"The parables have suffered a fate of misinterpretation in the church

second only to the book of Revelation”

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho…

A man = Adam

Jerusalem = the heavenly city of peace, from which Adam fell

Jericho = the moon, and thereby signifies Adam’s mortality

Robbers = the devil and his angels

Stripped him = of his immortality

Beat him = persuaded him to sin

The priest and Levite = the priesthood and ministry of the OT

The Samaritan = Jesus

Bandaged his wounds = binding the restraint of sin

The Parables were not told by Jesus to confound our imagination, but to catalyze our transformation

They are a brazen, unapologetic call to action.

Greek: parable

Aramaic: mēthal riddle/puzzle/parable

Nature of the Parables

The Good Samaritan (true parable) Yeast in the Dough (similitude)

You Are the Salt of the Earth (metaphor) “Do people pick grapes from throw bushes,

or figs from thistles?” (epigram)

Epigram: A concise, clever, often paradoxical statement

How Parables Function

“…the story functions as a striking way of calling forth a response on the part of the hearer. In a sense, the parable itself is the message.”

How Parables Function

“It is this ‘call for response’ nature of the parable that causes our great dilemma in

interpreting them. For in some ways to interpret a parable is to destroy what it was

originally. It is like interpreting a joke.”

The presumed context is what gives a joke its punchline.

The question becomes: “How do we recapture the

punch of the parables in our own times and our own

setting?”

Exegesis of a Parable Finding the Points of Reference

The task of interpretation:

1) sit and listen to the parable again and again

2) identify the points of reference intended by Jesus that would have been picked up by the

original hearers

3) try to determine how the original hearers would have identified with the story, and therefore what they

would have heard

Oh, the difference a good

commentary makes

The Vineyard Workers (Mt 20:1-16)

Who is the Audience?

The Lost Sheep (Mt 18:12-14)

"The Kingdom is like” = “It is like this with the

Kingdom…”

Mark 4: The Parable of the Sower

A mustard seed, a treasure hidden in a field, a merchant

Luke 12: The Parable of the Rich Fool Luke 16: The Parable of the Shrewd Manager