"Parables are the most striking feature of Jesus’ teaching. They are what he is most famous for and what he seems to use most frequently. Parables are not unique to Jesus (other teachers of the day and others in Scripture use them, e.g. Nathan to David in 2 Sam 12), but he uses them so effectively and frequently they are characteristic of his teaching. The article explains that 1/3 of Jesus’ spoken words in the Synoptics are parables. The word parable (Greek parabole) refers essentially to a comparison. A look at the way the term is used both in the OT and by Jesus reveals a wide range of meanings, including proverbs, similes, metaphors, similitudes, story parables (most familiar to us perhaps), example parables, and allegories. The thing to remember is that they make a comparison.
Why Jesus teaches in parables?
The common answer (to illustrate his teaching) doesn’t go quite deep enough. Arguably, many of the parables don’t make things clearer, but more confusing. Even the disciples need to have them explained. Read Matt 13:10-13. There is no getting around the fact that this passage states the parables are not self-evident illustrations. The parables are provocative, often they include a surprising twist. The parables have a way of disarming hearer, drawing hearer in, and then evoking a response (e.g. Mark 12 parable of vineyard, good Samaritan has this effect too, Luke 10.)"
-Robert Stein, and article in Oxford Bible
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Remember the "Teenage Affluenza" video that we watched, for
which you used
terms like:
which you used
terms like:
- subversive
- satirical
- spoof
- sarcastic
- ironic
- inductive
- interactive
- intuitive
- earthy
- earthly
- juxtaposing
- convicting
- comedic
- abductive
- pointed
- prophetic
- sneaky
- back door
- non sequitur
- cheesy
- you're not sure whether you're supposed to laugh
- feel uncomfortable laughing at funny parts near the end
- tweaking
- nonlinear
- risky
- "over the top"
- maddening
- convicting
- offensive (to some)
1)"Parable" literally means a "comparison," "a setting beside each other two things that have littlle in common,a nd asking what they have in common.
2)Parable are often earthly, earthy illustrations. "an earthly story making a heavenly point."
God in the Bathroom?
The ancient Hebrew language didn’t have a world for “spirituality.” Apparently that category didn’t exist in ancient Hebrew thought because they believed that all of life had the potential to be “spiritual.” This is very different from our dualistic worldview that separates the world into two categories: the spiritual (sacred) and the material (secular). In this worldview, God inhabits the spiritual realm, but he leaves the material realm to us. In order for a dualist to experience God’s presence, he has to transcend the secular realm and tap into the sacred where he will find God. The Hebrew worldview rejects this dualism. Lawrence Kushner puts it this way:
Judaism sees only one world, which is material and spiritual at the same time. The material world is always potentially spiritual. All things– including and especially, such apparently non-spiritual things and grossly material things as garbage, sweat, dirt, and bushes–are not impediments to but dimensions of spirituality.
That means it’s possible to encounter God’s presence anywhere, including the bathroom. Here’s a prayer taken from the Babylonian Talmud that was meant to be prayed while the pray-er was relieving himself:
"Blessed is he who has formed man in wisdom in wisdom and created in him many orifices and cavities. Is is fully know before the Throne of Thy glory that if one of them should be improperly opened or one of them closed it would be impossible for a man to stand before Thee."
If this prayer makes you uncomfortable because you think the bathroom is off limits to God, then you are a dualist.
-Wade Hodges
see: "God loves donkeys, sweat, entrails and menstruation
3)Parables are multifaceted, they can be entered anywhere. They are more "open" than a straight simile.
4)The one primary point of a parable is that a parable has one primary point. (they may sometimes be allegorical, but pus for the one primary point.
"the one primary point
of a parable
is that
a parable has
one primary point"
(Note that is a chiasm!).
5)Parable, like metaphor," is a "loud fart in the salon of spirituality":
(Eugene Peterson)
"the parables sizzle into the minds of the religious heavyweights:
your attitude is the opposite of God's" , Kraybill, from your Upside Down Kingdom textbook p. 158
6)Parables are signs of the Kingdom
7)Parables often have a God (or Jesus) figure, but watch out, it might be a surprising, subversive, "unobvious" character
8)Context: What happens before/after the parable? Who is addressed? What is addressed?
Bounded set, centered set, fuzzy set?
9)Why did Jesus tell parables?
Stein:
a To conceal his teaching from those “outside”
b To illustrate and reveal his message to his followers
c To disarm his listeners—they force a response somehow, leave you wrestling, are provocative
10)Parables provoke a practical repentance and a radical response.
(see chiasm section at bottom of today's post)
12You will usually have to do some "historical world" research to get the punch and
punchline.
