The Parable About Parables
As a Jewish Rabbi, Jesus used a variety of methods to teach his followers about God and God’s kingdom. One of his favorite teaching tools was the short illustrative or comparative stories that we call parables. Jesus was a master storycrafter! He crafted his parables to be both very relatable and very surprising. Although the details of his parables were made up, they drew from experiences, situations, customs and objects that were familiar to most people. This provided his listeners multiple points of connection to these stories from their own lived experiences. At the same time, Jesus often included details in his stories that shocked or unsettled people. These elements were a way for Jesus to subtly expose inconsistencies, hypocrisy, and sin in the religious systems and amongst the religious leadership of his day without direct confrontation.
As we seek to understand more about God’s work in the world and how we can best participate in that work, the parables of Jesus continue to be inspiring, reliable, and hope-filled guides for us. But, we must also take Jesus’s warning seriously that his parables would not be understood and received by everyone. Personal humility, patience, and a willingness to grow and change are required.
During this summer season, we want to take time in our Sunday gatherings to read and sit with some of Jesus’s expertly crafted parables and contemplate together what they might mean for our lives today.
Pastor Aaron kicked off our sermon series on Jesus the Storyteller by defining what a parable is and expounding on the Parable of the Sower. Jesus was a master storyteller, an expert crafter of stories to teach people in an oral society the truths of the Kingdom of God.
