Purpose of the Parables

Dr. Gurtner and Tyler talk about the purpose of parables. Parables teach disciples about the kingdom of God, they call people to make a decision, and they are also a statement of judgement. Knowing the context of a parable can help you acquire a deeper understanding.

https://www.christianbook.com/interpreting-the-parables-craig-blomberg/9780830839674/pd/839674

Creators & Guests

Host

Dan Gurtner

Professor of New Testament Studies

Host

Tyler Sanders

Director of Communications

Producer

Courtney Robenolt

Digital Media Specialist

What is Conceptions and Misconceptions in Studying the Gospels?

Dr. Dan Gurtner takes on challenging passages and common misconceptions in the Gospels.

Tyler Sanders 0:03
This is Conceptions and Misconceptions in Studying the Gospels with Dr. Dan Gurtner. I'm Tyler Sanders and today we are reading the Purpose of the Parables. That's a passage we see in Mark 4:10-12, Luke 8:9-10, and Matthew 13:10-11. Before we get right into the text, I was wondering, Dr. Gurtner, if you could help us take a step back. We've been talking about kind of the sayings of Jesus and things Jesus did. We haven't gotten too deep into parables. So if you give us a little introduction to how we should even think about parables when we read them in the Gospels.

Dan Gurtner 0:35
Yeah, and the reason we're looking at this passage is, it's gonna sort of be our answer key to parables. Because this is really the only place where Jesus explicitly tells us why he teaches in parables, because the disciples come to him and say, Why do you teach in parables? And so he gives an answer. And it's unfortunately, it's one of the most confusing passages in the gospels, because it sounds like he talks in parables because he doesn't really want anybody to understand them. But just like we've done everywhere else, we're going to try to understand this passage in it's context. And that's gonna be one of the keys. We're going to walk away from this and understand a few keys to interpreting parables, and one of them is going to be just seeing where Jesus is, where he's come from, who he's talking to, who he's talking about, and where the parable is located within the narrative.

Dan Gurtner 1:35
So just like we saw, for example, in the Stilling of the Storm, we saw where Jesus came from, where he was going, what happened next, that sort of thing. We're gonna see that in the parables too. Because sometimes the parables will function kind of like a commentary on something that's just happened, or something that's going to happen. So that's just what the gospel authors often do with them. The other thing to remember about parables is they are stories taken from everyday life, and they're telling you something about the Kingdom of God...they're teaching tools. Their story is taken from everyday life, but they're not taken from our everyday life. They're taken from everyday life of other people. They're taken from everyday life of the average, uneducated Judean and/or Galilean peasant. But it takes us a little bit of work to understand how a first century Judean and Galilean peasant understands these things. What's common sense to them, what's familiar to them, is not so familiar to us. I've never swept a room looking for a lost coin. I've never trimmed a lamp. I've never sowed seeds along rocky soil. I just haven't done that kind of thing. That's not my daily life. So you and I have a bit of work to do. But they're still simple enough that we can make some sense up.

Tyler Sanders 3:05
Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, I was an English major in college. And I had a whole class on Shakespeare. I mean, Shakespeare is written in English and there's still so many things that we lost over the last couple 100 years of, in jokes, things that he would have been talking about that were concurrent in his time, and worked into his plays that we just would miss. So it is helpful to have a little bit of extra help, I think to make those steps, to make the metaphors and everything make a little bit more sense, probably in a way that would be very natural to the original listener.

Dan Gurtner 3:37
Sure.

Tyler Sanders 3:39
So I think the first one we wanted to look at, or the main one we wanted to look at, is in Mark, is that right?

