Why Parables?

Show Notes

The big question that we want to answer is, why did Jesus speak in parables? It's a great question. If Jesus came on a rescue mission for the world, why would he use parables as one of the primary ways to communicate with the people who he talked to?

Simple, so that anyone could hear whether they had extensive education or whether they didn't even know how to read. These stories resonate with anybody who would listen because they were common stories, and we kinda love that. God wants to be understood. But there's also another reason Jesus spoke in parables that gets a little bit more confusing. Check out this episode to find out the seemingly contradictory reasons that Jesus used parables.

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Everyone loves a good story. Whether it’s a novel, film, or song, we are products of the narratives that have formed us—for good or bad. If you need fresh inspiration or are stuck living under the weight of a story you can’t shake off, consider this study of the parables of Jesus.

Through six sessions, you’ll hear directly from Jesus through the Word. His parables not only form (or reform) who we are, they reveal more about God than we ever thought possible. They provide the hope we’re looking for, speaking above all the other noise we may be experiencing.

Session topics:
1. Why Parables?
2. The Parable of the Soils
3. The Parables of Lost Things
4. The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds
5. The Parable of the Prodigal Son
6. The Parable of the Talents

Creators & Guests

Host

Daniel Fusco

Telling Everyone that Jesus is Real

What is Stories Jesus Told with Daniel Fusco - A Lifeway Bible Study?

Exploring the Heart of the Parables

Stories Jesus Told is a six week mini-series with teaching from author Daniel Fusco. Everyone loves a good story. Whether it’s a novel, film, or song, we are products of the narratives that have formed us—for good or bad. If you need fresh inspiration or are stuck living under the weight of a story you can’t shake off, consider this study of the parables of Jesus.

Through six sessions, you’ll hear directly from Jesus through the Word. His parables not only form (or reform) who we are, they reveal more about God than we ever thought possible. They provide the hope we’re looking for, speaking above all the other noise we may be experiencing.

Session topics:
1. Why Parables?
2. The Parable of the Soils
3. The Parables of Lost Things
4. The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds
5. The Parable of the Prodigal Son
6. The Parable of the Talents

Hey everybody. My name is Daniel Fusco and I am so excited that we get to go on this journey together. Studying the stories that Jesus told. Now I realize that each one of you is on a different step of your faith journey. There are some of you who right now you're just checking out Jesus. Maybe you know somebody who, who believes in Jesus and you're like, Man, I wanna know a little bit more about Jesus.

Or maybe you grew up engaged in a local church. I realize everyone's in a different context, Maybe. Just studying this on your own right now, or maybe you're in a group with some friends or some people that you've met no matter what your contacts, no matter what your place and stage in life is, there's one thing that I believe is absolutely true is that Jesus wants to do a work in each one of our lives.

I love to tell people that life is messy. But Jesus is real. And when we confuse those two, we get into a lot of problems because when life gets messy, we have a tendency not to realize that Jesus is at work in and through the things that we're going through. And one of the ways that we learn that. Is by studying the scriptures, the Bible

and God, I just pray that you'd be with us today. Allow us to deliver a met. I wanna start by saying, I am so excited for you and I'm proud of you that you're studying the scriptures, because everybody wants God to speak to them. That's a great thing. And oftentimes people say to me, Hey, Fusco, I don't think God is speaking to me.

And I always say the same thing. I said, Well, is your Bible open? We all want God to speak to us personally, but God actually speaks to us through His word. His Holy Spirit inspired some 40 different authors over thousands of years that to have this book that we call the Bible, I like to tell people that it's, it's a book, but it's really an anthology cuz there's a number of books and there's a number of different types of writings in the.

If you were to study the whole of the Bible, what you'd find is that there's different genres, just like in music, right? Maybe, Hey, man, I, I, I really like pop music. Or I like K-pop, or I, I like hip hop. Or, or man, I like, I like, I like classic rock. It's all music, but there's different styles within it. In that same way, the Bible is full of all these different types of writings.

You have things like narratives where it's really just telling the. This is what happened. You have things that are always fascinating to us, what we call prophecy, where you have this foretelling of future events, things that are yet to come. Tons of poetry. I know you might say, Oh, poetry, who writes poetry today?

But all the songs that we enjoy, they're poetic. They, they rhyme, they go together. By the time you get into the New Testament, you have things like epistles, people writing. Long text messages, emails to different churches. So our time together is gonna be focused on a genre in the Bible that is called parables.

Now that word parables is actually derived from two Greek words that are put together, para and ballow. The word para means alongside, and ballow is the word that we get our word ball for. It means to throw. So a parable is literally something that is thrown alongside something. This genre in the Bible is really powerful because it's Jesus telling stories of deep spiritual truth that he's throwing alongside very commonplace ideas that would've been understandable to anybody no matter who they were when they heard it.

