I know I wrote in last week’s reflection that Jesus was an effective teacher because he communicated in a clear and concise way, but perhaps the crowing jewel in Jesus’ teaching arsenal is his use of Parables.  

Our brains are built in such a way that we process story differently to instruction. Something about the creative application of a point or message means that stories tend to be a more relatable and understandable – and therefore effective- means of communication. This is why so many preachers will work hard to integrate illustrations into their sermons. Narrative, characters and plots stick in our memories more than bullet points or statements.  

Jesus gives us bits of both, depending on who he is trying to communicate to, and what he is trying to get across, but in this weeks readings, we got lots of parables 

Matthew 13 is full of them - once again, most likely they’ve been collected together by the author rather than Jesus going through his ‘parables phase’! As with last week, we could focus on each of them and how much we can learn from the specific individual parables, but I wanted to consider the role of parables and what their purpose was and is. 

“The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.” - Matthew 13:13 

“Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable, he told them nothing. 35 This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet:  

“I will open my mouth to speak in parables; I will proclaim what has been hidden since the foundation.”” - Matthew 13:34 

 It’s not a surprise that, in a chunk of text using lots of parables, there are these snippets which address the use of parables. There are some fairly obvious questions that need addressing – mainly, why use potentially ambiguous stories if you could make a direct point that everyone understands? For all the neurological understanding we have now around the power of storytelling, there is also lots of suggestion in the gospels that people didn’t understand some of the parables.  

Not only that, but Jesus seems to suggest that his disciples should understand. 

But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 

This line comes between the telling of the parable of the sower, and Jesus having to explain it. It makes me think the disciples asking “why do you speak to them in parables?” might be as if they were ‘asking for a friend’!  

But if even the disciples, from whom Jesus expected more, struggled to make sense of the parables, why did Jesus use them so much? 

The text seems to answer that it was, in part, to fulfil a prophecy from Isaiah. Yet, prophetic fulfilment, in and of itself, doesn’t seem to be a good enough reason to do something. But, something that is mentioned in that prophecy, that is cited in Matthew 13:34 is that the parables ‘proclaim what has been hidden since the foundation’. 

In 13:11, Jesus references the ‘secrets’ or ‘mysteries’ of the Kingdom of Heaven.  

The parables, then, are the appropriate means through which to communicate these secrets, to reveal what has been hidden.  

Now, that all sounds quite abstract – Jesus deploying these kinds of riddles, these answers to which contain the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven. Why are parables the chosen means of communication of these things? 

I would suggest that the reason that story is employed is that it engages the listeners mind to discover the truth – we are invited, through the parables, to seek.  

Instruction helps us to live our lives; ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ doesn’t leave a whole lot of wiggle room! But parable creates space for personal application, for interpretation and for questioning. These things build a desire for the Kingdom of God, as we negotiate our own understandings to try to find God’s truth. There is something of free will involved too, whereby we have to do the work, because it’s important to establish that seeking desire in our relationships with God. 

Parables, then, aren’t straight forward precisely because what they speak of is so important. We are to muse upon them, let their meanings sit with us and teach us. We have the extra layer of complexity of being removed from the culture they spoke into. One common piece of praise for the parables is that the stories used made sense to the people hearing them. We, on the other hand, have to do a little extra work to gain understanding of the culture these parables relate to.  

If we don’t, we risk misunderstanding not only a nice bit of Jesus’ teaching, but the very mysteries of God! That, to me, feels like something that’s worth spending a little time on. 

So, this week, why not have a little read around about the culture these parables were speaking to – there is masses written about it so I’m confident you’ll encounter something reliable and useful. Then, try re-reading some of the parables and see if your understanding of them changes at all.