Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Bible Hacks: Understanding Jesus’ Parables
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Bible Hacks: Understanding Jesus’ Parables
The post Bible Hacks: Understanding Jesus’ Parables appeared first on Brandon Kelley.
[callout]For the next three weeks, I’ll be co-teaching a class called, Bible Hacks where myself and Daryl Docterman will teach short sessions designed to help you read the Bible better. Below are my teaching notes from session three as well as the audio of the class. Past sessions are listed at the bottom of this article:[/callout]
Audio Version:
[button href=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/abundant-life-brandon-kelley/id1030753835″ primary=”true” centered=”false” newwindow=”false” newwindow=”true”]Subscribe in iTunes[/button]
[button href=”http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/brandon-kelley/the-abundant-life-with-brandon-kelley?refid=stpr” primary=”true” centered=”false” newwindow=”true”]Subscribe in Stitcher[/button]
Bible Hacks: Understanding Jesus’ Parables
Today, we’re going to dive into Jesus’ parables with fresh eyes. If you’ve read the Bible or have been in church for much of your life, you likely have had interaction with Jesus’ parables. But today, let’s approach them with the eyes of children who are encountering them for the first time.
Mark 4:
Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
To help us read Jesus’ parables in an accurate way, I’d like to offer you three principles for reading parables:
From what we can see, who is the audience? A crowd by the sea. But what happened prior? This is important, especially when we see how Jesus explains this parable. At this moment, Jesus is around His hometown of Nazareth. Mark 3:20-21 says:
20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
From there, Jesus receives an onslaught of insults from not just His family, but from the scribes from Jerusalem. They accuse Him of being possessed by Beelzebul, the prince of demons. He responds to their accusation and continues teaching. And then we come to the beginning of our passage where He has moved location to what seems to be the Sea of Galilee which is 18 miles away today. A sizable walk.
Now, was there a conversation happening that prompted the parable? No, we are simply told that Jesus was teaching.
What did the crowd identify with in the parable? Certainly the sower and the result of the ground. But what is the intended response? From first look, it seems to be to sow onto good soil. But Jesus does something quite kind for His disciples and for us in the passage following what we’re looking at. He explains the parable.
Mark 4:
10 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, 12 so that
“‘they may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.’”
Let’s pause right here. Jesus refers to Isaiah 6:9 which says, “And he said, ‘Go, and say to this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’” There have been many people who have used this verse to justify an idea that parables have a deeper or even allegorical meaning. But I think if we consider the situation of the parable, we may have an interpretation of what Jesus is doing here that may be more accurate.
Remember, preceding Jesus telling this story at the Sea of Galilee, He was in His hometown of Nazareth and was being accused of being the prince of demons. He was encountering a lot of opposition to His straightforward teaching. So, allow me to propose to you that it could be that Jesus begins speaking in parables because the people were rejecting His plain teaching and showing that they were not perceiving or understanding.
Let’s keep going.
Mark 4:
13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”
For Jesus’ hearers, they understood the idea of the sower, but they had trouble understanding what was being sown. Jesus explains that the seed is the word (His proclamation of the good news). The different versions of soil are the receptivity levels of the people to the word (Jesus’ teaching).
So, before the intended response to the parable seemed to be to sow to good soil, but the intended response now seems to be what? BE the good soil. Then when it is time for them to be the sower, realize that not everyone will receive it.
Worksheet
Apply what you have learned by working through two more parables from the book of Luke.
Here’s the worksheet.
Want to grow your faith even more? Let's be email friends. I'll even give you a free copy of my 4-week audio course and daily devotional called, Journey to Knowing God.
First Name:
Email address:
Leave this field empty if you're human:
[callout]
More From Bible Hacks
Session one: The Overarching Story of the Bible – by Daryl Docterman
Session one: Seeing the Gospel in Every Crevice of the Bible – by Brandon Kelley
Session two: Understanding the Old Testament Context – by Daryl Docterman
Session two: Understanding the New Testament Context – by Brandon Kelley
Session three: Going From Original Meaning to Contemporary Application – by Daryl Docterman
Session three: Identifying Theological Realities and Obedient Actions – by Brandon Kelley
Session four: Reading the OT Narratives Well – by Daryl Docterman
Session four: Reading the Gospels Well – by Brandon Kelley
Session five: Understanding OT Law – by Daryl Docterman
[/callout]
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Print
The post Bible Hacks: Understanding Jesus’ Parables appeared first on Brandon Kelley.
