As we read through the New Testament, we come upon many instances where Jesus uses parables to teach in ways that were very unique to the day. Until this point, many had never experienced this type of teaching and it proved to be an effective method of imparting knowledge to his listeners. A parable is a story that illustrates a moral or religious lesson. During Jesus’s ministry He told many parables such as The Parable of the Sower, Parable of the Good Samaritan, The Rich Fool, Parable of the Mustard Seed, and Parable of the Lost Sheep just to name a few.
Once two men were hiking through the woods. It was beautiful day and they were hiking on the Appalachian Trail through North Carolina. Both were skilled hikers and rather in shape, but one was very motivated to get all he could out of this hike while the other simply wanted to make it through the hike as best he could. The man that wanted to simply wanted to make it through the hike was not motivated to see or experience anything more than what the hike had to offer just on the trail. The other hiker however was willing to take on whatever came his way and to get the most out of the hike he was on.
As the two men hiked, they came upon many rugged trails and hills that were difficult to overcome, however they did it together and kept moving on. The view from the trail was beautiful with many places to stop and admire the view, but they couldn’t seem to get above the canopy of the trees to truly take in the whole view. The man that strove to see the beautiful scenery from an unobstructed viewpoint was trying in every way to get above what was around him to see the true beauty of the mountains.
As the hikers walked along there were many chances to leave the trail and...
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...have to face more. There is truly something to be said for the person that takes the harder path because Jesus did the same thing in His ministry as he walked the earth. He never took the easy road. Just as the author of Matthew wrote, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it (New).” Here the author is saying that it is very easy to walk down the path that is easiest and that most walk down, but it is very difficult to find that narrow path that many choose not to take because of its difficulty. I argue that the path less traveled is the one of more beauty and of more reward because not many have seen it. By walking the narrow path, we also find that the more we walk it, the easier it gets.
The drive to cross the Kentucky border had taken hours and hours of strenuous patience to finally arrive in another state. The view was by far country like as hints of cow manure could be smelled far from a distance. We drive through small towns, half the size of our hometown of Glen Ellyn had been the biggest town we've seen if not smaller. The scenery had overwhelmed us, as lumps of Earth from a great distance turned to perfectly molded hills, but as we got closer and closer to our destination the hills no longer were hills anymore, instead the hills had transformed to massive mountains of various sizes. These mountains surrounded our every view as if we had sunken into a great big deep hole of green pastures. Our path of direction was seen, as the trails of our road that had followed for numerous hours ended up winding up the mountainous mountains in a corkscrew dizzy-like matter.
...e. Grace allows this change to happen, but one must be willing to face hardships and difficulties because the road to redemption is narrow and rocky.
The speaker in “Five A.M.” looks to nature as a source of beauty during his early morning walk, and after clearing his mind and processing his thoughts along the journey, he begins his return home feeling as though he is ready to begin the “uphill curve” (ln. 14) in order to process his daily struggles. However, while the speaker in “Five Flights Up,” shares the same struggles as her fellow speaker, she does little to involve herself in nature other than to observe it from the safety of her place of residence. Although suffering as a result of her struggles, the speaker does little to want to help herself out of her situation, instead choosing to believe that she cannot hardly bare recovery or to lift the shroud of night that has fallen over her. Both speakers face a journey ahead of them whether it be “the uphill curve where a thicket spills with birds every spring” (ln. 14-15) or the five flights of stares ahead of them, yet it is in their attitude where these two individuals differ. Through the appreciation of his early morning surroundings, the speaker in “Five A.M.” finds solitude and self-fulfillment, whereas the speaker in “Five Flights Up” has still failed to realize her own role in that of her recovery from this dark time in her life and how nature can serve a beneficial role in relieving her of her
Dani and I stand in the sun waiting for the “men” to catch up. The view was worth Quill’s whining and navigating through the snow. The breeze catches in the bright green and gold of new Aspen leaves whispering around the lake. The Pine trees scent the air and bask in the sun to steal its warmth from the forest below. The trees are a dark canopy along our path permitting only a few patches of the raised finely mulched trail to a beam or two of sun. Framed like a photo three pencil lead gray peaks rise above a lower sweeping curve of pines. They look close enough to walk over the ridge and touch them. Boulders precariously cling to the side of the mountains. The perfect deep blue early summer sky is the perfect backdrop.
