Ep. 2 | What are Parables?

Speaker: Jesse Turkington

Summary: Parables are a fascinating form of communication - simple yet layered. So, how does the Bible incorporate parables and what purpose do they serve?

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Music created by Chad Hoffman
Artwork created by Anthony Kuenzi

Jesse’s Personal Notes:

What are Parables?

Introduction

How would you feel being tasked with rebuking a king? And not just any king, but one who was famous, someone who was well-known and revered by the people. This was the charge of Nathan the prophet.  

You see, the king of Israel was in need of correction and Nathan was instructed to go correct him.   

When the prophet arrived at the palace, I'm sure he was thinking of all the different ways that he could say what he needed to say. I also think that Nathan was assessing all of the different ways that the king could respond. Its dangerous business correcting a king. 

When he was allowed audience with the king, Nathan said, “Sir, I need to tell you a story.”

“There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor. The rich man owned a great many sheep and cattle. The poor man owned nothing but one little lamb he had bought. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man’s own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter.

 One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But instead of killing an animal from his own flock or herd, he took the poor man’s lamb and killed it and prepared it for his guest.” (2 Samuel 12:1b-4 NLT)

When the king heard this became furious and decreed, “As surely as the Lord lives, any man who would do such a thing deserves to die! He must repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he stole and for having no pity.” (2 Samuel 12:5-6 NLT)

Then Nathan replied to the king, “My lord, you are that man!”

And through this parable, Nathan was able to deliver a painful truth in a way that mitigated a harsh confrontation.

- Transition to music –

Hey, welcome to Pickled Parables! My name is Jesse, and this podcast is presented by Parable Ministries. 

Currently, we are in our introduction series where we are trying to present some introductory lessons that present our values and help give a foundation that we can build off of. 

Today's episode is about parables. We're be looking at what they are, how they were used and who typically used them. 

As we just heard, Nathan the prophet used a parable to correct the famous King David. So, let’s look now at what makes a story be a parable and how they were often used in the Bible. 

- transition to outro music – 

Old Testament Parables

The context of Nathan’s parable for King David is that David stole another man’s wife, impregnated her and then he killed her husband. It's a tragic failure, not just in light of biblical morals but for the king of a nation. 

I mean, the sins of a king are reflected in the culture. People often have a desire to look up to their leaders and depend on them. So, people will be inspired by a leader's example whether the example is good or poor. 

What made this even harder, was that King David was known as a friend of God. He loved God’s law. But after a moment like this, questions would be raised like, “What does a friend of God really look like?” 

So, Nathan had a tall order set before him. He had to point out David’s sin and offer correction to his failure. How would you go about pointing out a very powerful person’s failure? 

Nathan chose to use a parable. It was a short fictional story that was relatable to its audience. David thought it was real! He was ready to enact legal action against the rich man. 

It's also helpful to remember that David had grown up as a shepherd boy and so this story involving lambs would have struck a chord in a unique way for him. 

Through this parable, Nathan was able to present a hard truth to David by simply letting him realize it.

 That’s just one example of how parables were used in the Bible. Parables keep their structure, they are short fictional stories that are relatable to the audience, and their purpose is to communicate a specific thought. But their application varies. 

This form of communication is indirect. The best comparison I could think of is sarcasm or maybe a joke. Similar to how sarcasm communicates something different than what the words would indicate, parables use stories to communicate a thought that’s not necessarily addressed in the story. 

In the Old Testament, parables were used a lot in prophecy. Sometimes a prophet would use a parable to communicate God’s feelings towards a certain matter. An example of this is from the prophet Isaiah.

“… My beloved had a vineyard
    on a rich and fertile hill.
He plowed the land, cleared its stones,
    and planted it with the best vines.
In the middle he built a watchtower
    and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks.
Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes,
    but the grapes that grew were bitter.” (Isaiah 5:1-2 NLT)

Then God said through the prophet:

“And now I will tell you
    what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
    and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
    and it shall be trampled down.
I will make it a waste;
    it shall not be pruned or hoed,
    and briers and thorns shall grow up;
I will also command the clouds
    that they rain no rain upon it.” (Isaiah 5:5-6 ESV) 

This parable is being used like an illustration. God is pronouncing judgement on this … this “vineyard.” This parable was a warning. Those who heard it or read it could clearly understand what was being said even though it was told through a story.

