Parables

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The word parable is mentioned 3 times in the Old Testament.

Psa 78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old,
Ezek 17:2 "Son of man, propound a riddle and speak a parable to the house of Israel,
Ezek 24:3 "Speak a parable to the rebellious house and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Put on the pot, put it on and also pour water in it;

It is mentioned over 30 times in the New Testament, where it seems only Jesus told parables.

Matt 13:18 "Hear then the parable of the sower.
Matt 13:24 Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
Matt 13:31 He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field;
Matt 13:33 He spoke another parable to them, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened."
Matt 13:34 All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable.
Matt 13:36 Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field."
Matt 15:15 Peter said to Him, "Explain the parable to us."
Matt 21:33 "Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey.
Matt 24:32 "Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near;
Mark 4:13 And He *said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables?
Mark 4:30 And He said, "How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it?
Mark 4:34 and He did not speak to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples.
Mark 7:17 When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable.
Mark 12:12 And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the people, for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so they left Him and went away.
Mark 13:28 "Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.
Luke 5:36 And He was also telling them a parable: "No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.
Luke 6:39 And He also spoke a parable to them: "A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?
Luke 8:4 When a large crowd was coming together, and those from the various cities were journeying to Him, He spoke by way of a parable:
Luke 8:9 His disciples began questioning Him as to what this parable meant.
Luke 8:11 "Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God.
Luke 12:16 And He told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man was very productive.
Luke 12:41 Peter said, "Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?"
Luke 13:6 And He began telling this parable: "A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any.
Luke 14:7 And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them,
Luke 15:3 So He told them this parable, saying,
Luke 18:1 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart,
Luke 18:9 And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:
Luke 19:11 While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.
Luke 20:9 And He began to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to vine-growers, and went on a journey for a long time.
Luke 20:19 The scribes and the chief priests tried to lay hands on Him that very hour, and they feared the people; for they understood that He spoke this parable against them.
Luke 21:29 Then He told them a parable: "Behold the fig tree and all the trees;

Most scholars believe that if Jesus told a story that was not identified as a parable, then it was not a parable. The story of Lazarus and the Rich man is probably the most famous example of this.
It is not identified as a parable in any Bible translation.

The other thing about parables, is that they are always down to earth, and easy to understand. No exaggeration or hyperbole is used in any of Jesus's parables.
Man had a field, a man had a son, a tree was in a field, a net caught some fish, some seeds were planted in a field, etc... perhaps these were fictional stories,
but they were all stories' people could relate to. Everyone knew someone with a field, or a son, or a fishnet, or some wheat seeds. No parable was ever like a sci-fi fantasy or incredibly
un-realistic. No space ships, monsters, giants, zombies or invisible people in any of the parables Jesus told. There was nothing in any parables that people weren't familiar with in everyday life.
There was never anything told in a parable that couldn't happen in everyday life.

Near the beginning of Jesus's public ministry he used parables a lot. Mostly to the public, not so much to His disciples.

Matt 13:34 All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable.
Mark 4:34 and He did not speak to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples.

But this changed near the end of His ministry.

John 16:29; His disciples *said, "Lo, now You are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech.
John 16:30; "Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God."

 

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The reasons people give for the story of Lazarus and the Rich man not being a parable are usually...

1. It isn't identified as a parable in the Bible.
2. It uses someone's name "Lazarus". Where all other parables just said "a man".

Those are good reasons, and I don't dispute them... but I have another reason.

Let us take two parables. I am picking these two specifically because Jesus explained the meaning of them. We don't have to guess what they meant.

Matt 13:1; That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea.
Matt 13:2; And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.
Matt 13:3; And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, "Behold, the sower went out to sow;
Matt 13:4; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.
Matt 13:5; "Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.
Matt 13:6; "But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
Matt 13:7; "Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.
Matt 13:8; "And others fell on the good soil and *yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.
Matt 13:9; "He who has ears, let him hear."

On the surface, nothing special about this parable. I sure most of the farmers ( if not all ) who were hearing this story could say, yeah that's happened to me before.
Some seeds, get ate by the birds, some seeds, fall on rocky places, some seeds get choked out by the weeds, but some seeds fall on good soil.
Just a story about planting seeds... nothing special here.

Then we have another parable in the same chapter.

Matt 13:24; Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
Matt 13:25; "But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away.
Matt 13:26; "But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.
Matt 13:27; "The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?'
Matt 13:28; "And he said to them, 'An enemy has done this!' The slaves *said to him, 'Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?'
Matt 13:29; "But he *said, 'No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.
Matt 13:30; 'Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

Again, on the surface just another story about tares ( weeds ) in a field of wheat. I'm sure many farmers listening to this story could relate. "yeah someone put weeds in my crop last month". No great mystery here.

... ahh... but then we get to the explanation of these two parables. We have to separate the explanation from the parables themselves for a moment here.

Matt 13:18; "Hear then the parable of the sower.
Matt 13:19; "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.
Matt 13:20; "The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
Matt 13:21; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.
Matt 13:22; "And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Matt 13:23; "And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty."

Now the parable in verses 3-9 take on new life. A new spiritual truth has been revealed. It's not just about seeds in a field anymore. Now it's about salvation, receiving the word of God.

Matt 13:36; Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field."
Matt 13:37; And He said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,
Matt 13:38; and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one;
Matt 13:39; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.
Matt 13:40; "So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.
Matt 13:41; "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness,
Matt 13:42; and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matt 13:43; "Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Again the parable in verses 24-30 take on new life, new meaning, it isn't just about wheat and weeds anymore. It's about angels, heaven and hell.
Now we know the spiritual side of the story. In both these parables ( as well as all others ) natural every day events were used to explain supernatural spiritual events.

In the story of Lazarus and the Rich man, the supernatural events are right out in the open. Abraham's bosom and hades right before our eyes. No hidden meaning here about
trees, or fish, or seeds, or even weeds. This is why I do not believe Luke 16:19-31; to be a parable.

 

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