13)Parables subvert empire, and knock gnosticism:
"gnostics delight in secrecy. They are prototypical insiders. They think that access to the eternal is by password and that they know the password. They love insider talk and esoteric lore. They elaborate complex myths that account for the descent of our spiritual selves into this messy world of materiality, and then map the complicated return route. They are fond of diagrams and the enlightened teachers who explain them. Their sensitive spirits are grieved by having to live surrounded by common people with their sexual leers and stupid banana-peel jokes and vulgar groveling in the pigsty of animal appetite. Gnostics who go to church involuntarily pinch their noses on entering the pew, nervously apprehensive that an insensitive usher will seat a greasy sinner next to them. They are however enabled to endure by the considerable compensation of being ‘in the know’ (gnostic means ‘the one who knows’). It is a good feeling to know that you are a cut above the common herd, superior to almost everyone you meet on the street or sit beside in church.---
It is inevitable that gnostics will boycott the creation theater and avoid its language as much as possible, for metaphor is an affront to their gossamer immaterialities and inner-ring whispers, a loud fart in the salon of spirituality.” (Eugene Peterson,Answering God, 75-76)
Suggested Chiasms related to Matthew 13/Parables:
1)in a small subset of Matthew 13 (which may well be the very center of the whole book, thematically and chiastically (Below from Thomas Clarke)
"I first noted chiasm by looking at the footnotes regarding Isaiah 6:10 in NIV Study Bible. In the parallel verses from Matthew 13:15, see if you can identify the levels:
For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts …
Let us identify the nouns. They are as follows:
•
People
•
Heart
•
Ears
•
Eyes
•
Eyes
•
Ears
•
Hearts
Did you see the three levels of the chiasm? With the exception of the word “people,” they all have pairs. Did you see the center point? I sense that this verse is speaking about spiritual blindness. What about you?
Here then is the presentation of this first example of chiasm,
on chart on p. 7 here"(Thomas Clarke)
(Mark Bailey):
Sower and the Soils (vv. 1-9)
Question by Disciples/Answer by Jesus (Understanding) (vv. 10-
17)
Interpretation of the Sower and the Soils (vv. 18—23)
Tares (vv. 24—30)
Mustard Seed (vv. 31—32)
Leavening Process (v. 33)
Fulfillment of Prophecy (vv. 34—35)
Interpretation of the Tares (vv. 36—43)
Hidden Treasure (v. 44)
Pearl Merchant (vv. 45—46)
Dragnet (vv. 47—48)
Interpretation of the Dragnet (vv. 49—50)
Question by Jesus/Answer by the Disciples (Understanding) (v. 51)
Householder (v. 52)6
Verses 13-17, a subsection of the entire structure, can be ar-
ranged as follows.
Therefore I speak to them in parables
A. Because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do
not hear, nor do they understand
B. And in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled,
which says,
C. You will keep on hearing, but will not understand,
D. And you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;
E. For the heart of this people has become dull,
F. And with their ears they scarcely hear,
G. And they have closed their eyes
G.' Lest they should see with their eyes,
F.' And hear with their ears
E.' And understand with their heart and return,
and I should heal them.
D.' But blessed are your eyes, because they see;
C.' And your ears, because they hear.
B.' For truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men
A.' Desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what
you hear, and did not hear it.7 -
3)SUGGESTED BOOK-WIDE CHIASM OF MATTHEW,see page 9 here, (or below) a chiasm making chapter 13 the center of book:
A. Demonstration of Jesus' Qualifications as King (chaps. 1—4)
B. Sermon on the Mount: Who Can Enter His Kingdom (chaps. 5—7)
C. Miracles and Instruction (chaps 8—9)
D. Instruction to 12: Authority/Message for Israel (ch. 10)
E. Opposition: Nation Rejects King (ch 11—12)
F. Kingdom Parables (chap. 13)
E.' Opposition: Nation's Rejects King (chaps. 14—17)
D.' Instruction to 12: Authority/ Message for Church (c.18)
C.' Miracles and Instruction (chaps. 19—23)
B.' Olivet Discourse: When Kingdom Will Come (chaps. 24—25)
A.' Demonstration of Jesus' Qualifications as King (chaps. 26—28)"32
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"Acted Parables":
Example: Cursing of the FigTree/Temple tantrum
see:
see p, 513 here, and p. 32 here
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Read: Matthew 10-11
Read: Matthew 18-20
Read: Amish Grace, ch. 6-13
Read: Matthew 18-20
Read: Amish Grace, ch. 6-13
