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December 26, 2022 |
| Understanding Parables | ||
I have become concerned about the fallenness of modern Christianity and the reasons for it. I also wonder whether we are as fallen as the Jews were for the first coming. Perhaps that is something to be expected before the Second Coming.
One particular area of concern is spiritual blindness. Previously I talked about the spiritual blindness of progressives in the church. The cause for that is their worldview. As Jethro Tull would say, "their problems come from being what they are", though he was talking about a different group of people. That worldview causes them to despise laws, even God's laws, submission to which is the conformation process that results in spiritual growth.
Some spiritual blindness exists in most of Christianity, though. Jesus spoke about the spiritual blindness in his time, as well. He used parables as a way to filter out those people who didn't have "it". Those who had "ears to hear and eyes to see" would understand the messages behind the parables. The others would not and would drift away.
I recently did some tests and have every reason to believe that Christians of our time are as blind as the Jews of Jesus' time. Jesus explained some of his parables, but those he didn't explain remain a mystery to most Christians.
Aside from spiritual blindness, which I can't fix, most Christians don't even understand how parables work, which I can fix. That is the focus of this study.
Parables are symbolized messages. That is, the message existed first, then it was symbolized (converted into symbols) and the story was created. The word "symbolized" may be the best English word for this process. We don't have words for actions that happen so rarely.
The resulting story is not the same as the message. That was the point of it. The message lies hidden below the text of the story but can only be seen by those who can see it.
Therefore, parables need to be understood by reversing that symbolization process. That is done by understanding the meaning of the symbols first then discerning the message. That's what Jesus did when he was explaining his parables to his disciples. We'll see an example of that in the next section.
The problem is that some people try to understand the story and then pick insights out if it. They try to understand the interplay of the characters in the parables, their emotional states and motivations, and place that in the context of Jesus' time. All of which is a waste because they are working from the story text, not the message text.
Consequently, they add some things, miss other things, and misunderstand others. In the result, they only find themselves. That is, they only find a reflection of the things that are important to them. If they are focused on grace, then they find grace in the parable; if love, they find love; if forgiveness, they find that.
One of the parables that Jesus explained to his disciples is the parable of Sower and the Seeds. In explaining it, we see how Jesus handles it, which is the same way we should handle it.
But hear the parable of the seed. 19 Everyone who hears the word of the Kingdom and does not understand, the evil one comes into him and snatches the word that was sown in his heart; this is that which was sown upon the roadside.
20 But that which was sown upon the rock is the one who hears the word, and immediately with joy he receives it. 21 But there are no roots in him, but he is temporal, and when there is distress or persecution because of the word, immediately he falls apart.
22 That which was sown among the thorns is … (Matthew 13:18-22)
First Jesus summarizes the parable - it is about people who hear the word of the kingdom. He can say that first because it is his parable. For us, we have to figure that out at the end. Then for each symbol in the parable, Jesus describes the meaning of the symbol.
When all of the symbols are understood and replaced with their meaning, we can see the message of the parable of the Sower and the Seeds
Of everyone who hears the word of the Kingdom:
- The one who does not understand, hears the word, but the evil one comes into him and snatches the word that was sown in his heart
- The one who has no roots, hears the word, and immediately receives it with joy, but he is temporal, and when there is distress or persecution because of the word, immediately he falls apart
- The one who has the cares of this world and the deception of wealth, hears the word, but these cares choke the word, and that one is fruitless
- The one who is good, hears my word and understands and he yields fruit, and produces some by the hundreds and some by 60's and some by 30's.
Notice that, once the parable story is converted back to the message behind it, the sower, seeds, and soils are gone; only the message remains.
Most of us already understand the meaning of the parables because we got the understanding some other way. So, understanding the unexplained parables won't usually result in some new understanding. There is still some important value in understanding parables because the book of Revelation is one giant parable.
The Revelation of Yeshua the Messiah, which God gave to him, to show his servants what had been given to soon occur, and he symbolized it when he sent by his angel to his Servant Yohannan (Revelation 1:1)
The message of Revelation existed first.
Prophecy often comes in the form of a symbolized message, as a parable. Understanding parables includes understanding prophecy.
Many of Jesus' parables are so short and simple that the message is easily recognized without understanding each symbol. Larger ones give people more trouble because they start to overthink it.
The Prodigal Son is a large parable. It describes interpersonal relationships, cultural rules, etc. These seem to draw the focus onto the story and people start trying to interpret these into the story and understand the story.
In this bright light, some things don't seem relevant so they are ignored and missed. Also, people forget that it is a parable and they don't try to identify and understand the symbols.
It is only by God's grace that we are saved, not by works that we may boast of. That is the core message of the Parable of the Prodigal Son." (Got Questions - What is the meaning of the parable of the Prodigal Son?)
That is completely wrong. Jesus is using the parables to teach the people about the Kingdom of God. GotQuestions is a group that is focused on grace. So, that is what they have found as the meaning of the parable of the Prodigal Son.
As with Jesus' other parables, the Prodigal Son is a parable about an aspect of the kingdom of Heaven, just as we saw in the parable of the Sower and the Seeds. Since it is a parable, some things (or maybe everything) in it has meaning. The Prodigal Son parable is filled with things that have meaning. Other parables, including Revelation, have some things that are literal.