View all episodes
By Brandon Kelley
5
44 ratings
The post Bible Hacks: Understanding Jesus’ Parables appeared first on Brandon Kelley.
[callout]For the next three weeks, I’ll be co-teaching a class called, Bible Hacks where myself and Daryl Docterman will teach short sessions designed to help you read the Bible better. Below are my teaching notes from session three as well as the audio of the class. Past sessions are listed at the bottom of this article:[/callout]
Audio Version:
[button href=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/abundant-life-brandon-kelley/id1030753835″ primary=”true” centered=”false” newwindow=”false” newwindow=”true”]Subscribe in iTunes[/button]
[button href=”http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/brandon-kelley/the-abundant-life-with-brandon-kelley?refid=stpr” primary=”true” centered=”false” newwindow=”true”]Subscribe in Stitcher[/button]
Bible Hacks: Understanding Jesus’ Parables
Today, we’re going to dive into Jesus’ parables with fresh eyes. If you’ve read the Bible or have been in church for much of your life, you likely have had interaction with Jesus’ parables. But today, let’s approach them with the eyes of children who are encountering them for the first time.
Mark 4:
Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
To help us read Jesus’ parables in an accurate way, I’d like to offer you three principles for reading parables:
From what we can see, who is the audience? A crowd by the sea. But what happened prior? This is important, especially when we see how Jesus explains this parable. At this moment, Jesus is around His hometown of Nazareth. Mark 3:20-21 says:
20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
From there, Jesus receives an onslaught of insults from not just His family, but from the scribes from Jerusalem. They accuse Him of being possessed by Beelzebul, the prince of demons. He responds to their accusation and continues teaching. And then we come to the beginning of our passage where He has moved location to what seems to be the Sea of Galilee which is 18 miles away today. A sizable walk.
Now, was there a conversation happening that prompted the parable? No, we are simply told that Jesus was teaching.
What did the crowd identify with in the parable? Certainly the sower and the result of the ground. But what is the intended response? From first look, it seems to be to sow onto good soil. But Jesus does something quite kind for His disciples and for us in the passage following what we’re looking at. He explains the parable.
Mark 4:
10 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, 12 so that
“‘they may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.’”
Let’s pause right here. Jesus refers to Isaiah 6:9 which says, “And he said, ‘Go, and say to this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’” There have been many people who have used this verse to justify an idea that parables have a deeper or even allegorical meaning. But I think if we consider the situation of the parable, we may have an interpretation of what Jesus is doing here that may be more accurate.
Remember, preceding Jesus telling this story at the Sea of Galilee, He was in His hometown of Nazareth and was being accused of being the prince of demons. He was encountering a lot of opposition to His straightforward teaching. So, allow me to propose to you that it could be that Jesus begins speaking in parables because the people were rejecting His plain teaching and showing that they were not perceiving or understanding.
Let’s keep going.
Mark 4:
13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”
For Jesus’ hearers, they understood the idea of the sower, but they had trouble understanding what was being sown. Jesus explains that the seed is the word (His proclamation of the good news). The different versions of soil are the receptivity levels of the people to the word (Jesus’ teaching).
So, before the intended response to the parable seemed to be to sow to good soil, but the intended response now seems to be what? BE the good soil. Then when it is time for them to be the sower, realize that not everyone will receive it.
Worksheet
Apply what you have learned by working through two more parables from the book of Luke.
Here’s the worksheet.
Want to grow your faith even more? Let's be email friends. I'll even give you a free copy of my 4-week audio course and daily devotional called, Journey to Knowing God.
First Name:
Email address:
Leave this field empty if you're human:
[callout]
More From Bible Hacks
Session one: The Overarching Story of the Bible – by Daryl Docterman
Session one: Seeing the Gospel in Every Crevice of the Bible – by Brandon Kelley
Session two: Understanding the Old Testament Context – by Daryl Docterman
Session two: Understanding the New Testament Context – by Brandon Kelley
Session three: Going From Original Meaning to Contemporary Application – by Daryl Docterman
Session three: Identifying Theological Realities and Obedient Actions – by Brandon Kelley
Session four: Reading the OT Narratives Well – by Daryl Docterman
Session four: Reading the Gospels Well – by Brandon Kelley
Session five: Understanding OT Law – by Daryl Docterman
[/callout]
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Print
The post Bible Hacks: Understanding Jesus’ Parables appeared first on Brandon Kelley.