Luke 8:9-10
Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that ‘looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand.’”
Why did Jesus tell parables?
I’m guessing this is a question we’ve not given much thought. I mean, we grew up hearing Jesus’ parables. That’s just what he did, right?
But why? Was it a common way to teach at the time? Was the form of his teaching itself something of a hint about the kingdom he proclaimed? Did he choose characters and settings with which his audience would identify? Did he just love a good story?
My guess is that the answer is “e,” all of the above. 🙂 But in addition to all these possibilities, there was also at least one other reason, and we get some insight into that from this passage. First Jesus tells his disciples that they have been invited to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but “to others I speak in parables, so that ‘looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand.’”
Wait a second — did we just hear Jesus say that he used parables so that people wouldn’t understand? What kind of teacher does that? Why would Jesus set out to confuse his audience?
It helps, I think, to recognize that the saying Jesus quotes comes from the prophet Isaiah. In fact, it comes from Isaiah’s “call story,” when the Lord set him apart to be a prophet. In that context, Isaiah reports the following:
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!” And he said, “Go and say to this people: ‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.’
Make the mind of this people dull,
and stop their ears,
and shut their eyes,
so that they may not look with their eyes,
and listen with their ears,
and comprehend with their minds,
and turn and be healed.”
Okay, so you’re to be forgiven if this doesn’t immediately make things better, as it appears that God actually sent Isaiah hoping that people wouldn’t understand!
Why? Because apparently things had gotten so bad that there was no quick fix or easy cure available. Israel had strayed so far from its relationship with God that there was no real way simply to repair that relationship. Rather, God had to start over. Things had to get so bad that everything they believed fell apart, and everything they were holding onto fell away. Only in that context might they be open to a new and right relationship. So if they turn back too early, if they think they understand what the Lord is proposing and really don’t, things will only get worse.
And so Isaiah is sent to proclaim the message of the Lord, and the only clear indicator of whether it really is the message of the Lord is that it will be so radical that the people simply will not understand it.
Which brings us back to Jesus. We have a clue here about everything that is to come. He is not coming to solve our problems, or to make us feel better, or to help us get by, or to give us our best life now, or any of the other things we look to religion to do. Instead, Jesus is coming to introduce a message – really a kingdom – that is so different we simply will not understand it.
Why? Because our condition is too dire for a quick fix or simple cure. Rather, we also need a whole new beginning. Indeed, we need a new life – not a better life or an improved life, but new life. Which is exactly what Jesus came to offer.
Prayer: Dear God, you came in Jesus to make all things new, including us. That isn’t easy for us to understand, or even possible, so we ask that you go ahead and do it anyway, holding onto us through death into new life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Post image from The Brick Testament.
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