No.7 Jesus Talks Through Parables

Text: Mark 4:33 And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it.
 34 But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.

Understanding parables depends on one's ability to hear spiritually

In this scripture, it says "(Jesus spoke) as they were able to hear it."  God says many things in parables. he talks to everybody, but he gives it "as they are able to hear it."

Though, both an adult and a child may read the same newspaper, the child might only read the comic page. However, an adult can read the more complicated articles... Likewise, hearing abilities vary depending on the person..

Though some people read the same Bible, a beginner will understand only the easy parables such as "David as a type of Christ." However, a trained person can understand more complicated parables and see into deeper encryptions. Jesus tells us different matters from the same Bible depending on our hearing ability.

Understand A Parable Correctly

Verse 34 says: "But without a parable spake he not unto them."It is a somewhat surprising comment. If we read this scripture literally, it would mean all the words spoken by Jesus are given in parables. In the Gospels, Jesus really goes into some parables i.e. "The Parable Of The Sower".  But, the Bible gives not only these "parables" but also other speeches of Jesus including the talks exchanged between Jesus and the Pharisees as all parables. If these are all parables, it is important to understand every word of Jesus in their parabolic nature. It is necessary for us to pay attention to His word and to understand the meaning of them.

One Bible commentary explains this verse, "without a parable spake he not unto them" as "an overstatement". But I think his opinion is wrong.

If the Bible had said "Jesus only sometimes uses parables", we would have to understand it that way. But, since the Bible writes "without a parable spake he not unto them," we have to understand it as it is. Our sense of reason may not agree it. But, we should not adjust the Bible to our reason.  Instead, we should adjust our reason to the Bible. Because, when Eve added her idea to God's word about the tree of good and evil, she was deceived by Satan.
 

Leaven Of Human Interpretation

It seems only a tiny matter. But, it is not. When Jesus talks about "the leaven of the Pharisees and the scribes," he warned about this matter. Leaven spreads through out the whole bread. Likewise, the teaching of the Pharisees and scribes spread to all Jewry, God's people. So, in the church today, if christian leaders, who correspond to the former Pharisees and scribes, fail or have human ideas too, then this failure will spread to all of God's people, Christians.

What is the failure of the Pharisees and scribes? They never teach Buddhist literature nor the Islamic Koran. They taught Bible. But, they added many human ideas and traditions to it. For example, they made it the law "to wash one's hands before eating." These traditions seem harmless and biblical, but they make God's word in vain and undermine it in the end.

If we add human interpretation upon the verse"without a parable spake he not unto them," it will not help God, instead it makes His word in vain.

So, we should not understand and interpret God's word in any human way. Because one character of God's word is this: "Sometimes, important truth is hidden behind the scriptures, contrary to reason or seems to be a miswriting." For example, the prophecy "a virgin shall bare a man child" is written in the old testament. This may seem contrary to the reason of old testament people. However, this word was literally fulfilled later with Mary and Christ Jesus. If an interpreter of the old testament put a human interpretation upon this text,he or she would give a faulty interpretation.

Let's understand parables correctly and proceed on in the Lord's work.

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