Jesus often spoke in parables, using them as a device to enhance communication. In this, He was/is not unique, for people have used parables for as long as people have been communicating. A parable is a literary device that is used to convey meaning in an indirect way, to illustrate a point, for example, without being directly antagonistic or indelicate. They tell stories normally, but the stories themselves are not literally true; they are illustrative.
Abrahan Lincoln was known far and wide for his creative use of parables that were little stories from his days out on the law circuit in Illinois and usually began with something like, “that reminds me of the man back in Illinois who…” When he was finished with the story, his listeners would have gotten his point, and be laughing all around, even though the point may have cut very close to home.
Jesus used parables to convey spiritual truths which might be hard for a person to understand any other way, because spiritual truths are not always easy to explain, for a variety of reasons. They might also be hard to explain because they can very uncomfortably personal.
On at least one occasion, Jesus used parables for a different reason, a reason He explained to His disciples when they asked him His reasons. This occasion is recorded in Matthew 13; Mark 4 and Loke 8…
Mark 4:10-12
When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that,
“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”
Matthew 13:10-17
The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables:
“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’
But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
Luke 8:9-10
His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,
“‘though seeing, they may not see;
though hearing, they may not understand.’
This is all that is recorded for us that is directly from Jesus about why He was teaching in parables, and some of it might come as a shock: Was Jesus really trying to keep the Truth from people so that they couldn’t receive forgiveness?
I doubt it.
It seems to me that He recognized a very basic fact of human behavior, which is that people tend to see what they want to see, to hear what they want to hear, and to believe what they want to believe. At least in this occasion, He used parables so that people who were open to the truth would see it (eyes that see) or hear it (ears that hear) and to thus, believe it. All the while, the ones who were not open to the Truth remained clueless: I was their choice to do so, as Isaiah had foretold in Isaiah 6:9.
With this basic understanding of parables, we will get started in our study tomorrow, see you then!
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