I want to talk this morning, and for the next few weeks, about some of the parables in Scripture. Mainly, I’m going to be focusing on Jesus’s parables, but I’ll be touching on some of the parables used elsewhere in the Bible.

In Matthew, Mark and Luke, we’re told that Jesus spoke many parables. Why would he do that?

Jesus’s disciples asked him that very question. Jesus answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” (Matthew 13:11, ESV)

That would almost make it sound like Jesus told parables specifically to be mysterious. On the other hand, the parables he told were all things people could identify with. Planting your crops. Finding a lost coin. A son who squanders his inheritance.

It’s almost like Jesus was telling stories so common that everyone who heard them would assume they knew what he meant; while he was in reality withholding the true meaning of the story. That goes against what I want to think about Jesus. But maybe, it’s because I’m missing the big picture here.

Parables are a bigger story than they may appear to be

“Parables are not forced illustrations, but rather mirrors of spiritual things. Heaven and Earth are the work of the One God. All natural effects hold on to their spiritual causes, and their spiritual causes hold on to them. Spiritual worlds and natural worlds cohere, as inner and outer.” – Dr. John Pulsford

Do you get what this man is saying? There’s an old saying that “A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.” That’s close, but it doesn’t quite capture it. God created both heaven and earth. The parables of Jesus—the one through whom earth was created—don’t just show us illustrate some heavenly truth, they show us where the two creations intersect.

So we, like millions of Christians before us, take a look at these parables Jesus told and start to ask ourselves: what does this tell us? Because …

2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (ESV)

Let’s read one of these parables and see what it says …

Matthew 13:3-9
And he told them many things in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear."

This is a great parable to start with not because it’s Jesus first parable (it isn’t) but because it’s one of the few that he came right out and explained.
Even then, there’s been a temptation over the years to over-interpret the parables. We know they are symbolic, but is every single word symbolic? Is every single concept symbolic?

For instance: who’s the sower? Is it us? Or is it God? If it’s God, why is his sowing so imprecise that some of the seed doesn’t even fall where it can grow? Does that mean God specifically plants his word in places where it can’t grow? How does that square with Scripture telling us elsewhere that God’s word does not come back void?

“The parable and its truth are not, as has been said, two perfect planes that touch at all points, but rather, a plane and a sphere touching at great points.” –Cumming in Lectures

Don’t read more than what is there

Let me illustrate this to you. First, I have two balloons. If I shove one balloon inside the other one, then blow up the inner balloon, it and the outer balloon touch at all possible points. That’s what it would be like if every single word in a parable were a parable in itself; each word a mirror of some heavenly truth.

But maybe, parables are like two separate balloons. I blow them up, and I touch them together. They touch at this one point. The bear similarities elsewhere, but they only touch here.

So, what do we do with a parable such as this?

“The safest way to handle a parable is to search out the leading thought or principle idea round which as centre the subordinate parts must group themselves.” Herbert Lockyer, All the Parables, p. 22

It’s rather like a cooked steak. All the other ingredients may be important, but what counts is whether it tastes good! All other considerations are weighed against that one. We may add bar-b-q sauce, basil or thyme. We might cook it in a pan, an oven, or on the grill. But the first consideration is: is it steak (vs. pork or chicken or tofu)? Later, we may talk to the cook and find out what seasonings were added or how it was cooked, but our first thought is to the steak.

Like I said earlier, we have an advantage with the parable I just read because Jesus himself gives us the explanation:

Matthew 13:18-23
"Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty." (ESV)

What’s the Big Picture?

The first thing that comes to mind when I read this is to ask myself, “Which soil am I?” The first soil is easy to picture. That’s the person we’ve told the good news of Christ to and nothing seems to have happened.

The second one, we’ve probably dealt with, too. Maybe even in this church. Saw someone come, get involved, go great guns, then get distracted by life and fall away. Sometimes it was something “big” like an illness or a divorce; but sometimes—maybe most times—it was just that they had a hundred things going on in their life and didn’t have time for God. I think some of these plants/people are perennials. They come back every year for a short while, then go dormant again. And they’ll be back next year, too.

That third soil always gets my attention, too. You notice: the plant there doesn’t die. It just withers and is unfruitful. But, presumably, it’s still there. It’s still taking up soil … or pew space. It’s worth asking yourself if this is you.

And the fourth soil, who wouldn’t want to be that? Who wouldn’t want to be a vibrant, productive plant? So, we ask ourselves, how do I become one of those? What’s the difference between the soils? This one is soft, and pliable, and has been tended by the gardener. This heart isn’t full of weeds. This heart takes in the nutrients the gardener bestows. This soil understands the word of God, which requires a] reading the word and b] praying.

A secondary lesson I take from this is to not be too discouraged when seed I think I’ve planted in someone else doesn’t seem to grow. It’s not that I give up on them, but I have to realize they may not be “prepared soil” yet.

And there may be more lessons to be had in this parable. Probably are. But sometimes I think we get busy picking apart these little details so as not to have to deal with the big ones. Like trying to figure out why the 500 pound gorilla in the room has what appears to be an ingrown nail rather than dealing with why there’s a 500 pound gorilla in the room.

What do I DO with this?

As we go through the parables over these next few weeks, look for the main point. What is Jesus trying to tell me here? What do I DO with this parable?

Have a heart prepared for the seed God wants to plant (and the plant he wants to grow)!