Parables - how they work (i)

Mark 4.1-20

Intro

Jesus was always teaching. This is how he taught:

He modeled the truth by the way he lived and how he responded to all kinds of situations. He answered questions. He explained Old Testament passages. He explained circumstances and events that happened around him. He deliberately did something (such as a healing) and then explained what it meant. He gave extended sermons. And he told stories with a very precise meaning: Parables.

It is this last teaching method that we are going to concern ourselves with over the next couple of months.

What is a parable? First and foremost, it is a verbal illustration or story. The word parable comes from a word meaning to ‘place alongside’.(Notice para from which we get parallel). A parable is an illustration that is set alongside a message to shed more light on it – to make it vivid and memorable by comparing it to everyday things. However, as we will see shortly, Jesus used parables to make things very clear to some and less clear to others.

A parable is an extended illustration, so that it is a story or almost a story. Jesus used similes and metaphors that were not exactly parables. When Jesus said, “I am the vine” he was using a metaphor, not a parable. When Jesus said, “This generation is like children playing at the market” he was using a simile not a parable. Parables go beyond this to become at the very least an extended simile or metaphor – more of a story – but a particular type of story. They are not fantasy stories or fairy tales – they are true to life or describe things seen in nature – usually something the original hearers could observe from daily life. Parables are straight-forward stories that shed light on a particular truth. However, the spiritual application of that truth is not always perceived by the hearers which we will look at later on.

One effect of a parable is to cause the message to ‘hang in the air’ for a time, forcing the hearer to think it through and make connections.

For example, if Jesus had simply said, some people hear my message and ignore it – that would have had much less impact than the parable of the sower throwing out seeds and some lands on a path, but it can’t take root because the path is too hard and the birds come and eat it up. The parable adds richness, challenge and fullness of meaning that you don’t get by simply stating a truth.