THE FOREST FOR THE TREES

If you ask the average Christian today to define what a parable is, they will most likely reply by stating that parables are either: a spiritual allegory, a mysterious riddle or fable, or a complex metaphor of some sort. Indeed, there is a lot of confusion about this literary genre that Jesus chose so frequently to use, and even more confusion when it comes to the interpretation of the parables themselves. Liberal scholars and theologians have long, “…sought to expose the inadequacies of the allegorical method of interpretation…”1, asserting that parables merely teach moral truth, similar to Aesop’s Fables, one supposes. While others imagine, “…multiple meanings based on the subjective philosophical self-understanding of the interpreters, rather than the historical objectivity of Jesus and His message.”2 Recent scholarship however, has been, “…dominated by a "sophisticated" literary criticism and structuralism, which seems to be more concerned with the style of argumentation, than the historical interpretation.”3 With all of these competing views and confusing constructs being imposed upon the text, it isn’t difficult to see why there is so much confusion surrounding the interpretation of the parables. Doesn’t anyone care about what Jesus was actually trying to say, and why He was saying it in the first place? It’s like the old American idiom, ‘We can’t see the forest because the trees are in the way.’

Rather than getting mired down in the, modern critical method which tends to remove the parable from its historical and cultural settings, DTS Professor, Mark L. Bailey supports the assertion that, “Conservative hermeneutics proceeds on the premise that language is meaningful and that the words in God's biblical communication carry "historical, cultural, spiritual, and moral meaning and values.”4 In his article, “Guidelines for Interpreting Jesus’ Parables”, Bailey accurately affirms that, “…the historical settings of the parables have been overlooked in favor of seeking to find existential implications for the present… to understand the parables correctly one needed to interpret them first of all in their original Sitz im Leben.”5 This is an old German phrase roughly translating to, “setting in life” or “sociological setting”. We are inclined to interpret scripture in light of our present circumstances, but we must never forget that, “…before one should seek to understand the significance of the parables for one's own situation today, one should seek the original meaning of the parables and their application for Jesus' audience in the first century.”6 Ignoring the historical and cultural setting of parables will yield, “…a picture of Jesus not as a wandering Jewish rabbi who instructs disciples, replies to opponents, and stimulates crowds, but rather of an existentialist theologian...”7

Other important factors of interpretation are suggested by Bailey as well, such as, analyzing the structure and details, and focusing on the central truth of the parable and its relationship to the Kingdom. This is a crucial point because, “the concept of the kingdom is the primary referent of Jesus' parables.”8. This becomes increasingly apparent, as evidenced by His frequent usage of the phrase, “The kingdom of heaven is like…” as an introduction to the parable. Of course, if our response to his deep meaning and insight, and the intended appeal of the parable, is a contrite heart of obedience, it becomes, “The greatest reverence we can give to the parables of Jesus.”9 

One aspect of the Parables of Christ that is often overlooked and misinterpreted however, is a failure to, “take into account the nature and purpose of the parables… and the reasons Christ employed them.”10 We’ve discussed how to interpret the parables, but not why Jesus used them in the first place, and this has far-reaching implications when reading the Gospel accounts in Scripture. There is a common misunderstanding concerning why Jesus taught in parables. The disciples asked Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”, and His reply was, “I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”11 He was referring to the dullness of their hearts or the hardness to spiritual truth spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, which leads many to conclude that, “the parables both revealed and concealed new truths regarding God's kingdom…”12. But it doesn’t make sense that God would deliberately conceal the same truths of the kingdom that He was trying to communicate to the world, through His Son. Rather we see that, “…Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.”13 

Jesus was revealing secrets through the parables, not concealing them, and this can be seen clearly when you understand the meaning of the Greek word, παραβολή, ‘parabolē’. Thayer’s definition: “Placing one thing by the side of another, juxtaposition, as of ships in battle…”14, gives us the idea that, Jesus was laying down a scriptural truth, that was difficult or even impossible for them to comprehend, because of their diminished spiritual maturity and capacity to receive truth, and then laying down an illustration of that same truth, in a vernacular that they could clearly relate to, parallel to the first truth so that they can be seen together. Thus, they were all without excuse for rejecting that truth, on the basis of not being able to understand it. This is the heartbeat of the parabolic language that Jesus used when speaking to the multitudes, and we should examine our methods of communicating to the multitudes, in light of it.

Works Cited

1. Bailey, Guidelines for Interpreting Jesus’ Parables, www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article

2. Bailey, Guidelines for Interpreting Jesus’ Parables, www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article

3. Bailey, Guidelines for Interpreting Jesus’ Parables, www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article

4. A. T. Cadoux, The Parables of Jesus: Their Art and Use (London: Clarke, 1930), 45.

5. C. H. Dodd, The Parables of the Kingdom (New York: Scribner & Sons, 1961); and Joachim

6. Bailey, Guidelines for Interpreting Jesus’ Parables, www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article

7. Robert Kelley, "The Significance of the Parable of the Prodigal Son for Three Major Issues in             Current Synoptic Study" (Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 1971), 132.

8. Bailey, Guidelines for Interpreting Jesus’ Parables, www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article

9. Bailey, Guidelines for Interpreting Jesus’ Parables, www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article

10. Bailey, Guidelines for Interpreting Jesus’ Parables, www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article

11. New King James Version, Holy Bible, Thomas Nelson, Inc. Publisher, Mat 13:10-13

12. Bailey, Guidelines for Interpreting Jesus’ Parables, www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article

13. New King James Version, Holy Bible, Thomas Nelson, Inc. Publisher, Mat 13:34-35

14. Thayers’ Greek Definitions, G3850, παραβολή, parabolē