Parable Evaluation Paper

Parable Evaluation Paper

Amber Mather

Ohio Christian University

February 4, 2018

In the time of Jesus’ life, times were just as complicated as they seem to be in today’s world. People are just as lost and confused as ever, and the need for individuals to look towards Christ to have faith in and believe in are just as relevant today as it was back then. Jesus had many followers and within His teachings to His followers, He spoke in parables. Not all of Jesus’ teachings were as clear as other forms of teaching. His methods of using parables was sometimes confusing due to the lack of specific details or methods of speaking. Perhaps the point was to leave His words up to interpretation as to challenge His followers and to allow them a form of free will with His words or teachings to allow them to apply them to their lives as they saw fit from situation to situation.

Parables were used for many reasons and the device of parable usage was used by not only Jesus, but also by Rabbis and Greek Philosophers to communicate certain points to the people (Krejcir, 2012). There were three main reasons that Jesus spoke in parables. The first main reason that Jesus spoke in parables was to share the secrets of the Kingdom of God to the true disciples of Jesus. Most of the general population was incapable of understanding the depth of the parables, so this was a way for God to weed out the crowd of “followers.” (Carson, 1995).

With, this opens the door to the second reason that Jesus spoke in parables. Many people find themselves involved in a conversation with another individual and that person just never seems to follow the conversation. It can frustrate or amuse people depending upon what kind of conversation is happening. This is part of why the second reason was used when speaking in parables. Individuals that had sincerity and who were in search of righteousness for the Kingdom of God (Graham, 2004). Parables were used to weed out the weak and feeble minded, so the use of parables was implemented to speak to those that were spiritually intact, that listened with their whole self and those that were fully capable of repenting their sins (Carson, 1995).

The last reason Jesus used parables was to fulfill prophesy and scripture (Hopkins, 2014). "Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parables, and he was not speaking to them without a parable, so that what was spoken by through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 'I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world'" (Matthew 13:34-35, Psalms 78:1-4). People were not always so inclined to believe the word of God, but when they heard it from Jesus, they had more of a desire to listen and hear what was being said. Even though Jesus had a very deep understanding of the information He tried to teach and could've easily explained everything in plain and simple terms, He still wished-for people to continue to look for understanding and wisdom on their own (Hopkins, 2014). “Therefore, speak I to them in parables: because they are seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither