What are parables and why did Jesus use them?

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for July 10, 2011 | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Isa 55:10-11
• Psa 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14
• Rom 8:18-23
• Matt 13:1-23

The Gospel readings for today and the next two Sundays consist of parables of Jesus recorded in Matthew 13. What are parables and why did Jesus use them? Parables are sometimes thought of as short morality tales meant to teach readers about good and evil. There is some truth in this understanding, but there is much more to the parables uttered by Jesus.

The New Testament scholar Joachim Jeremias, in The Parables of Jesus (SCM Press, 1963), stated that "among the special characteristics of the parables of Jesus is the fact that step by step they reflect with peculiar clarity the character of his good news, the eschatological nature of his preaching, the intensity of his summons to repentance, and his conflict with Pharisaism" (p. 11). Put another way, the forty or so parables in Matthew, Mark, and Luke (there are none in the Fourth Gospel) proclaim the Gospel, announce the Kingdom, exhort sinners to repent, and declare war on the self-serving form of Judaism practiced by many of the Pharisees.

The Catechism states, "Through his parables [Jesus] invites people to the feast of the kingdom, but he also asks for a radical choice: to gain the kingdom, one must give everything. Words are not enough, deeds are required" (par 546). By using earthly images, often drawn from agricultural settings, Jesus conveys heavenly realities, but in a way that is indirect or cryptic, drawing listeners into the mystery without blinding them with the pure light contained within.

The seven parables in Matthew 13 are sometimes called the "Sermon of Parables," and the first of these is the parable of the seed and the sower. "He who sows the word of God then went out of his house," Saint Jerome wrote in his commentary on Matthew's Gospel, "that he might sow among the crowds." The words sowed by Jesus were not complex or abstract, but concrete and challenging.

The path is the world, into which we are born and in which we make the choices that set the course for our life after this world. Some of the seeds fall onto the path and are immediately snatched up, never penetrating the soul—that is, the mind and the heart. The evil one who snatches them away, Jesus explained, tirelessly seeks to destroy the souls of men by keeping from them the words of everlasting life. Why are some people seemingly incapable of even considering the Good News? There are many possible reasons, including the difficulty of evil, indifference, riches and power, or simply pride (cf., CCC, 29). 

The rocky ground represents the soul characterized by superficiality. It initially responds with fervor, but cannot endure life's inevitable difficulties and trials. Our faith will be tested, but there are some who flee from the testing. They fail to embrace the words of Saint Paul, heard in today's epistle: "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us." Without deep roots, a plant is easily torn from the soil.

What are the thorns that choke the word of God? Jesus specifically mentions anxiety and riches. When the pursuit of security and wealth becomes the focus of one's life, spiritual death follows. Even everyday concerns can slowly destroy the life of grace within us, pulling us farther and farther away from the source of true security and everlasting riches.

The fourth type of soil is rich, receptive to the seed. Hearing and understanding, the receptive listener enters into the divine life of God, bearing fruit to the degree he is able, by God's grace: "a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold." Each person's gifts, strengths, and situations are different; what is asked of us is death to self so that we may live completely in and for God.

This is the reality of baptism: death to sin and new birth in the Holy Spirit. It is the mystery of the Kingdom, established by Christ and explained in parables.

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the July 13, 2008, issue of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)