A Sower Went Forth
When Jesus finished the Sermon on the Mount, the people were astonished at his doctrine (Matthew 7:28). The crowds kept following Him. One day the crowd on the shore was so large that Jesus got into a boat and taught from the water. He did not begin with a definition. He began with a man they had all seen: Behold, a sower went forth to sow (Matthew 13:3).
Jesus taught with seeds, sheep, coins, bread, debts, and sons. Everyone who has lost something knows what it is to look for it. These stories are so strong that they have entered our language. People who never read the Bible know what a good Samaritan is and what a prodigal is. Matthew says that to the crowds, without a parable spake he not unto them (Matthew 13:34).
But a story can be misread. Some treat the parables as pleasant moral tales. Some mine them for hidden codes. Some miss Jesus altogether and see only themselves. So we ask three questions: what is a parable, why did He use them, and how do we read them faithfully?
A story or comparison from ordinary life, laid beside a spiritual truth to teach it. The Greek word means something set beside another. It is an earthly story with a heavenly point. It need not be a report of a real event, but it is always true to life, and it teaches what is true.
Jesus did not invent the form. I will open my mouth in a parable (Psalm 78:2), wrote the psalmist, and Matthew shows that promise coming to its fullness in Him (Matthew 13:35). When Nathan went to David after Bathsheba, he told a story about a poor man's lamb. David burned with anger at the rich man, and Nathan said, Thou art the man (2 Samuel 12:7). A story can get past a guard that an argument cannot.
Matthew 13 opens with The same day (Matthew 13:1). That was the day the Pharisees said Jesus cast out devils by Beelzebub (Matthew 12:24). Parables came to the front of His teaching after the leaders of Israel had made their answer plain. Keep that in mind for what follows.
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For Deeper Study
- The Parables of Jesus: Lessons in Life from the Master TeacherAmazon J. Dwight PentecostA dispensational Bible teacher gives the setting and the plain lesson of each parable.
- Interpreting the ParablesAmazon Craig L. BlombergAn evangelical New Testament scholar on the history of interpretation and how far details may carry meaning. For serious students.
- Parables: The Mysteries of God's Kingdom Revealed Through the Stories Jesus ToldAmazon John MacArthurA clear exposition by a dispensational pastor. He is Calvinistic, and we differ on the reason for the parables.
- Scripture Twisting: 20 Ways the Cults Misread the BibleAmazon James W. SireAn evangelical catalog of the reading errors behind false teaching, useful against esoteric readings of the parables.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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The Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount is the King's own picture of the people who belong to Him: it exposes the heart, sends the sinner to Christ for a righteousness he cannot produce, and shows the believer how to live by grace.
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