Dan Gurtner 3:43
Yeah. So we'll look at Mark chapter four. And we're going to start in verses 10 through 12. And we're going to see that 4:10-12 is going to take us all over the place. Because there's some things said here, well let me just go to 4:10-12, I'm in the ESV, and we'll see that the way Mark has put this whole thing together, he's gonna send us all over the place. So 4:10, Mark says, "And when [Jesus] was alone, those around him with the 12, 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, lest they should turn and be forgiven.'" Now, this is the part that sounds like Jesus is saying, the reason I speak in parables is because if I spoke more clearly, people would understand me, and then they'd repent and forgive, and good grief, I don't want that to happen. And that's not quite what's happening, but there's more to it.

Dan Gurtner 5:28
And there are two pieces to this puzzle that Mark gives us. One is, did you notice in verse 10, "Jesus is alone, and there are those around him with the 12"?

Tyler Sanders 5:46
Yeah.

Dan Gurtner 5:47
How can he be alone with other people? So he's not alone. But so what's happening is he says, he's alone and those around him, with the 12, ask him about parables. And then Jesus says, "'To you, has been given the secrets of the kingdom of God, but to those outside, everything is imparable." So what on earth is he talking about? Mark's gonna give us a clue. Mark, up to this point talks about, for lack of a better term, he talks about insiders and outsiders. And throughout Mark's gospel, who's on which side is going to change. And we'll see how that works in just a little bit. But right now, in this passage, the people on the inside are the disciples and those around him. And he's saying, to you, has been given the secrets to the kingdom. Meaning I'm explaining these things to you. And the purpose of parables is to teach somebody about the Kingdom of God. So that's really what they're mostly about. So I'm gonna give you the faith, to understand what the kingdom of God is about. But you're not the only ones who are hearing this message. There are other people too. And those are the ones that are outside. So what Jesus is doing is actually explaining the parable of the sower, which is right beforehand.

Dan Gurtner 7:29
So 4:1-9, "He began to teach beside the sea, and a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea. And the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables. And in his teaching, he said to them, 'Listen, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. And immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched. Since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain, and other seed fell in good soil, and produced grain growing up in increasing in yielding 30 fold and 60 fold and 100 fold.' And he said, 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear.'" So when [Jesus] says, "To you, has being given the secrets of the kingdom", he's talking about you who are producing fruit, and those who are hearing the same message, they're getting the same seed, but they're not producing fruit. They're different kinds of soil. So Jesus is sowing the same seed of the message, there are different people receiving it in different ways. So there are insiders and outsiders, there are people who are receptive to it, and there are people, in different ways, that are not.

Dan Gurtner 9:10
Let's back up a little bit more. Mark chapter three, verses 31 to 34. "And his mother and his brothers came and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, 'Your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you.' And He answered them, 'Who are my mother and my brothers?' Looking around at those who sat around him, he said, 'Here are my mother, and my brothers. Whoever does he will of God, he is my brother, and sister and mother.'" So at this point, notice the repetition of Mark says she's outside, and then the people report, Hey, she's outside, there's this repetition. At this point, even Jesus's own family are outsiders. Now, that's gonna change. But Mark sets this up. There are insiders, and there are outsiders. And then even before this, the scribes come down and say that Jesus is casting out demons by Beelzebub, and so they're outsiders.

Dan Gurtner 10:44
So when we get back to the purpose of parables, Mark has already set up for us, that there are people on the inside and there are people on the outside. And those boundaries might change. People can respond in faith, and they can change sides. But for people on the inside, that is for people who he describes as my mother and my brothers, and my sisters, to them has been given the secrets of the kingdom. But what about this statement, because this is unique. "But for those on the outside, everything is in parables," in verse 12, Mark says, "so that they may indeed see, but not proceed. They may indeed hear, but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven." This passage is actually a quotation that comes from Isaiah chapter six. So we got to go back to Isaiah, all the way back to Isaiah.

