Why did Jesus Teach in Parables?

He Taught in Parables

He taught them many things in parables (Mark 4:2).

Jesus didn’t use parables as a way to teach a lesson; each parable was the lesson. A comparison of story telling and story teaching reveals a significant difference between the way truth is learned by the Western mind and the way it is grasped in the Middle Eastern mind. In the West, stories illustrate and provide examples of the stated truth. In the Middle East, a story presents the lesson-in-life from which one or more conclusions may be drawn, much like life itself.

What, then, is a parable? The term is used throughout the Bible to indicate a variety of narrative approaches that expect the hearer to understand by careful reflection. These include metaphors, similes, and even brief case studies. Parables require attention. The stories may appear at first glance to be simplistic, but they carry deep meaning. Parables don’t hide truth; they present truth in a subtle and elegant way to those willing to think.

By using parables, Jesus fit right in with the long history of teachers and prophets in Israel. The people who heard him didn’t remark that he had invented a new form of teaching. They were accustomed to storytelling teachers. But Jesus’s stories had an added quality. “They were astonished at his teaching because he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not like the scribes” (Mk 1:22). For those willing to listen, Jesus’s stories had a convicting, life-changing quality that communicated to those who heard them. The same is true today. He still teaches us many truths through parables.

Getting Personal

Like the prophet Nathan’s approach with King David centuries before (2Sm 12), Jesus got inside his audience’s defenses with stories that made their point before listeners realized they were being singled out.

• Which of Jesus’s parables have had that effect on you? Why?

• In what way(s) has your life changed because of this specific teaching of Jesus?

Talking to God

Lord, open my heart and mind to respond to what you have to teach me as I think about this amazing story of restoration that Jesus told when he talked about the prodigal son. Please help me see my place in the parable. Amen.