Parable: a short, simple tale based on familiar things that is meant to convey a moral or religious lesson–Webster’s Concise Dictionary of the English Language.  Why did Jesus use parables when talking to the masses of people who often followed Him as He traveled from place to place?  Not long ago I heard a minister answer that question.  His response was that Jesus used parables to make His message easier to understand.  Was that the correct answer?

Before the invention of the printing press mankind in general was ignorant of all but the most basic aspects of life.  For this reason the people who knew or knew about Jesus of Nazareth were shocked to learn that He, the son of a carpenter, “knew letters”–was able to read (Jn. 7:15).  They were astonished because He had gone into the Temple in Jerusalem and had taught the people out of the Holy Scriptures.  He, though neither a priest or a member of the upper class, had done what should not have been done.  “And the Jews marveled, saying, ‘How does this man know letters, having never learned?'”  In those days very few people–those blessed by God–were literate.  This man known as Jesus of Nazareth was not a member of the blessed few.  He was an itinerant stone mason Who had not only been rejected by His family, but was on the Jewish religious hierarchy’s death list (Jn. 7:1-5).  And worst of all, He was illegitimate.

The priesthood was aghast, knowing that this unworthy wretch had stood where only priests or other high-ranking officials were allowed to stand and had not merely touched the sacred Scriptures, but had actually read from them.  Equally shocking was the fact that many of those who had heard him speak had not only embraced Him, but believed that He had a special connection to God.  There was something different about Him, something about the words He spoke and how He spoke them.  Unlike the words of others who claimed to be God’s spokesmen, this man spoke with authority: “And it came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings the people were astonished at His doctrine for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”  Attitudes toward Him were mixed: “Some said, ‘He is a good man,’ others said, ‘No, He deceives the people'” (vs 12).

In those days the “common people,” being unable to read, were able to learn the Scriptures only by memorization of what they heard.  The temple and synagogue priests read from the scrolls audibly so that the people could know what God said to them.  The Gentiles were also allowed to hear the sacred Word, but not from inside the Temple or the local synagogues.  The goiim (heathen/Gentiles) were not allowed inside the holy places.  They were assigned an area outside the room where the Jews met to hear the Scriptures read.  The area outside the Temple in Jerusalem where the Gentiles were allowed to gather was called “Solomon’s porch,” an 800 foot long covered area attached to the Temple’s eastern side.

Though many of the people who heard Jesus speak were illiterate, His speech was such that they easily understood Him.  But then there were others who could not understand His words.  These people tended to be those who followed Him out into the countryside.  Thousands of men, women and children were so desperate to be in His presence that they followed Him no matter where their journey took them.  At times they were gone from home for days, sometimes finding themselves too far from a village in where they could buy food.  On two of those occasions He multiplied the little amount of food available so as to satisfy the thousands that had followed him as He and His disciples traveled from place to place.  So why could the multitudes not understand Him?  He spoke in only in Greek-Aramaic, their native tongue.  It was not so much the language itself that caused His disciples to question His choice of words, but the specific words He used.  It was confusing, even to the chosen twelve.

At various times Jesus would speak to His followers using something akin to riddles.  Fifteen times in the New Testament we are told that He spoke in parables to those who had gathered to hear Him (Mat. 13:34).  On one occasion His disciples asked Him why He did this.  His reply to them has, with rare exception, been rejected and replaced in modern times because it says something about Him that does not fit the narrative put forth by those within professing Christendom.  What He actually said proclaims the opposite of what is preached and believed by the majority within the church.  Let us examine the episode, then allow Him to tell us why He used “short, simple tales” to convey a moral lesson.  Be prepared, for the answer will probably shock you as it did me when the Lord revealed His Truth to me.  Like me, I assume that you have been told what the preacher referenced earlier told his congregation, that Jesus used parables to simplify His message.  Let us carefully study a particular episode in which He used parables extensively.  Here we learn why He did so on several occasions.