Dan Gurtner 11:59
The quote actually comes from Isaiah six, verses 9-10, but let's get a little bit of context. I'm going to begin at Isaiah 6:1. "In the year King Uzziah, died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him, stood this seraphim, each had six wings, and with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one call to another and said, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.' And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of Him who called and the house was filled with smoke. And I said, 'Woe is me, for I am lost. For I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.'" So this is Isaiah's famous call. "Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar, and he touched my mouth and said, 'Behold, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sin is atoned for.'" And here we come, we're leading up to our passage. "And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' Then I said, 'Here I am, send me.' And He said, 'Go and say to this people; keep on hearing but do not understand, keep on seeing but do not perceive, make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.'" So God is telling Isaiah to speak to Israel. And it's obviously a statement of judgment. The tone is one of indignation against Israel's rebellion and unbelief. But the language is more ironic than at least the ESV gives us in verse nine. When he says, "keep on hearing" that's right but it really says, "but do not hear". The sense is that your ears are working, but usually hearing is synonymous with like, 'hear the word of the Lord', it's not just that your auditory functions are on full capacity. It's understanding, acknowledging and doing. The idea is that there's understanding. They're seeing, their eyes are working just fine. But their spirits are blind. And so when we come to this part, in verse 10, Isaiah is commanded to make their hearts dull and their spiritual faculties even more incapacitated, this really is a result of judgment, because of their condition. They are in a state of spiritual blindness, of spiritual deafness. And God is pronouncing an act of judgment upon their hearts, because of a previous condition.

Dan Gurtner 15:55
So when we get back to the purpose of parables, when Jesus says these parables to those on the outside, "I speak to this to those on the outside", what this statement is doing is not prohibiting people from coming to face, it's pronouncing judgment upon people in the exact same way that Isaiah is doing. For those people, and I think Mark particularly has an eye on the scribes who are accusing him of this charge where he calls blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will not be forgiven, accusing him of being in league with Beelzebub. He's saying that 'I'm pronouncing judgment on you, by speaking in these parables.' So really what Jesus is doing in this statement is, he is pronouncing judgment. He's saying that part of what my parables are doing are an act of judgment on you, because your spiritual condition is such that you are incapable of understanding what I'm saying in these parables. Why? Because you don't have the key of the kingdom, which is faith that Jesus is the Son of God.

Dan Gurtner 17:14
Now, here's the key with parables, and Mark gives it to us by putting the parable of the sower right beside this purpose of parables. Interpreters use this word, encounter mechanism, which is just a fancy word to say that we should think of parables just like that seed in the parable of the sower. Meaning, it affects different people in different ways. And in general, there are three different kinds of people in the Gospels. There are the disciples, and they're the main people that the parables are for. That's usually what we think of. Parables are just to teach the disciples about the kingdom. Of course, that's what the main purpose of parables is, to teach disciples, people who are already believing in Jesus and following Jesus, something about the kingdom, whether it is what it's like to live in the kingdom, sacrifices that should be made for the kingdom, the kind of ethics that we should exhibit as members of the kingdom or something like that. That's the primary purpose. But because Jesus teaches to mixed audiences, there are other people who hear it. Just like the seed is sown on different kinds of soil. There are also the crowds, that's a second kind of group of people. For the crowds, the parable, as an encounter mechanism can fall on...think sort of draw a line in the sand, to say, You need to make a decision, you can't ride the fence forever. Are you for him? Or are you against him? And the ones that this second statement, this Isaiah 6 statement is targeted towards is the third group of people, and that is unbelievers. For unbelievers, it is a statement of judgment. And it's important to notice the sequence here. The statement of judgment does not...the parables don't create the hardness of heart, in the unbelievers. They condemn the previous condition of hardness of heart. They don't create the hardness of heart, they condemned the prior condition of the hardness of heart in unbelievers. They condemn the unbeliever in their unbelief.

Tyler Sanders 19:38
Yeah, it kind of exposes it a bit, right? It's kind of shining a light on it.

