"Why Parables"

“Why Parables”

Robert M. Thompson, Pastor

Corinth Reformed Church
150 Sixteenth Avenue NW
Hickory, North Carolina 28601

828.328.6196   corinthtoday.org

 (© 2012 by Robert M. Thompson.  Unless otherwise indicated, Scriptures quoted are from The Holy Bible, New International Version, Copyright 2011 by New York International Bible Society.)

“Blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear.”  (Jesus)

Matthew 13:10-17

January 8, 2012

My favorite piece

A man and his wife, married for sixty years, sat silently across the breakfast table.  He made her toast, as he had always done, buttering it for her and setting it in front of her with her coffee.  She generally thanked him politely, but on this day she needed to get something off her chest.  “When we get to the end of the loaf of bread, why do you always give me the heel?  You’ve been doing that for sixty years.” 

As tears filled his eyes, she said, “I shouldn’t have said anything.  I’m sorry.”

“It’s not that,” he answered, wiping his eyes.  “It’s just that the heel is my favorite piece.”

That’s one of my favorite stories to teach on marriage.  It’s almost a parable, but not quite.  I’ll tell you why it’s not a parable at the end of my sermon.

Depending on who counts, Jesus told about 30 or 40 parables that are recorded in the Gospels.  Some you know well; others are less familiar.  Each Sunday between now and Easter, we plan to study one of those parables.  That means we’ll cover about a third of Jesus’ parables. 

Matthew’s gospel records seven parables in chapter 13.  Before we study any of them, however, I want to jump to the disciples’ question in verse 10, “Why do you speak in parables?”  Why indeed?  Jesus gives us several answers, not just in this text but in his use of parables.

Parables bless

Here’s a Jesus parable you probably know well.  A man owns 100 sheep.  One of them is missing.  Only one!  You would think the man is very content enjoying his 99 sheep.  Not so.  Instead, he follows the same instinct every one of us would follow.  He actually risks the security of the 99, leaving them vulnerable while he searches for the one that is missing.  And when he finds it, he high fives everyone he knows.  “I found the sheep!  I found the sheep!”

That, Jesus says, is how God feels when a sinner repents.  Jesus follows that one with a story of a woman rejoicing over finding one lost coin of ten, and then a Father throwing a party over the homecoming of one lost son of two.  That series of stories blesses our soul from deep within about how much God loves us and longs to find every one of us and bring us safely home.  A lot of people don’t understand that.

The first part of Jesus’ answer to “why parables” is in verse 11:  “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you.”  Every noun in that sentence is significant: knowledge, secrets, kingdom, heaven.  But focus on “secrets.”  Parables convey “insider information.”  Jesus says, “I’m sharing my ‘family recipes’ with you, but not with them.”

Before you cry foul over those left on the outside, focus on the privilege of being on the inside.  Later in the passage Jesus says, “Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.  For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it” (16-17).  

Parables divide

Here’s a parable of Jesus that may be less familiar to you.  While their parents were shopping, some kids met on the playground to play.  Some pretended they were in a band.  Soon, though, the game became frustrating.  Some of the kids wouldn’t participate.  They were never satisfied.  When the band played wedding music, they said, “That’s too happy; we don’t want to dance.”  So the band played funeral music, but then they were told, “That’s too sad; we don’t want to cry.”

Jesus told that parable to teach that some people are never satisfied.  They just want to complain.  As soon as you hear his story, his friends say, “I hope he’s not talking about me!”  The complainers say, “Well, what if he is?  He deserves all the jabs we can land.”

Parables divide.  That’s the point.  It’s Jesus primary answer to why he tells parables.  We may not like what he says, but Jesus has a way of saying things we don’t like.  Listen to him first, then critique him if you will.

We can’t understand the disciples’ question or this part of Jesus’ answer without flipping backward a chapter or two. More than the other Gospel writers, Matthew tends to group similar events and teachings together – sermons, miracles, and, in the case of chapter 13, parables.  What he grouped together in the two chapters before this one was the growing division over Jesus. 

Jesus was like a Republican presidential candidate in 2011.  He surged in popularity at first, then the increased scrutiny caused his poll numbers to plummet.  Even John the Baptist asks Jesus, “Are you for real or are we waiting for someone else?” (11:3).  The Pharisees call Jesus a glutton and a drunkard (11:19), criticize his disciples for not honoring the Sabbath (12:2), and outright accuse Jesus of being in league with the devil (12:24).  Meanwhile, Jesus increasingly moves away from crowds while he invites a smaller group of the weary and burdened to find rest (11:28).  These he considers his truer family than his biological mother and brothers (12:49-50)

The more you understand Jesus, the more you realize you can’t be neutral with him.  He evokes either criticism or intimacy.  That is Matthew’s background for the set of parables and thus for disciples’ question, “Why do you speak in parables?”

