What Is A Parable Series

Sermon 1

THE PARABLES OF JESUS

(Matt. 13:34-35; Mark 4:33-34)

“Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So it was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world!” (Matt. 13:34-35). “But when he was alone with his own disciples he explained everything.” (Mark 4:34).

Today we begin a study of the parables. In this introductory message I want us to think about two questions: (1) What Is A Parable? (2) Why Did Jesus Use Them?

I. WHAT IS A PARABLE?

(Matt. 13:34; Luke 4:23; John 10:6)

The Simile Parable:

Many years ago at the Southern Baptist Convention, a learned young preacher delivered a masterful argument as to why our local churches should have far less control over the workings of the various convention boards and agencies. He made a motion to that effect. A wise old country preacher stood up and said, “That all sounds pretty good, brother, and a lot of it makes sense, but you will never get Southern Baptists to ride a horse without a bridle.” He sat down. Then the motion was soundly defeated. One vivid word picture was far more powerful than debate.

The Story Parable:

One of Aesop’s Fables tells of a thirsty crow that wanted a drink of water from a pitcher. The water was too deep to reach. The crow thought of tipping it over but said the water would run out. He tried to punch a hole in the side but it was too hard. He fretted and fretted and almost flew away but he saw some stones and dropped them in the jar one by one until the water rose to the top. The lesson? There’s a way out of hard places if you have the wit to find them.

An Analogy From Daily Life:

These illustrations - one short and one long - tell us what a parable is. It is a picture from daily life. It is an illustration: it is an analogy, a comparison. The Greek word “PARA BOLE” literally means “to throw alongside”. You lay a good picture from daily life next to an abstract truth to make it come alive and to rivet it in the memory.

Illustration: For example, Jesus told the church at Sardis, “…you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead” (Rev. 3:1). The truth here is that activity in a church doesn’t always mean it is spiritually alive and helpful to the spiritual needs of people. One pastor put it this way - THE MOST ACTIVE THING IN A BARNYARD IS A CHICKEN WITH ITS HEAD CUT OFF. That’s a parable - a picture from daily life laid next to an abstract truth.

The Confusion Over Parables (Luke 4:23; 10:61):

This seems simple, and really it is, but nowhere have Bible scholars made the simple confusing more than in their teachings about Jesus’ parables. The confusion does begin with Scripture, however, because Scripture does not use the word parable in a precise way.

For example, the parable of the shepherd in John 10:1-6 is called a “parable” in the King James Version, but the word is “PAROIMIA”. What we call a PROVERB or SIMILE, like “Physician, heal yourself” (Luke 4:23), the Bible calls a parable.

The Allegory Parable (Matt. 13:3-23):

But scholars go far beyond this. They tell us a parable is NOT AN ALLEGORY. An allegory is a story where all the details have hidden meanings, like PILGRAM’S PROGRESS. Christians in the early centuries saw the parables primarily as allegories and came up with ridiculous interpretations. An example is THE GOOD SAMARITAN. Augustine made:

The Traveler - Lost man

Jerusalem - Heaven

The Thieves - Demons

The Passersby - The Old Testament

The Samaritan - Jesus

The Inn - The church

The Two Pence - The ordinances

You see how ridiculous this is. You miss the main question, “Who is my neighbor?” and you miss the answer, “Anyone in need.” But it is NOT right to say A PARABLE IS NEVER AN ALLEGORY. The parable of the sower and the four kinds of soil was just that (Matt. 13:3-23). And the same is true of the parable of the net (Matt. 13:47-50), the vineyard keeper (Mark 12:1-12), the marriage feast (Matt. 22:1-14) and the great supper (Luke 14:16-24). Explaining the parable of the sower Jesus called:

The Sower - A sharer of the word

The Seed - The Word of God

The Soils - Human hearts (People)

The Path - People with no interest

The Birds - Satan and his angels

The Rocks - People who can’t take persecution

The Weeds - People too busy for God