Dan Gurtner 19:43
Yeah. And when they respond in indignation-so sometimes Jesus will tell a parable, and the Pharisees will get all mad because they realize it's about them-all it does is it confirms and it exposes, like you said. But that's why it's important to see parables as encounter mechanisms, because they land on different people, just like the seed and the soil, they land on different people in different ways. That's why it's so important when we read the parables to see where Jesus is, who he's talking to, who he's talking about what has just happened. So he might have just shown compassion, healed somebody on the Sabbath, and then he's going to tell a parable about going and rescuing one little ewe lamb, or something like that. To illustrate something about it, and then people might respond to it a certain way. So that's where they sometimes will serve as sort of commentary in a sense.

Tyler Sanders 20:49
Yeah, that's really interesting to me. I mean, I don't think I've heard that, the way you put that, like the encounter mechanism. But just reading this, the sense I was getting is the categories are kind of important. So you know, like we mentioned earlier, you have inside and outside. And then you mentioned, we have three groups typically we're seeing Jesus talk to in these encounter mechanisms. And I think that middle group, the crowd, that's kind of the question, right? Are they going to move to be an insider? Because I would assume they're kind of outsiders at that moment, basically. Right?

Dan Gurtner 21:27
Right.

Tyler Sanders 21:28
But they can maybe move into being an insider.

Dan Gurtner 21:32
Yeah, and I mean, even Jesus' family is, at this stage are outsiders, and so those can move. But those ones with the explicit statements of unbelief in hostility, prior to coming to Jesus, for example, we've looked at passages where somebody will come to Jesus with a question, like a scribe or a Pharisee. And typically, in the gospels, when somebody comes to Jesus with a question, it's not to gain information. It's not a question. It's not a real question anyhow. There's some hostile intent. And so there's a previous condition of unbelief. There's no openness there. It's those people where this kind of statement of judgment is landing.

Tyler Sanders 22:24
Yeah. So then are parables kind of functioning, like in the original context as a separator in a sense? Something that kind of divides so that it makes those categories clearer? Like, who is going to actually follow me? It's kind of putting it to the test?

Dan Gurtner 22:41
It is to certain degree. It is sort of, yeah, to a degree. It's going to draw a line in the sand of saying, make a decision. Are you in or are you out? But again, the primary purpose is to teach the disciples something about the kingdom. But there's always more than the disciples who are hearing this. It's also important to notice, and to remember, that the parables are never just isolated teachings, they're always embedded in a narrative. So we always have to pay attention to where they are in the narrative. Because the gospel authors have always put them into some place. So we see that here, in Mark, he talks about outsiders, he has this quotation from Isaiah. But if we compare, for example, with Matthew, in Matthew's account, the disciples came to [Jesus] and said, "Why do you speak in parables?" And at least in those couple verses, Jesus never really answers the question. He says, "To you has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom, but to them it has not been given." And Mark is the only one who continues with that, "So that...", with the full quotation about judgment. And even Luke has a statement, part of the quote but not the full quote, about seeing and not perceiving, hearing but not understanding and so forth.

Tyler Sanders 24:15
Yeah. That's interesting, because I think I would have expected Matthew, to refer back to Isaiah because of how often he does.

Dan Gurtner 24:23
And to continue the Old Testament quotation longer, because that's typically what he does.

Tyler Sanders 24:30
Yeah, it's very interesting. And then, we actually get a little bit more past this passage to write. I think that's kind of a fascinating bit because we get our context, we've kind of seen like the historical context around this and then the purpose of the parables is right in the middle of the parable, and then Jesus follows that up by explaining the parable.

Dan Gurtner 24:55
He explains his own parable.

Tyler Sanders 24:57
Which is kind of interesting too, I think. Is that part of this in a way? Like, Jesus is explaining the secrets of the kingdom of God, and does this through parables so that it's kind of a dividing line, but then he follows it up by actually explaining it.