After looking into the journey and obstacles he faced to scale this dangerous and intimidating mountain, I noticed with each stop at each rest area he had learned something different about himself or established a new outlook about the journey. But it was not until they were in the final leg of the journey in which he learned his greatest lesson about himself. It was during the last leg that he realized he had spent most of the day looking at “how far he had to go,” instead of relishing in “how far he had come.” After stating he normally views things as “the glass half empty” I realized, I too, have a similar outlook on life. It was in this moment that I realized perception has a large impact on how I maneuver throughout life, bringing the popular phrase “mind over matter” to my
All biblical stories are dedicated in providing a life lesson. They are God’s ways in teaching His people on how they should behave and how to better their relationships with Him. In addition, the accounts also give insight to characteristics and truths of God. The lives of numerous biblical characters serve as archetypes that affirm the fact that God is the sovereign Creator, the supreme Judge, and the merciful Savior.
When a person hears the word “parable” they often automatically think of stories told by Jesus. Although Jesus did tell a lot of parables, he was not the only biblical figure to use parables. One example of an Old Testament figure telling a parable is the prophet Nathan’s parable to King David about the rich man seizing and killing the poor man’s sheep. 2 Samuel 12: 1-14. David gets very angry at the rich man and orders him killed before realizing the rich man is himself. The reasons Nathan used a parable are the same reasons Jesus used parables: discretion, to avoid defensiveness, and to stimulate deeper reflection. Parables are discreet because no one can get mad at the parable teller because even if he is talking about you, he doesn’t actually say your name, so you can remain anonymous. Parables avoid defensiveness because if you don’t think the parable is talking about you, you are more willing to listen and understand the wrongdoings in the parable, even if they are your own wrongdoings. Finally, they stimulate deeper reflection because they are stories, and while later remembering and thinking more about the enjoyable story, you can get more meaning from it. By using parables, Jesus helps us, his readers, understand his messages better.
N.T Wright (2008) stated that “When we read the scriptures as Christians, we read it precisely as people of the new covenant and of the new creation” (p.281). In this statement, the author reveals a paradigm of scriptural interpretation that exists for him as a Christian, theologian, and profession and Bishop. When one surveys the entirety of modern Christendom, one finds a variety of methods and perspectives on biblical interpretation, and indeed on the how one defines the meaning in the parables of Jesus. Capon (2002) and Snodgrass (2008) offer differing perspectives on how one should approach the scriptures and how the true sense of meaning should be extracted. This paper will serve as a brief examination of the methodologies presented by these two authors. Let us begin, with an
The three parables contained in chapter fifteen of the Gospel of Luke are a tightly woven trio anchored on either side by closely related teachings. The preceding chapter gives instruction on humility and hospitality, telling the reader to open the invitation to one’s meal table to all, including the poor, the sick, and the unclean. In the following chapter the reader finds instructions for how to use wealth to benefit those same people. In the middle of these we find chapter fifteen, containing the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal and his brother. As a part of the triplet, the parable of the lost sheep challenges the reader to not only invite the poor into one’s community, but to receive them as family with joy and celebration.
The New Testament gospels in the Bible are full of parables by Jesus. A parable is defined as “a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson” (as told by Jesus in the gospels). There were many parables he would tell to make the essence of the lesson easier to fathom. There are several reasons why he would use parables. One of the reasons is because parables would make principles easier to understand. Another reason is because they were so easy to remember. Parables were used to explain and teach on controversial problems without getting him into conflict with religious figures of that time. Also you can find in one passage that Jesus answers the question himself as to why he spoke in parables. There are different explanations of why these reasons exist and through this paper they will be illustrated and thoroughly explained.