Now, what I love so much about this is all of us. Created to create and enjoy stories. If I were to ask you, Hey, what was elementary school like? You're gonna tell me a little short story. If I say, Hey, what was high school like, You're gonna say, you're gonna tell me a short story. If you, if I say, What was your wedding day like?

You tell me a short story. There's also a reason why we all like to binge watch our shows on tv. Why? Because they're telling a story. We find ourselves caught up in stories and in every story that you. Either be telling or be watching you learn amazing things within that story. Just last night, my bride, Lynn and I, we were watching a show on Netflix and sure enough, we were discussing the story, things that we're seeing within the story.

It's one of the primary ways that we understand our own lives and that we can express the truths that we believe to other people. Now, what's amazing is as long before Netflix and on demand. Jesus, the greatest teacher who ever lived, I believe he was the son of God, I believe you should believe that too.

The Messiah, the one who died on a cross for the sins of the world. I believe that he said he was that. I believe you should believe that too. Jesus was a master storyteller. Jesus's chosen way to communicate with the masses of people who were interested in who he. Was through stories that we call parables.

And so I am so excited for us to get to study the parables together, and I'm excited that you are studying God's word in Psalm 19. It tells us that now. And does God reveal himself to us in a general way in creation? If you look behind me, you see we're in where I get to live, the beautiful Pacific Northwest, the city of Portland's in the background.

There's trees all around. We love to say that we live in, in, in the greenest place on earth. Now, I know people in, in Ireland might be say, Hey, hold on, lets go. You got, But gotta be careful saying that Ireland's even more green. We could discuss that later. But here's the deal in nature, God reveals himself to us in a general way, and Psalm 19 also tells us that God reveals himself to us specifically through his.

And when we study God's word, God has specific things that he wants to teach each one of us. And then in Psalm 19, it closes out by telling us that God wants to reveal himself personally to each one of us. And that's my hope for our time together. Then not only do we study God's word and we experience God's specific revealing to us of who he is, but that God would speak to each one of.

Personally, So the big question that we want to answer is, why did Jesus speak in parables? It's a great question. If Jesus came on a rescue mission for the world, why would he use parables as one of the primary ways to communicate with the people who he talked to?

We've already looked at one of the reasons, it was a simple story that anyone could understand. We might make the mistake of thinking because Jesus was God in flesh. He's super deep and you have to make sure you study forever to understand it. No. Jesus actually wanted to make the truths that God wants us to know.

Simple, so that anyone could hear whether they had extensive education or whether they didn't even know how to read. These stories resonate with anybody who would listen because they were common stories, and we kinda love that. God wants to be understood. But there's also another reason Jesus spoke in parables that gets a little bit more confusing, and I'm pulling this right out of Matthews Gospel, Chapter 13.

The disciples came to Jesus in verse 10, and they said, Why do you speak to the people in parables? Don't you love it? When people in the Bible asked the questions that we want answered, Hey, why did Jesus, geez, why are you asking people, uh, telling people about these parables? And Jesus has answered them this way?

Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of. But to them it has not been given. Whoever has to him more will be given and he will have abundance, but whoever does not have, even what he has, will be taken away from him. Therefore, I speak to them in parables because seeing they do not see and hearing, they do not hear, nor do they understand.

So what's amazing is, is Jesus told these stories, not only that anyone could understand. But also to, to divide between those who had hearts that were open and wanted to learn, and those whose hearts were closed. Didn't wanna learn. And Jesus is like, I wanna keep the truth obscure from just, if you look over my shoulder, the, the city of Portland is slightly obscure by clouds.

We wanna see the city, but the clouds are in the way. And the parables function to keep people who weren't really open to the message of the kingdom of God from understanding. Now you might be saying to yourself, Okay, so hold on a second. Please go. I wanna learn, how can I make sure. That in our time studying when I study the scriptures, that my ears would be open, that my heart would be open, and there's a simple thing that I want you to do.

I want you to pray that God would reveal himself to you from the word. Because really what goes on is when we say, God, we want to know you. God opened up my heart. God, take down the walls that I may have, Lord, the issues that I'm holding onto. Will you speak? Will you help me understand them? The grief and the trauma that I've experienced?

God, will you help me to see it through your eyes? When we do that, we are giving God the necessary room to move in our hearts so that we can learn and grow as we study these stories of Jesus, these parables. God wants to speak to each one of us personally and individually, and I believe that Jesus is going to use these par.

In very fresh ways in each one of our lives, no matter where we are on the journey to draw us a little bit closer to him. So I am super excited that we get to be on this journey together, learning the stories of Jesus.