Dan Gurtner 25:16
He explains it, but he also is explaining it to those-because remember he's still alone-with the 12, and with those around him. So yes, it is interesting, because I think this might be the only one that he actually explains to his disciples. I can't remember for sure. But yeah, we're familiar with this explanation. The sower sows the word, and these are the ones along the path, and then he explains what each of the different kinds of soils represent.

Tyler Sanders 25:49
Yeah, it's a really fascinating passage, I think. But it is helpful, I think it is really helpful to better understand that passage in Isaiah. You kind of mentioned earlier, it was like ironic, and I guess that kind of carries over too, to our understanding of this passage in the New Testament too, right? There's a bit of irony in that pronouncement of you hear, but you don't perceive.

Dan Gurtner 26:13
Yes. Yeah.

Tyler Sanders 26:15
I think irony is one of those things that probably, you have to be paying attention to, or you'll miss it. Because it's a little bit of, I don't want to say or imply even that Jesus is lying, but there's this kind of idea in fiction writing that a writer can use lies to tell the truth. They can construct something that may not be totally true or real, but they're doing it to explain something, maybe that's a deeper truth or something that's more metaphorically true in a deeper kind of way. But I would imagine, irony is one of those things that's hard to translate cross culturally, and across time, like we're doing with this Biblical passage, but it's something that we can pick up on if we just slow down.

Dan Gurtner 27:02
Sure. Yeah. And it is interesting that the emphasis is again, that your anatomical functions are perfectly fine. Your ears are perfectly fine, but you have no faith. And then throughout the Gospels, Jesus is going to people with disabilities, blind and deaf people whose anatomical functions are not fine, but they do have faith. It's just more of the irony that you mentioned. And then also in this chapter in Mark, he goes on with more parables. And another thing about parables, that's really important to remember is, we can push the details a little too far. Meaning, there's a difference between a parable and a metaphor. Meaning, these are not true stories, Jesus made them up. And that's okay. It's okay to say that Jesus made up a fictitious story. And he really made them up, I mean, they're real fictitious stories in that Jesus really taught them. But they're fictitious stories, and we need to not press the details. And by that I have in mind something like the parable of the prodigal son. We've probably all heard sermons or something like that, or preached sermons or done Bible studies of what we want to press into what represents what. And how far can we press the details?

Tyler Sanders 28:37
Yeah, it's a good question.

Dan Gurtner 28:38
In a story, or a parable. And when do you press the details too far? We want to get as much out of it as we can. But we don't want...you know, it's like squeezing in orange. How do we get so much orange juice out of it that we stop getting juice and we start to get the rind and the skin and everything else into our juice and it stops tasting like we just got it from the orange grove in Florida and starts tasting like the waxy cardboard box that we got at Walmart, you know? And that's why I'm really helped by- there's a book I'm gonna recommend, I haven't mentioned many books. There's a book that I've found to be really, really helpful, and that's Craig Blumberg's "Interpreting the Parables". "Interpreting the Parables" by Craig Blomberg, recently retired from Denver Seminary. This is in its second edition. It really is a helpful guide to the parables. And what he argues is there can be as many main points to parables as there are main characters in a parable. I find that to be really helpful because, again, how do you find that balance between I don't want to push those details too far, but I want to get as worked out if I can. So, again, going back to the prodigal son, there are three main characters. There's the father, the older son and the younger son. That's helpful, because you can see the parable from the father's perspective, from the older sons perspective, and from the younger sons perspective. But at the same time, you could push it too far and say, Well, when the prodigal son has run away, and he's living with the pigs, and he's eating the pods in the pigsty and things like that, what do the pods represent? And things like that. How far do you push that? I mean, to the point where you start missing what the author is trying to say to the readers, and missing the main point. And that's where Blumberg I think, is really helpful to say, this is where I think, in terms of understanding what the author's saying in the message of the gospel. This is a helpful parameter. So I find that to be helpful.