Regardless of the genre, writers craft is often deeply deeply influenced by parables. In life people are exposed to many choices. Robert Frost summed choices thus, Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. Some of those differences may come with the company we meet as expressed by Ralph Waldo Emerson, “In my walks, every man I meet is my superior in some way, and in that I learn from him.” Regardless of the media or literature genre, parallel themes can be found within the subtext which are related to parables. Matthew (13:10-11 ESV) said, “And the disciples came and said to Him, ‘Why do You speak to them in parables? He answered and said to them, ‘Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” Close reading techniques and complex life experiences can be used to decipher and interpret difficult parables. Parables are Jesus’ way to help people improve their understanding of abstract concepts. Parables heavily influence our literature and entertainment. However, learners must be cautious as they learn from parables. They preclude their bias from their interpretations in order that Christians learn from
Almost everyone has come upon a fork in a path, and not been positive which way to go. The path we choose is very important; it gets us to where we are today, whether it was the right or wrong decision. For every path we take in life, there is a path not taken. The wonders of what that path could have held are almost unbearable at times. The biggest question we have in life is if we should take the worn down path everyone else takes, or the path less traveled. Years later how are we going to feel about the path we had chosen so long ago? This common occurrence in life is portrayed very effectively in Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.”
In the poem, “The Road Not Taken”, the speaker has to make a big decision in his life. This poem talks about a person who comes across an intersection or a fork in the road and he has to choose which way to follow. The road is a metaphor of the choices we make in life. As the speaker ponders his choices, he feels strongly that whatever “road” he takes will be for good. So he must weigh his decision well in order to come up with the best choice and not end up regretting it. The speaker considers his thought wisely. He says, “And looked down as far as I could / To where it bent in the undergrowth”, by giving it a proper thought he weighs his choices well and in the end, chooses to follow the road “less traveled”. “The Road Not Taken” signifies a difficult choice in a person’s life that could offer him an easy or hard way out. There is no assurance of what lies ahead; if there will be success or sorrows. But a person has to take risk making up his mind about which way to choose because this is the first step of head...
What are parables of Jesus Christ? The word parable in general may mean the placing of two or more artifacts together to make a comparison or explain an ideology. This same concept could be related to the parables of Jesus Christ the son of God. Some people may choose to define these in various meanings depending on their own understanding. However, in my opinion, a parable is basically an analogy consisting of human circumstances that is accompanied with a spiritual or biblical lesson. Altogether, there are thirty-two parables; which could be found in the books of Mathew, Mark and Luke. Out of all these parables, eighteen of them are found in Luke and ten in Mathew. The eighteen parables found in Luke include, the Lost Coin, the Lost Son, the Unrighteous Steward, the Rich Man and Lazarus, the Unprofitable Servants, the Unrighteous Judge, the Pharisee and Publican, the Pounds, the Two Debtors, the Good Samaritan, the Friend at Midnight, the Rich Fool, the Watchful Servants, the Barren Fig Tree, the Chief Seats, the Great Supper, the Rash Builder, and the Rash King. The ten in Mathew include, the Laborers in the Vineyard, the Two Sons, the Marriage of the King's Son, the Ten Virgins, the Talents, the Tares, the Hidden Treasure, the Pearl of Great Price, the Draw Net, and the Unmerciful Servant. Again, the parables of Jesus Christ could be compared to a class of students with a teacher in the front. Basically Jesus Christ was the teacher and the whole world would be considered as the students. Out of all the parables of Jesus Christ, the main ones I will be talking about will be the parable of the good samaritan, and the parable of the sower.
Jesus told “The Parable of the Prodigal Son" to the religious and the Jewish crowd there to help them understand that salvation does not come by works, but by the grace of God. The Lord is merciful and forgiving, but you just must be willing to realize your mistake and ask for forgiveness just like the prodigal son had done. The reaction of the crowd when Jesus spoke was most likely extreme upset and outrage, similar to that of the eldest son. Since God is gracious and loving, sinners can return to him with confidence that he will warmly welcome them. A good father only wants what is best for his children, and that is to love and be loved. Most importantly, the parable shows that God’s people should rejoice at the willingness of sinners to turn to God and the willingness of God to receive them. This parable especially exemplifies God’s redemptive grace, mercy, unconditional love and forgiveness. In addition, the author greatly incorporates character analysis to give us a good description and understanding of the parable. By using the prodigal son’s, the father’s, and the elder son’s character as analogies and symbols to compare and contrast to other concrete examples, the reader was able to understand the parable on a deeper level. Unfortunately, the parable ends without revealing what the older son did. The ending can be used as a self-check; if you were in the older brother’s shoes, how would you react? Would you be rejoicing for your younger brother’s return or would you allow the bitterness and resentment of your father’s reaction take over