Jesus says in verse 11, these secrets are given to you….”but not to them.”  Why?  Here he draws on Isaiah, during a very dark time in Israel’s history.  Isaiah was called to people who God warned in advance would be unresponsive. It’s not that he doesn’t want them to understand.  Remember?  He’s the shepherd who seeks that 100^th sheep, the woman who searches for that 10^th coin, the father who yearns for his 2^nd son to come home.  He wants his children, but he won’t force them. 

Jesus describes his growing opposition as those who don’t want to hear, don’t want to understand.  Their hearts are calloused and their eyes are closed.  Parables increase that division.  It’s intentional.  If you don’t get Jesus, you think of his parables as simplistic or offensive.  If you adore him, his stories only endear him to you even more.

Parables penetrate

This explanation of parables is the cheese in the sandwich of Jesus’ parable of the four soils.  The story itself is one piece of bread; the explanation is the other.

It’s another familiar parable, and we’ll talk about in depth in a couple of weeks.  A farmer scatters seed on four kinds of soil – hard ground, shallow ground, weed-infested ground, and fertile ground.  Only the fourth soil produces the intended crop.  Jesus says the difference is not in the seed.  The difference is in receptor.  It’s not what the Word is or how it’s spread.  It’s how you hear.

It’s such a simple story.  With such a penetrating effect.  The point is not always easy to grasp.  When you do get it, it’s never easy to practice.

We’re now ready to define a parable.

A parable is a fictional but true-to-life short story that drives home one main faith principle.  This distinguishes a parable from other kinds of illustrative stories.

Fictional:  A parable is not an actual event.  You may take great moral courage from Custer’s last stand, but it’s history, so it’s not a parable.

True-to-life:  A parable is not like science fiction or fantasy.  There are no talking animals or super heroes in parables.  Even though this never happened to you, if you’re living in Jesus’ culture you can well imagine that it could.

Short story:  A parable is usually very short, though not as short as the six-word story Ernest Hemingway called his best work:  “For sale: baby shoes, never worn." In contrast to most short stories, a parable always has as its purpose to teach.    

One main point:  a parable is not an allegory.  Pilgrim’s Progress is an allegory, meaning that there are multiple parallels all through the story to the life of faith.  A parable has only one primary point.

Faith principle:  a parable is not like Aesop’s Fables.  A fable may have only one point, but it is a generally accepted moral truth.  In “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” for example, the point is that if you tell lies, you won’t be believed even when you tell the truth.  That’s a good point whether you are a Christian, a Buddhist, or an atheist.  It’s for everyone.  A parable, by contrast, illustrates a faith principle.

This is why my story at the beginning of the sermon is not a parable.  It’s a fictional, true-to-life short story, but it teaches a generally accepted moral truth – that communication requires words.  The husband was showing his wife love by giving her his favorite part of the loaf of bread – the heel.  The wife was showing her husband love by not complaining.  Had one or both used words to communicate, their love across decades could have been deeper and more appreciated. 

Jesus didn’t use parables to reinforce common wisdom.  He used them to teach principles in the kingdom of God.

Take action

Parables always require a response.

So let me try again to share an original story that meets all the tests of a parable.

Every time Gertie moved to a new town, she joined every organization that needed members and volunteered for every job that needed workers.  Gertie’s husband, Fred, warned her from his easy chair as he watched the NFL wild card weekend, “Now, Gertie, don’t get overinvolved in that church we joined.  You don’t have to check off every item in the ‘Top Ten’ from the bulletin.”  But Gertie didn’t listen.  In addition to all her community activities, Gertie joined the choir, served meals to the bereaved, watched the nursery, participated in the women’s Bible study, served hot chocolate to the men’s Bible study, joined a Sunday School class, and cleaned up after the youth group. She was trying to set a good example for Fred to be busy.  He was trying to set a good example for her to rest.  When they filed for divorce, Gertie said Fred was self-absorbed and lazy.  Fred said Gertie was self-absorbed and only serving to fill her own needs.  They were both right.

A kingdom principle I want to lift up as we begin 2012 is this: check your heart before you set your level of involvement in church activities.  If you are deliberately disconnected, why?  If you are overinvolved, why?

For most of my pastorate, I’ve been trying to figure out how to manage people’s level of involvement.  I’ve been trying to get people to help me and set up databases to fight what’s normal – that 20% of members do 80% of the work.  It hasn’t worked very well, especially in a growing church.

What I’m getting my heart around now is one reason it doesn’t work is that it’s not up to me or anyone else to manage or manipulate your level of connection to the church family.  Your level of commitment is really a matter of your own heart.

We’re going to do less tracking and more offering of options.  The bulletin insert is the first of what will be monthly lists of the “Top Ten Ways to Belong and Serve.”

Note that one of those ways (#4) is to join a weekly study group from now through Easter focused on the parables of Jesus.  If one of those options doesn’t fit, let me know and we’ll figure something else out – or even give you an electronic option.

Take a few moments and pray through that list and other ways to belong and serve.  Check your heart and let the Spirit speak to you.

Top Ten Ways to Belong & Serve at Corinth

January 2012