Tyler Sanders 31:03
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I think that's a good example, because that's a parable you could expect would end with the father and the younger son being reunited, but it doesn't. You get that extra piece about the older son, that's in there for a reason. And we need to understand something about him too.

Dan Gurtner 31:26
Yes. And something that presumably, the author felt was relevant for the readers to deal with. Or it wouldn't have been included.

Tyler Sanders 31:38
That's very helpful. It's fantastic. Is there anything else you want to look at in these passages? Is there any other little nuggets we can pick out between them?

Dan Gurtner 31:48
Unless you had anything further about this passage...I found what I was gonna mention earlier that I forgot to mention. When [Jesus's] mother and brothers were looking for him, and they were considered outsiders, I forgot that in Mark 3:21, his family thought he was out of his mind.

Tyler Sanders 32:14
Is that why they're outsiders basically? Or they just don't understand him?

Dan Gurtner 32:18
Well, I don't know if that'swhy they're outsiders. But it's part of how Mark-again, he could have left that out, but it's part of Mark's portrait of where his immediate family is, in this whole, what do they think of Jesus thing. So yeah, it's part of the big picture. Obviously, that changes but...

Tyler Sanders 32:41
Okay, so to tie all the things together that we've been talking about, and correct me if I'm saying it a little bit incorrectly, or it's not totally accurate, but the big Ideas; parables are functioning as a way to teach about the Kingdom of God, and they're primarily there to teach the disciples about the Kingdom of God. There's an element of parables, that's a call to make a decision. There is kind of this category of there's an insider and outsider, the audience, but you can move from an outside group to an inside group. And while they seem similar to a metaphor, really a parable is different. And we need to be cautious about how we interpret one versus the way we may look at a metaphor and a piece of fiction or something like that.

Dan Gurtner 33:28
Sure, yeah. One thing I'd add is also that parables always have a function to the narrative.

Tyler Sanders 33:36
A contextual function.

Dan Gurtner 33:37
We've mentioned that before, that it's not just an isolated teaching that's just dropped in there for like a bullet point that's unrelated. It's related to something before or after, to illustrate a point, to illustrate something that just happened, to prepare you for something that's going to happen or something. It has a narrative context. The Gospel author, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has put a particular parable in the place where it is for some particular reason. So we always have to look at what's before and after the parable. And just to try to get the point of the parable. Oftentimes, they're really very simple and I think of the parable of the mustard seed. And as you said, it's not really a metaphor, but it is a comparison. The mustard seed in Mark 4:30-32, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God? Or what parable shall we use for it? It's like a grain of a mustard seed, which when sown in the ground is a smallest of all seeds." So it's like an eighth of an inch in diameter or something tiny like that, or maybe even smaller than that. "Yet when it is grown, it grows up and becomes larger than all garden plants and puts out large branches so that birds of the air can make nests in its shade." So what's his point? It starts out tiny and it's gonna get bigger. So he's talking to early Christians and your church is really small, the Christian movement is really small, and within the first few centuries, it's the largest religious movement on the planet. It started out with one itinerant preacher and a group of 12 misfits. But it grew. The point is, it's a parable, but there's nothing complicated about it.

Tyler Sanders 35:37
Yeah. The meaning is there for sure. Okay. Well, I think this has been a really helpful discussion and talk. I know I've certainly learned a lot about how to approach when I read something in the New Testament, that whenever I'm reading one of the parables in the gospels, for sure.

Dan Gurtner 35:54
Good. I was surprised to learn not long ago that about 1/3 of what Jesus says in the synoptic gospels, (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) about 1/3 of what Jesus says is in parables.

Tyler Sanders 36:05
Really?

Dan Gurtner 36:06
Yeah, having some idea of what these things are about and how they work can really take us a long way in addressing, what we're trying to deal with in Conceptions and Misconceptions in the Gospel.

Tyler Sanders 36:17
For sure. Okay, well, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. I'm looking forward to what we're talking about next time.

Dan Gurtner 36:22
My pleasure.