Bible Study: Parables

 
 

Parables - part 1

Short sayings or stories with a double meaning

Many different types

  1. a true parable is a story with a beginning and an end with maybe a plot, ex. the lost sheep

    • the story within the parable calls forth a response on the part of the hearer, in a sense the parable itself is the message

    • the story is told to address and capture the hearers, to bring them up short about their own actions or to cause them to respond in some way to Jesus and his ministry

  2. a similitude parable is an illustration Jesus took from everyday life to make a point, ex. the mustard seed

  3. there continues to be a discussion among theologians as to where & if some parables are allegories where it appears that something represents something else

Keys to understanding:

  1. determine who is Jesus’ audience

  2. remember that Jesus wasn’t try to hide anything instead he fully intended to be understood

  3. read the parable with the focus of trying to hear what his audience heard

  4. the points of reference in a parable are those that draw the hearer into the story

  5. the point of the story is found in the intended response of the listener

3 things to remember:

  1. read the parable several times

  2. identify the points of reference intended by Jesus that would have been picked up by his original audience

  3. try to determine how the original hearers would have identified with the story and would have been impacted what they “heard”

 How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, Fee & Stuart, 149-155

 

Parables - part 2

Reminders…

  1. what is written “is not an eyewitness account of Jesus’ life but a form of biography”

  2. “seeks to shape the identity of communities of Jesus’ followers & to guide their way of life”

  3. “The Gospel is a counter-narrative that helps its audience to live a counter-cultural, alternative existence within Rome’s rule”

 The New Interpreter’s Study Bible - NRSV w/ the Apocrypha, 1745 &1746

Thoughts when reading scripture…

  1. the meaning one takes from a passage depends upon the reader’s perspective

  2. when we encounter scripture we are to discern what is there present for everyone to “see” and what is present for “myself”

  3. within the scripture there is always, “the World Behind the Text” (the world within the writer lived), “the World Within the Text” (heard within the words themselves), and “World in Front of the Text” (the Bible as a mirror)

Engaging the Word: The New Testament and the Christian Believer, Soles, Chapter 2: Different Ways of Reading, 13-34