So, parables are very versatile in their use. Nathan used it to correct a king and Isaiah used it to warn a nation about a coming judgement.

New Testament Parables

Now, when we come to the New Testament, we find parables being used in yet other ways. Primarily, we find parables being used as a teaching tool. 

Jesus of Nazareth was well-known as a teacher and He was especially known for using parables. 

Jesus’ parables are told even today because they were short, simple and most importantly, memorable. 

If you think of some of the more known parables that Jesus told (like the parable of the mustard seed, the prodigal son or the parable of the lost coin) the stories all had something to do with land, money, finding something, or faming. All of these things were relatable and easily understandable by Jesus’ audience. 

Now, the reason that Jesus’ parables were memorable is because even though their premise was simple their meaning had deep significance. Understanding Jesus’ parables was kind of like a practice of meditation. You had to contemplate it. You had to think through it thoroughly. 

An example of this is the parable of the farmer. This is from the Gospel of Mark, chapter four.

“Jesus also said, “‘The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. The earth produces the crops on its own. 

First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.”’ (Mark 4:26-29 NLT)

Now, if you heard Jesus tell this story, you might be tempted to go, “Well, duh.” I mean, this is pretty basic stuff, right? Jesus just told a parable about a farmer farming. So, what’s the point of the story? 

Well first, we need to understand that to Jesus’ audience the Kingdom of God was a very important subject. The people of Israel had been living under oppression for centuries. This people’s nation had been ravaged by countless kings.

At first, the northern portion of their kingdom was conquered by the Assyrians in 732 BC, then the Babylonians conquered their southern portion in 597 BC, then the Medo-Persian Empire replaced both the Assyrians and the Babylonians, then they were replaced by the Greeks and now it was under the control of Rome. 

So, not only had they been conquered by one nation but they had been conquered by several. At this point, the nation of Israel had been reduced to a puppet state. 

And that was difficult for the people to live with. They were supposed to be more than that. They were supposed to be a royal priesthood, an independent nation of ambassadors that represented God through their culture and their lifestyle. 

But just as Isaiah had warned through his parable, God had released them into the consequences of their actions. They had stopped representing God and they replaced Him with other things. 

During the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, their king, Nebuchadnezzar, fulfilled God’s warning in the historical book of 2 Kings, chapter twenty-five. 

“And (Nebuchadnezzar) burned (down) the house of the Lord and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem.” (2 Kings 25:9-10 ESV) 

Just like what God had said in Isaiah:

“Now I will tell you
    what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
    and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
    and it shall be trampled.” (Isaiah 5:5 ESV)

Rather than submitting themselves under God’s authority, the people of Israel had walked away from His protection. And God allowed the destruction of Jerusalem, His vineyard. 

“And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried (them) into exile. But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.” (2 Kings 25:11-12 ESV)

Israel went into exile for seventy years in Babylon. Their kingdom was gone. They had lost their land. They had lost their cities and they had lost their birthrights. This was a low moment for the people of Israel.

 But a promise of a new kingdom came. 

During the Babylonian exile, there came a prophecy from a Jew who could interpret dreams, his name was Daniel. 

Now Daniel served the king of Babylon. The same one who demolished Jerusalem. His name was Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuchadnezzar kept having these crazy dreams. So, the king called Daniel and asked him to interpret his dreams.

The first dream was about a statue that was made out of different materials. And Daniel said that it represented different kingdoms that would come after Babylon. And Daniel was right, he predicted the rise of the Medo-Persian Empire, Alexander the Great and the Greek’s conquest and the iron rule of Rome.

But here’s a portion near the end of Daniel’s interpretation:

And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever… (Daniel 2:44 ESV)

Daniel foretold of a kingdom that would be established by God. A kingdom that would never end. And this was the hope of the Israelites.