In Matthew 13 we find that Jesus has left a meeting and has walked to the Sea of Galilee where He is sitting on the shore: “And GREAT MULTITUDES (plural) were gathered around Him.”  They had come to hear Him and see His miracles.  In order to be heard by the massive crowd He got into a boat and sat down.  The crowd stood on the shore facing Him.  “And He spoke MANY THINGS TO THEM IN PARABLES.”  As mentioned earlier, this was not unusual for Him.  The question is, why?  Which is what the disciples wanted to know.  Here is where so many have gotten off God’s Truth track relative to Christ’s ministry, His words, and the purpose for which He came to earth.  Let us read exactly what He said concerning His use of parables beginning in verse 10: “And the disciples came and said to Him, ‘Why do You speak to them in parables?’  He answered and said to them, ‘Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, BUT TO THEM (THE MULTITUDES) IT IS NOT GIVEN.'”  He would not tell His followers how to enter paradise.  THE SON OF GOD, SENT BY HIS FATHER TO OFFER SALVATION TO MANKIND, DELIBERATELY SPOKE IN RIDDLES SO THAT THOSE WHOM HE CAME TO SAVE COULD NOT UNDERSTAND HOW TO BE SAVED!

These people had followed Him for days, watching Him and listening to Him speak.  Some had eaten all of the food they had brought so that He had to feed them before they collapsed.  Entire families, including children, had at times been part of His entourage (Mat. 14:21).  Surely such yearning and dedication was not lost on Him.  Surely He understood how desperately they wanted to know God’s Truth so that they could obey it and thereby gain eternal life.  So why did He not want them to know how to attain it?  He tells us: “… I speak to them in parables because they see (His works) but do not see (embrace them), and hear (His Words), but do not hear (embrace them), nor do they understand (have faith in His words).  For this people’s heart has been turned away from Me.  They have stopped up their ears and closed their eyes.  Otherwise, they would see and hear what I have done and said, believe with their hearts and be converted so that I could heal them spiritually” (Mat. 13:11-15).  Note in verse 15 that “they” have closed their own eyes and ears to His message.  How is this possible?  How could these people have such a dismissive attitude toward the One they had followed, on Whose words they so desperately clung?  In verses 18-23 Jesus explains this strange situation.  When people hear God’s Truth and are not totally committed to obeying Him, Satan takes His Words out of their hearts (minds), then offers them a more self-serving, flesh-gratifying way to serve Him.  Spiritually weakened, the are easy pickings for the Lord’s enemy who lures them to himself while convincing them that they are in fact following God, only in an easier, more convenient way than the one He prescribes.  But Satan still has more to offer.  He convinces his converts that the God they believe they are serving does not require them to obey His Words.  Jesus, they are told, has taken care of everything.  The fix is in; the die is cast; He’s got this.  As one woman said on t.v., “We are in His hands.”

But the devil’s ruse involves more than words.  Jesus told the multitude (and us) another parable in which He warned that Satan would place his people (tares) among true God-seeking saints in order to help his false prophets lead the people away from the Lord they “know” they are serving.  Over the centuries the number of false Christians have come to greatly outnumber God’s true saints, just as Jesus warned in Matthew 7:13,14.  In verses 24-43 Jesus tells us what will happen to Satan’s deceived parishioners when He returns to judge man according to his “deeds” (works–obedience)–not his faith (Rom. 2:6).  Though faith is necessary for salvation, without works (of obedience) one’s faith is dead (Jam. 2:14,17,18,20,24,26).  We live by our faith.  Dead faith makes its owner equally dead.  There will be no spiritually dead people in God’s kingdom.

God knew the hearts of those who followed His Son (Acts 1:24).  He knew that they did so for what they could get from Him–healing, deliverance, etc.  He, and Jesus, knew that these false followers were not interested in obeying Him, that having received what they wanted, they would abandon Him.  Nothing has changed.  Like the thousands who followed Jesus in order to be healed of their diseases and delivered of their devils, the billions that follow Him today do so in order to be saved.  Like their ancient counterparts, these “tares” have no intention of obeying Him.  To get around having to do so they have twisted His Words to come up with “Bible truths” that allow them to do as they please, supposedly with impunity.  In Matthew 13:40-42 Jesus describes the future of all tares (false wheat).  Note the difference between them and God’s true wheat in verse 42.

All that glitters is not gold.  All who claim to be wheat are not wheat.  As Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:13,14, most of those who claim wheat status are in fact tares.  How can we know which is which?  “You shall know them by their fruit”–obedience to God’s Word.  L.J.