Jesus was a (strange) storyteller

Photo by Dương Trí

Jesus was a storyteller. The types of stories he told are called parables. Parables are very short, simple stories that convey deep, hidden philosophical truths.

Some people say Jesus taught in stories to make concepts more understandable, but consider what he said:

This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

Jesus, therefore, told these parables so that some would not understand! Yes, you heard me (and him) correctly. His stories can be somewhat confusing, and his own disciples even asked him to explain the stories way back then. He told parables that some wouldn’t understand because they weren’t meant to.

What is he doing then? He’s filtering. He’s trying to find the right people who are ready to receive what he has to say. Those people will try to figure it out and eventually get the joke. The others just won’t.

We are at a double handicap today, though, because the culture of his day was often different from our own. But there are a couple of parables he actually explains that give us a key insight for unlocking many of his other stories.

Those are the parable of the sower and the parable of the wheat and the weeds. In his explanation, he explains that the parables are about the kingdom of God and that God has an enemy.

To get the joke of the parables, you need to understand this idea of kingdom, which is strange to most of us because we don’t live in kingdoms. Even the United Kingdom is not really a true kingdom. There are very few absolute monarchies left.

But kingdoms are the dominions of a king. And God is a king with a kingdom. The world, it turns out, is the dominion of another king, Satan. We are used to the way the world works more than we are used to the way the kingdom of God works, which is why the parables stretch us so much. They are full of paradox and the unexpected.

But you need this foundation to understand the parables in general. God’s ways are not like ours (or Satan’s), so just speaking about his ways plainly isn’t always helpful. Sometimes we need a story to break through our barriers and convey the truths about God and how things work where he is in charge. Sadly, some people just aren’t ready to hear it.

This is why Jesus so often says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

To find the parables, you can read the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke in the New Testament of the Bible. Matthew and Luke, in particular, are rich with parables, especially Luke. Remember that Jesus is telling unseen, profound truths about a king and a kingdom we are not used to because we are in captivity to another king and kingdom. Sadly, many of us like the ways of Satan’s kingdom and therefore the parables go over our heads.

But for those who have ears to hear, let them hear!