More of parables and why I like them:
The late great writer, chef and clergyman Robert Capon breaks down the parables of Jesus pretty well. And puts them in the rabbinic tradition of the second temple period. Helpful that. Parables were a commonly used method of pedagogue or way of teaching.
One key is parables are not allegories. And allegory has a one to one external referent. The horse is Rome etc. A parable has multiple meanings intentionally, and conceals to reveal, more like real art.
One can look at a Rothko and have multiple interpretations of his enormous abstract color fields. They are more like parables than allegory. Unless you interpret the whole painting as a painting of the human soul.
Rabbis in Jesus time often used parables as a way to illuminate Torah. Jesus used them uniquely to illuminate or shed light on “The Kingdom” of His Father.
My own life is more like a parable than an allegory. It suggest multiple meanings to different people. Of course there is a central nexus—Love, authenticity and identity (celebrating our names!); but my life is a way rather than a doctrine.
My actual name Derek, means path or way. A way is more like a parable than an allegory.
Perhaps the book of Revelation which is in the apocalyptic literature tradition is more an allegory than parable, but it was written to fool the Romans and open the eyes of the Christians. Like a map which read from one side makes no sense, but for the insiders, revealed true history.
Jesus used parables, as He said, so that some would not understand, while others would. Interesting method of inviting people into His Father’s World.
I like art, koans, riddles and haiku because the form requires one to engage with what it is pointing towards to know it. It is an invitation to encounter the Reality behind the form. It is like a portal or door one must walk through to know what’s in the room. Fairy tales work this way, as do parables.
To the degree we enter into the reality of a great painting, we will know where the artist was painting from—what metaphysical space.
Paul Tillich, the late theologian and art critic, wrote that a symbol participates in the Reality to which it points; whereas a sign merely represents an idea. Parables are more like symbols in this nomenclature.
Perhaps all religious symbols and ritual work like this. They are invitations to enter into the spiritual reality that they participate in. I do think Jesus used the parables like this.
The late great Jewish mystic and philosopher Martin Buber spoke of encountering the “thou” of the other; and as we engage the thou in others, nature and even God, we come to know our own “I” or self. He applied this to viewing art.
Beauty is in the “I” of the beholder—to the degree we deeply engage with a work of art, we will know it.
It is the same with reading the parables. We ask, what is He inviting us to more fully encounter? What part of The Father’s kingdom is this parable a door into.
In the Talmud compiled a few hundred years after Christ, we are told that the Rabbi’s use parables to reveal deeper meanings of the Torah. Jesus takes that method, and reveals God Himself. The medium is the same as other Rabbis, but the content is to reveal not just scripture, but The God that Torah is pointing towards! That’s a radical use of the old form of parable.
Para—along side-so a parable is putting things alongside one another. In Jesus case, things from everyday life (seeds, sheep, coins, fish etc) with His Father’s spiritual Reality. This Kingdom is like…..something you already know, but even more so, Jesus implies.
When I was young, I always like the parables, but didn’t know why. They felt like haiku poetry to me, or riddles which required you to jump in their box to understand. They always seemed so direct to me, almost impartational! Like the spiritual realm or plane, Jesus spoke of, came into the room through parables. You just “knew” what He was referring to. Oh yes, the Kingdom is like that.
Language is often inefficient when it comes to spiritual matters. But parables come close to the right medium to match and invite us into The Message.
Much as the Psalms use metaphors and symbols to express, and require the reader to enter into the poetry in order to know, so too do parables. Much of the prophetic writings do the same—speak in symbols and poetry as a way to offer a more direct and nuanced sense of what God was trying to get across.
To those given ears to hear, parables are of the clearest forms of Jesus’ teachings. They do require the imagination to engage in order to understand, but once you jump in the water is Great! Parables require us to leap fully!