary church tend to associate parables entirely with Jesus' teachings in the New Testament, but parables also abound in the Old Testament too. The book of Proverbs would be more correctly translated as the book of Parables (CP Pr 1:1). Proverbs means parables. Probably the best known parable in the Old Testament is Nathan the prophet's rebuke to King David for committing adultery with Bathsheba and then arranging for the death of her husband, Uriah (CP 2 Sam 12:1-9).
The apostle Paul taught in parables too on occasions in the New Testament. In Ro 6 he graphically portrays sin and death, grace and life as opposing rulers in men's lives to teach that Christians must choose which one they will serve (CP Ro 6:1-16). In Ro 7 he uses the analogy of a marriage partnership and the death of one of the partners to teach that the Old Testament law of sin and death only binds a person to the law as long as that person lives by the law, but once they die to sin, the law no longer has a hold over them and they are then free to embrace the teachings of Jesus, and become one with Him (CP Ro 7:1-6). Also in Romans, Paul uses a parable of a wild olive tree, representing Gentiles, being grafted to a cultivated olive tree, representing Israel, to teach that while the salvation benefits in the finished work of Christ have been made available to the Gentiles because of the Jews' unbelief, Gentiles are not to boast of being superior to the Jews (CP Ro 11:17-24).
Much of Jesus' teaching was in parables because parables have a double use - they reveal the truth to those who want it, and conceal it from those who do not (CP Mt 13:10-17). V11-15 does not teach as some suppose that Jesus deliberately withheld the truth from the Pharisees so that they could not get saved. The Pharisees wilfully rejected the truth, causing it to be veiled from them because they had hardened their hearts toward it. They did not want to be converted to Christ. Parables were such a significant part of Jesus' ministry that it is important that we should seek to understand them. To be correctly interpreted they must be studied strictly within their context and attendant circumstances - what precedes them, and what follows them; the conversations of which they formed a part; the questions and objections to which they were the explanations.
OLD AND NEW CLOTH AND WINESKINS
(CP Mt 9:16-17) This parable is also found in Mk 2:21-22 and Lu 5:36-39. Jesus told the parable in response to questioning by John the Baptist's disciples as to why Jesus' disciples did not follow the accepted religious practice of fasting (CP Mt 9:14-15). The old worn-out garment and wineskin represents the Old Testament Judaistic religious system which kept people under its law in bondage to sin (CP Ro 7:14-23; 1Cor 15:56-57). Jesus' reference to new cloth and new wine was a way of saying that He did not come as a reformer to patch up an old worn-out religious system, but to replace it completely with a dynamic new teaching (CP Lu 4:17-21; Ga 3:22-26). Jesus' dynamic new teaching was salvation by grace through faith in Him, which was incompatible with the teaching of the law under the Old Testament. This new teaching could not be mixed with the old because of the new life and freedom impossible with the old (CP Ro 7:24-8:4). A good biblical example of how the old and the new could not be mixed is found in Ac 15 (CP Ac 15:1-21).
CHILDREN IN THE MARKET PLACE
(CP Mt 11:16-19) In this parable Jesus confronts His and John the Baptist's critics and exposes their inconsistency. The Pharisees criticised John, saying that he was demon-possessed because he did not socialise, while at the same time they criticised Jesus, calling Him a glutton and a wine-bibber, because He did socialise. Jesus compared them to a group of children who obstinately refused to take part in anything the other children did. Nothing the other children did could please them. The Pharisees were the same. They criticised John the Baptist for being austere and they criticised Jesus for not being austere. Jesus' closing statement in the parable "...but wisdom is justified of her children," was telling the Pharisees that notwithstanding that His and John's lifestyle were different they were both correct in their purpose, and would both be proved right by the results - people being saved.
SOWER
(CP Mk 4:1-13) It is also found in Mt 13:1-23 and Lu 8:4-15 and concerns the nature and development of the kingdom. Jesus gave this parable as a type of all the rest of His parables. His questions to the disciples in V13 implies that if one can understand this parable, he can understand all others, for in this one are the principles of interpretation in all of them. The questions were a gentle rebuke to the disciples because their hearts were enlightened by Jesus' teaching, not closed to it like the Pharisees, and they should have understood the parable. Instead Jesus had to explain it to them (CP Mt 13:18-23). The whole course of this age of grace portraying how God's word is received and acted upon is pictured in this parable. The emphasis is on the hearts of men and how they respond to the gospel. It is how they respond to the gospel that determines their eternal destiny. The core teaching of this parable is that most people who hear the gospel will reject it. TARES OF THE FIELD
(CP Mt 13:24-30, 36-43) This parable is only found here in Mt 13. It is another parable the disciples could not understand and Jesus went on to explain it to them also, like the parable of the sower. What Jesus teaches in these two parables is crucial to our understanding of His other parables concerning the nature and development of the kingdom of heaven in Mt 13. The theme of His teaching is that evil will always be present in the world in opposition to the good and that the kingdom of heaven in its present earthly aspect will always be befouled by the presence and the plots of Satan. In the parable of the sower Jesus shows us that among those who profess God's name there will be apostasy and worldliness, as well as faithfulness and godliness, and in this parable He teaches us that the children of the kingdom and the emissaries of Satan must exist side by side with each other in the world throughout the kingdom age until Christ's second coming, when they will be separated. Children of the kingdom refers to every born again believer from the day of Pentecost until the last soul saved during the Great Tribulation. The terms "kingdom of heaven" and "kingdom of God" essentially mean the same and are interchangeable (CP Mt 19:23-24). They refer to the realm of God's rule, both in its present earthly aspect, and the future eternal kingdom.
They are not referring to the church as many suppose, although the professing church is the visible manifestation of the kingdom in its present earthly aspect. The kingdom works in the world through the church, bringing to all who will receive it the blessings of God's rule. However, the kingdom covers the whole of human society, whereas the professing church only covers professing Christians. Jesus ushered in the kingdom when He commenced His earthly ministry (CP Mt 4:13-17; 10:1-8; 12:25-28; Lu 17:20-21). The kingdom will continue in its present earthly aspect until Jesus' second coming, when the wicked will be cast down into hell and the righteous will rule and reign with Jesus, but until then Jesus has decreed that the righteous and the wicked must exist side by side with each other in the world. That does not mean that the righteous are to be passive spectators in the world. They still have to be God's witnesses to the wicked, vocalising the gospel, even though most who hear it will reject it, as the parable of the sower teaches.
But Christians know the terrible fate that awaits the wicked and this should make us all the more eager to see them saved. Sadly though many professing Christians do not believe they are meant to witness to them.