THE BIBLICAL USE OF PARABLES

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In Mediterranean countries to this day, when someone wants to convey some information or make a point, they will often tell a story. This indirect approach may be for reasons of safety and security so that the teller of the story can always say that he never said such and such a thing. Generally, those intended to know the meaning of the tale will fasten onto what is being said and to whom it is directed. For those not party to the purpose, it may just seem to be a story and nothing more. Sometimes these stories are like a riddle and the hearers will be left to puzzle out the meaning, or they will miss the whole point and need to have everything explained to them clearly.

In the Old Testament the prophets used stories and parables; sometimes they even acted them out. King David had committed both adultery and murder. To bring him to the point of repentance the prophet Nathan instead of accusing David directly, told him a story. The story involved a poor man who nurtured and brought up a little ewe lamb as though it were his child, so attached to it was he. Being a ewe it would have produced further lambs and so represented the man’s future income. Then a rich man appeared on the scene and snatches away the poor man’s lamb to feed a passing traveller, no point in letting a guest visit at his expense. At this David’s anger reached boiling point against the rich man so that he cried out with an oath:

“As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” (2 Samuel 12:5-6)

The whole point eluded David at first so that Nathan had to explain: “Thou art the man.” (v.7) What an impact that had! It was far more telling than had Nathan simply accused him directly because David realized his own indignation had been directed against himself. What could he do but repent and say to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord”?

In the New Testament we find the Lord Jesus frequently using parables. Telling a story in an indirect way gave our Lord some protection against those to whom He was referring. Unlike David, the chief priests and Pharisees quickly recognised that His parables were directed against them and this frequently infuriated them.

“And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.” (Matthew 21:45-46)

In Matthew 13, Jesus explains His use of parables. The Lord Jesus begins with the parable of the sower and what happened to the seed he spread on the ground. He concludes by saying:

“Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” (v.9) The disciples were puzzled as to why the Lord used parables (v.10). He explained why it was:

“Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.  …  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.” (vv. 11 & 13)

In other words, whilst in some instances the parable may bring the message over with some added force on other occasions its purpose is to hide the message from those for whom it is not intended.

The occasion of the three parables in Luke 15: The Lost Sheep; The Lost Coin; The Lost (Prodigal) Son.

Of all the parables in the New Testament, these three must rank among the most loved and well-known. In Luke 15 the Pharisees and scribes murmured against the Lord saying: “This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” (v.2).

They had witnessed the Lord doing this on numerous occasions, as when Levi, or Matthew, made for the Lord “… a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them” (Luke 5:29).

Jesus responded on this occasion with three parables. Not only did He thus expose their hypocrisy, but He reiterated the purpose of His coming: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32).

We see that in Luke chapter fourteen, Jesus had actually been a guest eating in the house of one the chief Pharisees and had just left. This led to the incident recorded in the first two verses of chapter fifteen. Interesting that on leaving the house He spoke to the awaiting crowds and said: “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (14:35). There followed the three parables. Yet the Pharisees and scribes in the crowd hardly seemed to have been listening to what Jesus had said and so He needed to speak more clearly. They were far more interested in Jesus’ attitude to the ‘sinners’, the unclean, the unrighteous in their eyes. The parables were essentially addressed to His critics, but clearly also to the others there. The Lord Jesus was making clear why He was not polluted by contact with sinners. In fact, it was they whom He had come to save.

The accusation of our Saviour’s enemies was:

“Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” (Luke 15:1-2)

These words were uttered certainly not in admiration, but in scorn. How could a teacher such as He claimed to be socialize with the common people who were unclean and wicked? That which was a reproach on the lips of the scribes and Pharisees was a perfect description of what He had come to do. What they said was literally true: He receives sinners. He receives them to Himself the pardon them, cleanse them and reconcile them to God. This is the very reason He came to earth, to save sinners. Those that are righteous, or deem themselves so, have no need of a Saviour, but sinners do. He was and remains Jesus, forever the sinners’ friend.

The response of the Lord Jesus to His accusers in both the parable of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin was: “What man of you …doth not … go after that which is lost, until he find it?” (v.4) and “Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not … seek diligently till she find it?” (v.8). In other words, in losing something of value, there is no normal person who would not drop everything and search until that which was lost is found. No exertion is too much, no hardship too difficult to overcome, no sacrifice too great in the search. So, it is for the Lord Jesus in seeking lost sinners.

“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8)

In the parable of the Lost Son, whilst there is no search, what father would not rest until the prodigal returns home? No, he would continually be on the lookout for his son making his way home. This being so, why then do you accuse me because I have some to seek and save lost sinners?

These three parables all illustrate one thing: Christ’s overwhelming desire to save sinners. We see His love acting and working. The shepherd did not hang about moaning to his friends that a sheep was missing, nor did the woman sit about complaining about the lost coin. Our Lord did not stay in heaven full of pity for sinners on earth. He left the glory He had with the Father, humbled Himself and was made in the likeness of man and came down to seek and to save that which was lost. He rested only when He had made full atonement for our transgressions, opening the door of salvation to all who will enter.

Christ’s love is one of self-denial. The shepherd brought the sheep he had lost home on his shoulders and the woman who lost the coin spared not herself until she had found the coin. Our Saviour did not spare Himself, but “he endured the cross, despising the shame” and “laid down his life for his friends” (John 15:13; Hebrews 12:2). His is an incomparable love, deep and mighty. It is our Lord’s great pleasure to save them that are lost. He gives us great encouragement to repent and come to Him: “joy shall be in heaven, over one sinner that repenteth.” (verse 7). Whatever wickedness we may have done, in the day that person repents and turns from his sin and comes to God through Christ, God is pleased and turns nonesuch away. While men may mock the man who repents, at the same moment the angels and all heaven rejoice. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9).

The common theme of the three parables

None the least because of the theme that unites all three: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32).

“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

These three parables in Luke 15 are alike, but each presenting the same idea from three different perspectives. All three emphasize that the Lord has come to do the work of His Father. It was the great longing of the Father to welcome home those who are lost.

The first parable is of a sheep that wanders away from the flock and of the shepherd who goes searching and brings the lost sheep home on his shoulders rejoicing. The emphasis here is on that which was lost. The second parable concerns a coin, a drachma that had gone missing. The lady owner is distressed and proceeds to look for it. The emphasis here is on the search for the missing coin. The third parable, so well known, is about a son who takes his inheritance and forsakes the father’s home to seek a good time not in the next village but in a far country. This scenario will strike a chord in many a father’s heart. After being forced into beggary, realizing his father’s hired hands were better off than he, the prodigal makes his way home and is received joyfully by his father who has long awaited his return. No welcome was forthcoming from his brother who was resentful at the reception given to him by his father. In this parable it is the restoration of the son that is uppermost.

David W. Norris

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