Introduction
The central person of Christianity is Jesus Christ, and the place where we can learn the most about Jesus is in the four Gospels. Without these sources, we would know very little about Jesus’s life on earth. The Gospels are documentaries which bear witness to the acts, sayings, miracles, and teachings of Jesus, the Son of God. They are based on eye-witness accounts of Jesus.
What is remarkable about the eye-witness accounts of these four men is that their records of the parables and miracles of Jesus are fundamentally consistent with one another. Jesus is presented in each Gospel as one who performs many miracles and teaches using parables. Without the presentation of the parables and miracles, the story they tell of our Lord would be rather sketchy.
Because there is so much focus in the Gospels on Jesus’s use of parables for teaching, it is important to know how to recognize a parable, understand what they are about and how we should interpret them.
First, let’s look at what the word “parable” means. It is a Greek word made from two words: “para” means beside; and “bole” means to cast or throw. Therefore, “parabole” or “parable” means to cast beside. In reference to the parables of the Bible parables cast a familiar idea beside an unfamiliar one in such a way as to make the unfamiliar easier to grasp and understand. Vine’s Expository Dictionary defines it as “a placing of one thing beside another with a view to comparison.” (W.E. Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, vol. 3, pg. 158.)
A parable uses figurative language in its telling. It can usually be identified by the use of similes, that is, using the word “like” to compare two things. In the Gospels, the two things being compared are usually narratives drawn from nature or the human experience. Their stories of natural events or circumstances point towards a heavenly lesson, connection, or conclusion. So, a parable then is basically an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.
There were two primary purposes that Jesus used parables for His main vehicle of teaching. The first was so that He could conceal the truth from the hard hearts of the multitude. That way those who really desired after the truth would come to Him, seeking the explanation, as in Matthew 13:36 where they said to Him, “Explain to us the parable.” By their very nature, the parables’ parallel meaning was not explicit or specifically spoken, so often Jesus would later explain the meaning of the parables to His disciples when they were in private, as in Mark 4:33-34.
The other purpose of Jesus’s use of parables was to reveal. Parables helped convey the mysteries of the Kingdom of God by comparing ethereal ideas to common place ones. Once the disciples understood the basic meaning of the parables, the truths shed further light on how they were to act or what they were to say. They were able to apply the information revealed through the parable to their daily Christian walk.
In interpreting the parables, though, there are some things that need to be avoided. It is important to avoid trying to find spiritual truth in every detail of the parable. Parables are not allegories. In an allegory every element is a symbolic representation of some other idea or meaning. A parable, however, is more condensed than an allegory and is intended to make a single point. Therefore, it is important to avoid overanalyzing a parable. The truth of a parable lies in its overall meaning, not in its individual parts.
The parables in the Gospels follow the general theme of “The Kingdom of Heaven.” They illustrate what the Kingdom of Heaven is like, the character of those living for the Kingdom, and the character of the King Himself.
Looking at each category, the parables basically fall into the following subsets:
The character of the Kingdom
• The Parable of the Sower
• The Parable of the Mustard Seed
• The Parable of the Leaven
• The Parable of the Hidden Treasure
• The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price
The character of the King’s servants
• The Parable of the Good Samaritan
• The Parable of the Persistent Widow
• The Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee
• The Parable of the Unjust Steward
• The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus
• The Parable of the Ten Virgins
The character of the King
• The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
• The Parable of the Prodigal Son
• The Parable of the Lost Sheep
• The Parable of the Lost Coin
• The Parable of the Wedding Feast
• The Parable of the Great Supper
Although there is some overlap of the parables into other categories, the basic lessons for each fall under the themes listed above. The mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven are contained in these parables and are revealed by the Holy Spirit to each person who approaches the teaching of Jesus in obedience and faith (Romans 16:25-26).
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Click on the lessons below:
- Lesson 1 – The Bread of Life
- Lesson 2 – Out of the Heart
- Lesson 3 – Upon this Rock
- Lesson 4 – The Glory of Jesus Christ
- Lesson 5 – As Little Children
- Lesson 6 – The Power of God’s Word
- Lesson 7 – Faithful Service & Prayer
- Lesson 8 – The Master’s Warnings
- Lesson 9 – Spiritual Blindness
- Lesson 10 – The Door & The Good Shepherd
- Lesson 11 – When Jesus Went to Dinner
- Lesson 12 – What Really Matters?
- Lesson 13 – The Resurrection & The Life