Page 2 - The Parables of Jesus

An Overview of the Parables of Jesus
[by the Bible Fund editors]
Not long after Herod had put John the Baptist in prison, Jesus Christ came to the area of Galilee and began proclaiming the Gospel (Good News) of the Kingdom of God. Along with his disciples, Jesus continued doing this all through the area of Galilee, Samaria and Judea for most of the next three years.
Whenever He preached to the multitudes, Jesus often used parables, which is a way of teaching a lesson by telling a story. The same Hebrew word translated as “parable” in Ezekiel 17:2 is translated as “proverb” in the book of Proverbs. In the New Testament, the Greek word parabole refers to a comparison or symbolism, which is where we get the word “parable” in English. For example, Paul uses the word parabole in Hebrews 9:9 which is rendered as “figure” or “symbolic” when referring to the various items in the tabernacle (later the Temple) that symbolized God’s plan of salvation.
But why is it that Jesus used parables in his preaching? Many think it was to make the meaning of what He was saying more clear and easier to understand. But actually, the Scriptures say the very opposite (Matthew 13:13)! It was only to Jesus’ disciples that He gave a clearer, more detailed explanation of what these parables meant (verses 10-11). Remarkably, the Gospel of John records none of the parables, while the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke mention more than 30 different parables – with Luke recording the most parables. Matthew has seven parables about the Kingdom of God and lists them one after the other in Matthew 13.
Let’s now look at the various parables and the lessons they teach us.
By comparing the parable of the sower and the seed in Mathew’s account (Matthew 13), with the parallel accounts in Mark and Luke, we can conclude that this was one of the early parables of Jesus – which He gave to his disciples before He sent them to proclaim the Gospel message. As we read in Luke 9, we see that Jesus was sending the disciples to do what He had been doing – preaching the Gospel (Good News) of the Kingdom of God. Accordingly, they needed to understand the parable of the sower and the seed – that is, that they would be “planting” the seeds of the Kingdom in the world.
The parable of the sower and the seed explains the results that the servants of Christ will experience as they go about spreading (“sowing”) the news (“seeds”) of the Kingdom. This parable describes four types of soil on which the seeds fall – each producing a different result. The first type of “soil” is represented by the path alongside the road, where the birds come and eat them. These seeds do not germinate – do not even begin to sprout. It is like many people who hear the message of the Kingdom but, as we say, “it goes in one ear and out the other.” This depicts the majority of people who have heard the message of the Kingdom from Christ’s time to now.
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