Jesus' Presentation of His Teachings Through Parables

Jesus' Presentation of His Teachings Through Parables

The word 'parable' comes from the Greek word 'parabole', meaning a

comparison or analogy. A parable has also been described as 'an

earthly story with a heavenly meaning'. Some of Jesus' parables are

comparisons as they compare what is known and familiar on earth with

the Kingdom of God, which is spiritual and less familiar. For example,

in a parable in Luke 13:20 Jesus says 'The Kingdom of God is like…a

woman who takes some yeast.' In this way, from the Bible, one can

deduce parables are stories that convey teaching and is usually based

on everyday life. A parable usually has one key teaching that the

listener has to work out, which is why Jesus often used them in His

teaching.

ii) Describe from Luke's Gospel, how Jesus presented his teachings

through parables.

Jesus often used has parables in His teaching and 90% of His teaching

recorded in Luke are in the form of parables. At one stage, it was

said of Jesus, 'He would not speak to them without using parables'. He

used parables to convey his teachings because people liked to listen

to stories, and so, were attentive when he preached. Parables are also

memorable and He wanted His listeners to remember the teachings behind

the stories and provoke a response from them. This encouraged them to

think for themselves and once they had worked out the meaning, they

were more likely to remember it. Parables were easy for ordinary

people to understand as they related to things that were familiar in

everyday life, and it is because of this that Jesus used them to

portray things less familiar in the spiritual world and in the

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... relate to the feelings of the elder son in the parable of 'The

Prodigal Son'.

Parables can act as guidelines and so be applied to present day

problems. And with some effort some of them can easily adapted to the

modern world as many have been.

Even parables do not relate to the physical world today, they still do

relate to the spiritual world. They still teach Christians, old and

new, about the Kingdom and God's love for them.

Today's society may be non-religious, but some parables are not just

about Christianity but humanity in general. 'The Good Samaritan',

instructs not only on how to be a good Christian but also, how to be a

neighbourly human being. The teachings of Jesus, about our neighbours

and outcasts, through parables make not only a good foundation for

Christian communities, but for any society.