Did you ever read something in a book or printed page that made you stop and reread it? It hit you and it was almost like you couldn’t believe what your eyes read? Perhaps it was a statistic that was so astonishing. Maybe it was a quotation that you couldn’t believe so-and-so said that! So you were compelled to read it again, just to make sure. Instead of looking just to comprehend the big picture, you looked closely at each word to find nuances and meaning.
You read it again and paused. You noticed. And thought. And nodded. And you understood.
Jesus taught the importance of celebrating. The Master loved to tell stories. You would have been spell-bound to listen to Him because He had a knack for taking the most profound spiritual truths or doctrines and make them as simple as learning to throw seeds in the garden or baking a loaf of bread. A story – an object lesson – used to tell a spiritual truth is called a parable. About a third of His teaching used parables, and depending on how you count, Jesus told about forty different parables.
He speaks in parables because not everyone wants to hear. He used parables so that the hearts of those rejecting His words would not be hardened further. The same sun that softens the wax hardens the clay. The same gospel that humbles the heart of the honest seeker hardens the heart of the one who is clinging to their path of disobedience.
William Barclay wrote, “The parable conceals truth from those who are either too lazy or too blinded by prejudice to see. It reveals truth to him who desires truth; it conceals truth from him who does not wish to see the truth.” D.A. Carson states, “the parables spoke to the crowds do not simply convey information nor mask it, but challenge the hearers.”
Understanding parables
The term “parable” is a transliteration of the Greek word parabole (parah-bow-lay). The word means “to throw alongside.” A parable throws one idea alongside another for the purpose of providing a better explanation. The story in a parable illustrates and illuminates basic ideas and is not meant to have an “item-by-item” explanation for each detail, but rather a larger picture painted on the canvas.
The word starts with the Greek preposition “para.” It literally means alongside, but it stresses a nearness, a closeness or a relationship that is often not expressed in translation. It implies an intimate relationship, something that actually changes the nature of the two when separate and individual.
Let me give you an example. I might call your attention to “peanut butter alongside jelly.” We could be picturing a jar of peanut butter and a jar of jelly sitting next to one another on the kitchen cabinet or on the shelf at the grocery. But if the word “para” was used to describe “alongside” we would not think of the peanut butter and the jelly as separate, but instead we would think of them as already intermingled, as in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
We bring the word “para” straight into the English on so many occasions. We often speak of a parachute, paradigm, paragraph, paralegal, paralysis, parameter, or paradox.
My two sons
The fifteenth chapter of Luke (Luke 15:1-31 ESV) describes an interesting point in the earthly ministry of Jesus. In the midst of intense criticism from Jewish religious leaders regarding His practice of eating with characters of ill-repute, Jesus tells three stories. The imagery wrestles your attention away from any other direction.
Do any of you have sheep? There was a woman who had coins. Once a man had sons. Everyone can relate to these stories. Haven’t we all had a pet that got off the leash and wandered away? Is there anyone among us that hasn’t misplaced our keys or our cell phone? Could there be a parent whose child never made a bad decision?
I finally found it! It was in the last place I looked! He came to his senses and it all worked out.
All three of the stories have similar circumstances. The stories all teach similar lessons. And all three stories end the same way: we call friends and neighbors and say, “Let’s celebrate! I found what I lost!”