Why Did Jesus Teach in Parables?

Alfred Edersheim

Compared to His earlier teaching during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus's turn to parables might seem odd. He'd used clear instruction to teach His followers how to live and about the Kingdom of God, and He'd exhibited the Kingdom in a tangible way through His miracles. 

But suddenly, when the crowds come to hear Him, He hops into a boat and speaks in parables, stories about sowing seeds and gathering wheat (Matthew 13).

When the disciples ask Him why, since they obviously noticed the change, His answer may seem even more astonishing: "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it has not been granted" (Matthew 13:11). 

In other words, the parables are meant to divide the crowd. While this may seem as if Jesus denied some people access, the difference He means is not in the message—but in the response.

Why Did the Sinner Leave Justified?

Greg Laurie

C. S. Lewis said, "The real test of being in the presence of God is that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object." We don't often hear statements like that coming from pulpits today. We hear how we can all be champions. We hear how we can all be successful. But it is unpopular to speak of being spiritually destitute, to teach that we are to be poor in spirit. Yet the Bible says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3).

Jesus told a story about a Pharisee and a sinner who went into the temple to pray. The Pharisee, a religious man, prayed, "God, I thank You that I am not like other men . . ." (Luke 18:11). 

The sinner, on the other hand, wouldn't even lift up his eyes. He beat on his chest and said, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" (verse 13), or more literally, "the sinner." Apparently he did not think of himself as one sinner among many; he acted as though he were the only one. He was so overwhelmed with the sense of his sin, his moral bankruptcy, and his spiritual destitution that, as far as he was concerned, everyone else's sin paled in comparison.

How Father God Feels About You

by Jack Hayford

The story of the prodigal son, recorded in Luke 15, is often called the parable of the Father's heart. Jesus tells it, along with two other stories, not only in response to the seemingly "heart-less" religionists of His day, but also for you and me to know what is the Father's heart toward us.

Jesus tells of a man with two sons, one of whom asked for his inheritance in advance. The father gave it to him, and the son went out and squandered it, ending up in a pig sty. Finally, Scripture says, the young man "came to himself." He recognized the insensibility of the pathway he'd walked and how foolish he'd been to leave home. He returned, humbled, thinking he would ask to be just a servant at his father's place.

R.S.V.P.

 "Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: ...And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." Luke 14:16, 23

LUKE 14:16-24

The man who made the supper symbolizes God who has invited "whosoever will" to come to Him. The parable teaches that it is not God who fails to offer salvation to everyone, but rather it is the invited guests who reject God's offer.

These people had feeble excuses just like the excuses of those today who don't accept God's offer of salvation. Therefore, the Lord's Marriage Supper of the Lamb will be furnished with "undesirables" from the world's point of view, not because God rejects the upper class, but because they reject Him.

LIMITLESS FORGIVENESS

 "Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?"  Matthew 18:33

MATTHEW 18: 21-35

Peter thought he was being very generous by offering to forgive his brother seven times in one day, but Jesus said he should forgive him 490 times in one day. It would be impossible to have someone sin against you 490 times in one day. Jesus is actually saying that there should be no limit to our forgiveness.

When we are offended or hurt, we often feel justified in holding a grudge. The Old Testament law expressed this when it stated, "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth" (Ex. 21:23-25). Until the offense was paid, we did not feel free to forgive. However, God dealt with all men's offenses by placing sin upon the perfect Savior who was judged in place of every sinner of all time. To demand that others now earn our forgiveness is not Christ like. Jesus died for every man's sins, extending forgiveness to us while we were yet sinners, and we should do the same.

Why Did Jesus Teach in Parables?

Alfred Edersheim

Compared to His earlier teaching during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus's turn to parables might seem odd. He'd used clear instruction to teach His followers how to live and about the Kingdom of God, and He'd exhibited the Kingdom in a tangible way through His miracles. But suddenly, when the crowds come to hear Him, He hops into a boat and speaks in parables, stories about sowing seeds and gathering wheat (Matthew 13).

When the disciples ask Him why, since they obviously noticed the change, His answer may seem even more astonishing: "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it has not been granted" (Matthew 13:11). In other words, the parables are meant to divide the crowd. While this may seem as if Jesus denied some people access, the difference He means is not in the message—but in the response.

USE YOUR SEEDS OR YOU WILL LOSE THEM ALL!

Serge Roux-Levrat

In Matthew 13, Jesus tells the parable of the sower to the large crowds that had come to listen to him. What He told them can be found in Matthew 13:12: “Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” We all have good seeds to plant, so what is this scripture telling us? It basically reveals to us that if we use (i.e. plant) our seeds, we shall reap abundance.

This is certainly also true in the natural world. If a farmer would only get back one seed from each seed that he plants, then he would not continue sowing seeds as he would be spending his time in utter futility. With just one apple seed, for example, a farmer can expect a harvest of more than 100 apples each year. As the law of harvest applies everywhere, what is true in the natural world is also true in all the aspects of life. Reaping more than we sow is essential, otherwise no one would activate the law of harvest. Thus, we can reasonably expect someone who keeps planting his seeds to be blessed abundantly over time.

→ Let’s now address the warning part of the scripture. If we all have seeds to plant, how can we then find someone who hasn’t any? The answer is not as difficult as we could imagine. We all know people who tell us day after day that they have no talents, that their dreams will never come to pass, that they will never get the job they hope for, that they wished that they were like someone else. Do you see what’s happening? They are not planting good seeds, but bad ones. Where are those seeds coming from? From their thoughts! They basically “engineered” them. Guess what? The law of harvest gets in motion and produces in their lives truckloads of bad fruits.

The Mustard Seed of Abundance

Matt 13:31-32 (KJV) Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:  Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed

When you look at a seed it is tiny. It doesn’t appear to have any life in it.  It colour is bland.  There is no movement or growth when looking at the seed.

If the seed is sown into the ground and provided the right nutrition of water and good soil and allowed to grow then it will grow into a large tree. Note the following: 

·        The seed has to be sown

·        It has to have water

·        It has to be planted in good soil

·        It has to be allowed to grow

·        It has a time and season for growth

·        When it is fully grown it provides for the birds and not just for itself.