And Yeshua said to them again, "One man had two sons. 12 And his younger son said to him, 'My father, give me the portion that befalls me from your estate.' Then he divided to them his wealth. 13 And after a few days his younger son gathered everything that was coming to him and he went to a distant country, and there he squandered his wealth while living wastefully."
14 And when he had spent everything that he had, there was a great famine in that country and he began to be wanting. 15 And he joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him to a field to herd pigs. 16 And he longed to fill his belly from the carob pods that the pigs were eating, and no man was giving anything to him.
17 And when he came to himself, he said, 'Now, how many hired servants are in my father's house who have plenteous bread for themselves, and here I am dying with hunger! 18 I shall arise and go to my father and say to him, "My father, I have sinned toward Heaven, and before you. 19 Now I am not worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.'
20 And rising, he came to his father, and while he was still distant, his father saw him and he was moved with compassion for him and he ran and fell on his neck and he kissed him. 21 And his son said to him, "My father, I have sinned toward Heaven and before you, and I am not worthy that I should be called your son.'
22 But his father said to his servants, 'Bring the best robe and clothe him and put a ring on his hand and put shoes on him. 23 Bring and kill the fattened ox; let us eat and celebrate. 24 Because this, my son, was dead, and he is alive; he was lost, and now he is found.' And they began to celebrate.
25 But his older son was in the field and as he came, he approached the house and he heard the sound of many people singing. 26 He called one of the boys and he asked him, 'What is this?' 27 And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened ox, because he has received him well.'
28 And he was angry and he did not want to enter and his father went out pleading with him. 29 But he said to his father, 'Behold, I have served you for many years of servitude, and I have never transgressed your command, and you never gave a goat to me that I may celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this your son, who had wasted your money with whores, has come back, you killed for him the fattened ox.'
31 His father said to him, 'My son, you are always with me and everything that I have is yours. 32 But it is right for us to celebrate and to rejoice. This your brother was dead, and he is alive. He was lost, and he is found.'" (Luke 15:11-32)
Step 1. Find the symbols
Obviously include the main things in the parable. These might be people or other things. Also, look for things that are out of place, not needed, or add nothing. A good example here are the words "after a few days". Why should it be important to mention that the prodigal son waited a few days after the inheritance was divided out.
Step 2. Find the meaning of the symbols
This step requires spiritual understanding. There isn't any getting around that. It also, sometimes requires patience. You may not understand the meaning of a symbol for a while, and maybe not at all.
Step 3. Create the message
The message will fit with the symbols. It will also fit with the flow of the parable because verbs tend to have the same or similar meaning in both the parable and the message. For example, "searching for a coin" becomes "searching for a person."
These are the things I've found in the parable that have meaning. If you want, you can look at these and look back to the verses above to try to understand them yourselves before seeing the answers. Some of them are nouns but some are only statements in the text or words that are spoken by the characters. What is the meaning of these (what do they represent)?
Additionally, there are two questions to be answered:
What was the sin in the message?
People who are trying to understand the story, instead of the message, often put a lot of stock in the sin of the son, and therefore derive much from nothing. The message is about all intentional sins. It has nothing to do with a particular sin.
What is the meaning of the parable?
Remember that this is a parable about an aspect of the Kingdom of Heaven. It has nothing to do with sons, etc.
Believers who intentionally leave the kingdom for the world (are lost) may find that it isn't what they expected or what they need. If they humble themselves and return, they will be immediately forgiven and receive righteousness (or the promise of a future body), the Holy Spirit, and a mission. They will, however, have wasted the reward they once had coming. Those who have believed for a long time have a great reward coming and should be happy for the return of former believers. There will be great rejoicing in Heaven.
And when he had spent everything that he had, there was a great famine in that country and he began to be wanting. (Luke 15:14)
The younger son "spends everything" by changing back into a worldly person. The godly changes that occurred in him while he was a believer are lost over time.
The verse says "there was a great famine." That doesn't mean a famine started while the son was in the world. The world is always in a famine for the word.
"Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "When I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the words of the LORD. (Amos 8:11)
Once the backslider has become worldly again, he experiences the famine that is always in the world.
We know, though, that some backsliders are comfortable in the world … and stay there.
The parable of the Prodigal Son is the third in a set of three parables in Luke 15. Each parable is focused on lost things – but different things in each parable.
Jesus speaks these parables because the Scribes and Pharisees are complaining that he is hanging around with sinners.
The first two parables are very similar in meaning but very different in their story. Each shows that God works diligently to bring back every lost son and that there will be great rejoicing in Heaven over each son who returns.
Jesus explains one aspect of both of these parables – the rejoicing at the return - but the whole parable is not explained symbol by symbol. This is probably because he is speaking to outsiders. There are differences though and they are important. The Bible is not redundant in that way.
The differences come when the parable asks "What person?"
When narrowed down to that, it becomes possible to see some good questions to ask. Why is it necessary for God to leave the righteous to find the sinner? Can't an omnipresent being do both? Is there not enough sunlight in the house to find the coin? No lamp is even close to the brightness of the sun and therefore the lamp adds nothing useful. These questions tell us that we are probably missing something.
Is Jesus also saying?
If so, each of these three parables hides a Messiah hint.