This essay is concerned with the parable technique used by Jesus in his sermons. Both Mark 4 and Matthew 13 describe the way Jesus used parables to illustrate his points. A parable is an illustrative story suggesting a moral or lesson. Another way to describe a parable is to say that it is an allegory. This is a form of extended metaphor in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative are equated with meanings lying outside the narrative itself. Consequently, an allegory or parable represents one thing in the guise of another. The purpose of this is to generate a dual interest -- one in the events, characters, and setting presented; and the other, in the ideas they are intended to convey or the significance they hold.
Whenever Jesus used a parable, he was teaching a lesson to his hearers. He did not do so to confuse people; but rather, he did so to make his meaning more clear and further enlighten his followers and potential followers. Jesus did not always find the of his people to whom he preached to be very understanding of his message. Thus, he attempted to make his meaning as easy as possible to comprehend. As Jesus says: "Therefore speak I to them in parables; because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand" (Matthew 13:13).
C. Leslie Mitton states: "Within the teaching material in the gospels there is no area where we may legitimately feel ourselves so near to the actual words of Jesus as in the parables .... It is chiefly to J. Jeremias an this generation owes a new understanding of the parables of Jesus. Dodd in his book The Parables of the Kingdom and Jeremias, building on Dodd's insights in his book The Parables of Jesus, both insisted that the parables can only be understood in their original significance if we realize that they were addressed to actual and particular occasions in the ministry of Jesus" (Mitton 141).
TEACHING THE WORD OF GOD BY PARABLES
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