Why A Parable

"Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; He did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: 'I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world'" Matt 17:34-35 (emphasis mine).

Why did God through Jesus' preaching/teaching ministry finally reveal things kept secreted away since creation? Was God the one who had hidden these? What exactly was Jesus talking about?

IMHO I believe Jesus referred to the true nature of God Himself, in His totality. Various individuals encountered Him as He progressively revealed Himself. No one, except Jesus, really had the big picture.

Why not?

I think the problem lies with us.

The fall brought sin into the mix which Paul claims causes us to believe that God is the enemy. Few look, think or speak well of their opposition. Usually we demonize them and make them sub-par to ourselves.

Additionally, we mistakenly create God in our own image - not vice versa. For example Paul quotes a familiar passage. "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord". Rom. 12:19. We quickly assume that God acts like us when we've been wronged. In the Parable of the Prodigal it's no surprise that the father's reaction to his sons' insults went right over the audience's head. They expected angry outbursts directed at both boys because that's what we'd do. Throw a party for a loser or stand outside and console an angry, ungrateful kid...not happening.

As time continued people caught glimpses of God's goodness, but it so violated their traditional notions of Him and cultural beliefs, these were rejected as wishful thinking. They were too good to be true. I'm now experiencing this same thing concerning some of my long-held concepts of God's nature and personality. The problem is my short-sightedness. My comfortable box where I let God reside, is unacceptable to Him. He doesn't intend to remain there. Having asked for a revelation of His true nature I'm finding an ever expanding debris field composed of my shattered pre-conceived ideas scattered about. It's unsettling, but in a good and healthy way.

Some may label me a heretic, and it's true. I'm Happily Encountering Real Experiences Today In Christ! The book worm is learning to love the experiential.

So, why parables? Stories put flesh and bones on abstract ideas. God is love, but what does that really look like? In Jesus' time and still today, stories are an integral part of the learning process, especially for non-readers. Our own culture is saturated with materials for children, even infants with no understanding that squiggly lines on a page are words that mean something. Pictures, however, even without any dialog convey the message.

Jesus was a master storyteller and if one only listened to be entertained (and many did) the deep spiritual message and meaning was lost.

"While Jesus was not a philosopher or theologian (in the accepted sense), his parables alone provided material that neither the philosopher nor the theologian can exhaust. This is the mark of Jesus' supreme genius. We have a curious tendency, even in dealing with Jesus' humanity, to overlook his sheer intellectual stature." C.W.F. Smith, Prophecy, pg. 19.

The country carpenter turned traveling rabbi, sans credentials, was no spiritual midget. Even at the tender age of twelve, one year shy of Bar Mitzvah and manhood, Jesus held his own with the teachers of the Law in the Temple. He knew God.

Employing familiar everyday examples Jesus peeled back the layers that obscured the truth concerning His Father and the Kingdom of God. Those with eyes to see and ears to hear got the message and it made them either friend or foe. Just like today.

How about you? What have you gleaned from the parables concerning God's nature that has left you scratching your head wondering, "Huh?" Which have made you uncomfortable and why?

Keep digging. Perhaps you can still go even deeper and find more rich truth hidden that you've missed before. Ask God for help. He enjoys a good treasure hunt.