Parables: Article for Alphacrucis College
Written for and submitted to Alphacrucis College, this piece focusses
on specific research to expound on a niche topic.
One of the defining characteristics of Jesus' ministry, indeed one of the most significant pieces of evidence that remain, is His parables retold in the four Gospels. During the time in which Jesus travelled throughout Judea teaching, crowds of thousands gathered to hear the stirring and authoritative words of the carpenter's son and to experience the healing power that came from Him. Thousands of years have passed since Jesus' delivered His sermons on the Kingdom of God, but the parables remain today amongst the most frequently cited passages in modern Church services. Parables like the Prodigal Son, the Parable of the Talents, The Lost Sheep and The Sower are common preaching material and often the basis for Sunday's altar call.
For many people, however, the parables have become irrelevant. Some base this claim upon the age of the sayings or the chain of translation. Still, others recall the removal of our current world from the Gospels' context or the difficulty that interpretation presents. The question seems valid; how are we meant to interpret and apply the parables in our modern context?
Scholars and theologians have endeavoured for centuries to determine the most effective and appropriate way to uncover a parable's meaning, though to start with, it has been an ordeal to define what a parable is.
Several have set out to categorise and define the bounds of what constitutes a parable, with the common understanding today being that a parable is a comparison or likening of two things, often presented in the form of a short to medium-length story or tale.
This concept may seem straightforward, but the wealth of scholarly material on interpreting the parables suggests that Jesus' teachings methods are hardly lightweight.
This fact is apparent in how even the Twelve Disciples came to Jesus for clarification after He delivered the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13, Mark 4, Luke 8).
This occasion is one of only a handful where Jesus explains His parabolic teaching. Jesus uses agricultural vernacular to paint a picture of what the preaching of God's Word is like, comparing different types of people and their reception of the Word to other soil conditions from which a crop either miraculously grows or fails to produce.
There we have it: an allegory is the answer! For so many, this has become how they approach determining the meaning of a parable; "If Jesus did it, surely we can use that to unlock all the others." While it's undeniable that many have tried and arguably succeeded in producing an allegorical explanation for the vast majority of the parables, scholars have argued that this approach does great injustice to the parables and prevents us from uncovering the meanings they hold.
How can this be, considering Jesus did it Himself? I was intrigued to find that a handful of scholars, including Jeremias, Crossan and Weeden, have gone as far as to dismiss the interpretation of the Sower attributed to Jesus. They do so under the premise that early Christians added the understanding before the formal writing of Mark's Gospel as a means to leverage the parable for their unique situation. Supposedly, these believers produced the allegorical explanation that the Bible suggests came from Jesus Himself.
This approach is problematic on many levels, and as a result, has been the focus of many detailed rebuttals, which maintain and defend the allegory and the interpretation it provides. It is disconcerting to think that this precious portion of scripture could be called into question, though is there some merit to the investigation these well-meaning scholars have begun?
It appears that more attention should be taken to ensure that the parables are not underutilised, misinterpreted or misapplied, a prominent reason why in recent years, many books have been published on how to study and read scripture.
What other options do we have if allegory fails to be sufficient to gather meaning? A problem already arises within the question; to assume that a parable possesses a single meaning is amiss, according to the work of scholars like Zimmermann, Mills, and Thuren.
Methods set out by leading theologians and interpreters provide us with a more substantial lens to approach the parables, the first of course being to do our utmost to recognise the context of a scripture. Questions that someone in this position asks might be things like "when was this said?", "When was this written down?", "To whom was it said?" and perhaps most importantly, "who said this?". Though for some, it appears they can no longer presume Jesus said these things, compelling evidence suggests that Jesus did deliver the explanation of the Sower found in the Gospels.
Having done our best to establish the context of the Parable, we are also challenged to look at the choices Jesus made in the narrative He presents; what details does He choose to provide, and what does He withhold? What effect do His inclusions and omissions have on our understanding of His teaching?
Up until this point, surface-level investigation of the parable can yield significant results in itself, but to stop here would be to quit too soon! Unfortunately, many fail to reach this point, whether it be because they rely on their pastor or favourite scholar to do it for them or because they think that this level of study is enough.
To go deeper, we can then ask, "what is the purpose of this parable?" or perhaps "why did Jesus teach this?".
In the case of the Sower, Jesus has provided us with an allegorical explanation of the parable, as well as the reason for which He chose to interpret it for His disciples.
"Then He said to them: "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any of the parables?" - Mark 4:13 HCSB
In this case, it appears that Jesus considered understanding this parable equivalent to being initiated into an ability to glean meaning from all of the others. For that reason, this parable has been referred to as a sort of template or example of how to begin approaching parable interpretation. I've now circled back to my earlier point; is allegory the only way to interpret a parable?
Scholars would most definitely suggest it is not.
Some have suggested that some of the Parables, including the Sower, were simply anecdotes rooted firmly in ordinary and menial realities of that period; in the case of the Sower, farming and sowing practices.
Others have submitted the idea that Jesus does not present anything new in the parables but is subtly persuading his listeners of an alternative view of God's Kingdom to the over-arching one of that time, exuding influence as opposed to behaviour coaching.
Perhaps the critical idea then is to separately define parable and allegory, recognising that they are not necessarily interchangeable. This is important because it prevents us from making the presumption that we have arrived at a parable's whole meaning.
Frederick Borsch said it well,
"The true parable is frequently unsatisfying. Instead of leading us to an insight we can share in other words, the parable leaves us reaching - even groping. We are given a kind of mystery instead of an understanding."
This idea dovetails nicely with what Jesus said concerning the purpose of the parables. They serve to conceal the mystery of the Kingdom from those who would neglect to value it and to reveal the nature of the Kingdom to those who would hold it in esteem through faith.
This posture returns us to look at the purpose of the parable, not just it's content. By doing that, we can honour the weight of meaning it holds and not become prideful in claiming to have arrived at the total meaning of a parable; it would be foolish to assume that we can dredge all the significance from the words Jesus spoke.
While this is only a mere scratching of the surface on the very shallowest levels of thought on this subject, I hope that this brief overview has aroused some curiosity in you, and at the very least, has caused you to consider how you might seek to understand the Sower and other parables in a new way.
