“With many such parables
he spoke the word to them.”
So, what exactly is a parable?
Well, it is kind of hard to say.
We typically think of a parable as a story
that is supposed to teach us something.
And certainly some of the most famous
parables of Jesus are stories,
like the good Samaritan or the prodigal son.
In the Gospels, however, some things
that get called parables
are not really stories at all,
but more like proverbial sayings:
“if one blind person guides another,
both will fall into a pit.”
And sometimes, as in today’s Gospel
a parable is a simple comparisons:
the kingdom of God is like
how a tiny mustard seed
grows into a large plant.
he spoke the word to them.”
So, what exactly is a parable?
Well, it is kind of hard to say.
We typically think of a parable as a story
that is supposed to teach us something.
And certainly some of the most famous
parables of Jesus are stories,
like the good Samaritan or the prodigal son.
In the Gospels, however, some things
that get called parables
are not really stories at all,
but more like proverbial sayings:
“if one blind person guides another,
both will fall into a pit.”
And sometimes, as in today’s Gospel
a parable is a simple comparisons:
the kingdom of God is like
how a tiny mustard seed
grows into a large plant.
Moreover, what exactly it is
that the parables are supposed to teach us
is not always clear.
In the Gospels,
one thing all the parables seem to share
is that they confuse their hearers.
This is true even of the parables that seem
to convey clear moral lessons.
We might think that
the parable of the good Samaritan
is telling us to come to the aid
of those who are in need,
but to Jesus’ Jewish audience
the very idea of a good Samaritan
would have been baffling
and even scandalous,
like a story about a good terrorist.
And a seemingly clear bit of advice—
don’t let blind people
lead other blind people around—
prompts his followers to say,
“Explain this parable to us,”
perhaps because they were wondering
who it was that were supposed to be blind leaders.
And even today’s parables about growing seeds
seem to cause some sort of confusion,
since Jesus has to explain them later
to his disciples in private.
that the parables are supposed to teach us
is not always clear.
In the Gospels,
one thing all the parables seem to share
is that they confuse their hearers.
This is true even of the parables that seem
to convey clear moral lessons.
We might think that
the parable of the good Samaritan
is telling us to come to the aid
of those who are in need,
but to Jesus’ Jewish audience
the very idea of a good Samaritan
would have been baffling
and even scandalous,
like a story about a good terrorist.
And a seemingly clear bit of advice—
don’t let blind people
lead other blind people around—
prompts his followers to say,
“Explain this parable to us,”
perhaps because they were wondering
who it was that were supposed to be blind leaders.
And even today’s parables about growing seeds
seem to cause some sort of confusion,
since Jesus has to explain them later
to his disciples in private.
One commentator I read stated,
“Each parable… contains one main point
that is its basic message.”
But this is clearly wrong.
Parables seem to invite
multiple interpretations,
even conflicting interpretations.
Rather than delivery devices
for a basic message,
the parables of Jesus serve
as instruments of perplexity,
mean of making us ponder,
ways of revealing to us
just how little we understand
about God and the ways of his kingdom.
They are less likely to make us say,
“Oh, now I get it”
than to prompt us to ask,
“Do I really understand
what is going on at all?”
Today’s Gospel reading
explicitly calls our attention
to the limits of our understanding:
the farmer doesn’t know
what hidden process
leads the tiny seed under the earth
to sprout and grow into such a large plant.
It prompts us to ask:
if the power of a seed to grow
is hidden from us,
how much more hidden
is the power of God’s kingdom?
If we are startled by the contrast
between the smallness of the seed
that we put in the earth
and the greatness the plant that grows from it,
a plant in which
the birds of the sky can find a home,
how much more startling is the contrast
between the dead body of Jesus,
planted in the tomb,
and the immensity of the kingdom
that springs forth from it in his resurrection,
a kingdom of people drawn
from every land and nation,
every culture and way of life?
The mind cannot comprehend such mysteries.
Those who await the fulness of God’s reign
must learn how to live
with perplexity and mystery,
must learn, as Paul put it,
to “walk by faith and not by sight,”
to trust in Jesus to lead them
through the darkness of unknowing
into the light of the Kingdom.
Parables show us just how much
we do not know,
how constricted our imaginations are,
how much we must walk
by faith and hope and love
and not by sight,
how much we must rely on Jesus
to guide us through the darkness.
Speaking for myself,
I find that the more I ponder
God’s ways in the world
the more perplexed my mind becomes,
the more I realize how much
I don’t know about by own life,
where it comes from and where it is going.
Our lives are a parable
that God is telling,
and as with the parables in the Gospels,
we at best half-understand them.
In our lives we are often perplexed
as to what God’s point is,
what God is up to,
where God is leading us.
Why is there so much hatred
and violence in the world?
How in the midst of violence and hatred
are people still capable of great acts of love?
Why have I lost someone I love to death?
What have I ever done to deserve
such faithful friends and family?
Why have my hopes and dreams
not come to pass?
where it comes from and where it is going.
Our lives are a parable
that God is telling,
and as with the parables in the Gospels,
we at best half-understand them.
In our lives we are often perplexed
as to what God’s point is,
what God is up to,
where God is leading us.
Why is there so much hatred
and violence in the world?
How in the midst of violence and hatred
are people still capable of great acts of love?
Why have I lost someone I love to death?
What have I ever done to deserve
such faithful friends and family?
Why have my hopes and dreams
not come to pass?
The Gospel today tells us,
“to his own disciples
he explained everything in private.”
Perhaps in this life
we will never find answers
to the questions that perplex us.
But in the midst of perplexity and unknowing
Jesus speaks to those who follow him
in the secret recesses of their hearts,
and if we turn to him in prayer
we will receive,
if not always an explanation,
at least a word of consolation,
a word of encouragement,
a word that can strengthen us
to continue to follow him on the way.
For he is the way,
and our life is a seed we have been given,
a seed we have been asked to plant in faith,
a seed that must die with Christ
and be buried with him,
so that something that is
beyond our power to imagine
can grow from it.
We walk by faith and not by sight,
but we walk with Jesus,
and he will lead us.
So let us pray that God,
who is merciful,
would have mercy on us all.