In another dream that Daniel interpreted, the king of Babylon was compared to a tree. Which is fascinating. Here’s how Nebuchadnezzar explained it:

“The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these: I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. The tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth. 

Its leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the heavens lived in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it.” (Daniel 4:10-12 ESV)

But immediately after this in the dream, this tree was chopped down and the stump was girded (clamped up) with an iron and bronze band. 

This tree, according to Daniel, represented the Babylonian king, King Nebuchadnezzar, and it showed his downfall.

How Jesus Used Parables

Now let’s go back to Jesus’ parable with the perspective of God replacing Babylon and other future kingdoms with a never-ending kingdom. A new kingdom established by God.

So, Jesus told a parable about how the kingdom of God was like a farmer farming. The farmer didn’t know how the plants grew, they just grew, and when it was ready, he’d harvest them.

Immediately then, He then told another parable about a mustard seed,

Jesus said, “How can I describe the Kingdom of God? What story should I use to illustrate it?  It is like a mustard seed planted in the ground. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of all garden plants; it grows long branches, and birds can make nests in its shade.” (Mark 4:30-32 NLT)

Now for the Israelite who grew up reading books like Daniel, they would have noticed the similarities between this parable and the king of Babylon’s dream about a tree. 

Both trees were big, both provided shade for animals and both allowed birds to make nests in their branches. 

So, then you start thinking, “Ok, sounds like Jesus has been reading Daniel recently.”

But then you start thinking more, “You know, Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a farming waiting for harvest. And then He started talking about a tree like King Nebuchadnezzar’s tree.” 

“That’s interesting. Is Jesus saying that the Kingdom of God is ready to be harvested? Like it’s ready to be revealed?

Is He saying that there’s going to be a new tree to replace King Nebuchadnezzar’s tree? Like a new king to rule this godly Kingdom? And how does Jesus know about this? Is Jesus somehow related to the Kingdom of God?”

“Who is Jesus and what role does He have in the Kingdom of God?”

 And that’s how Jesus used Parables. Jesus’ parables were meant to capture the imagination and then cause deep contemplation. 

He would use super simple stories to express deep thoughts. 

Jesus would use parables to teach and tease. He would teach about God’s morals and His values and He would tease revelations about the Kingdom of God and His personal identity.

 After one of Jesus’ parables, His disciples came to Him and asked why He was playing coy. Why all the parables? This is in Mark, chapter four.

“And when (Jesus) was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, (Otherwise ((NLT)) they should turn and be forgiven.’” (Mark 4:10-12 ESV) 

What Jesus was saying was that those who were actually interested in what He taught, like the people asking Him about it, they would be able to receive the understanding of the lessons but for those who were just there for the stories, they would only receive a good story.

So, Jesus used parables to reach out to those who were actually interested in His message. Not only did Jesus use parables as a teaching tool, He used it as a method to find the right audience. Jesus would teach to anyone but not everyone would choose to learn what He taught. 

Conclusion

That’s why Jesus’ parables are so special. Because they are so rich and they lead to an understanding of eternal life. They bring people to Jesus so He can begin a relationship them. 

Parables are excellent tools for teaching but Jesus’ parables are on another level. 

To answer this lesson’s title, “What are Parables?” – parables are short fictional stories that are relatable to its audience. And, their purpose is to communicate a specific thought. 

Parables were used in both the Old and New Testaments for various situations but Jesus took them and refashioned them into a system of meditation. Jesus’ parables are meant to cause deep contemplation. 

So, let’s have eyes to see and ears to hear His teachings.

- the end

Thank you for joining me again today. Parables are a special topic for us here at Parable Ministries. Not only are we named after them but they represent our motivation for teaching. 

Just as Jesus used parables to teach about the Good News of God’s Kingdom, we as a ministry want to promote that. We want to offer biblical teaching, counseling and encouragement to those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. We want to be a resource for those who are interested in the Bible and in the life of Jesus Christ. 

So, next week we will be continuing our Intro series with a look at worldviews and what it means to have a biblical worldview. 

So, be sure to join us next week and if you haven’t yet, you can subscribe to our podcast and that way you won’t miss out. 

Thanks again for listening and I hope you have a great day.