Truths from the Savior’s Parables in Matthew 13
Joseph Smith’s Study:
In February 1836, Joseph Smith wrote, “My soul delights in reading the word of the Lord in the original.” That meant that he needed to study Hebrew extensively and he did so: nearly every day, often for many hours a day.
And his hard work paid off. He would write in his journal such passages as, “The Lord blessed us in our studies. This day we commenced reading in our Hebrew Bibles with much success. It seems as if the Lord opens our minds in a marvelous manner, to understand His word in the original language.”
Others noted his proficiency as well. QUOTE: Wandle Mace recalled: “I have listened to the Prophet Joseph Smith in public and in private, in sunshine and in shower, as many others have done as he taught them from the stand. And in my own, and in his house, I have been familiar with him … and do know that no man could explain the scriptures, throw them wide open to view so plainly that none could misunderstand their meaning, except he had been taught of God.
“I have sometimes felt ashamed of myself because, having studied the scriptures so much, even from a child, I had not seen that which was so plain when he touched them. He, as it were, turned the key, and the door of knowledge sprang wide open, disclosing precious principles, both new and old.”6
We Are Not As Well-Versed As He Was:
Probably that information on the Prophet didn’t come as too big a surprise. It is also nothing revealing to admit that we are not the scriptorians that Joseph was. Can anyone here speak or read Hebrew? Secondly, with the topic of this lesson being “parables,” being familiar with Hebrew culture and storytelling and then how Christ introduced Parables into that framework is valuable information to have. I needed to do some digging to understand more before I could get down to the analyzing of “The Parable of the Sower,” “The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares,” and “The Parable of the Mustard Seed.”
Background:
The scriptures tell us in Matthew chapter 13 that when the multitudes gathered at the seashore Jesus "spake many things unto them in parables." That is definitely true! There are recorded in the New Testament alone over 50 parables, although some people consider items like "candle under a bushel" just a comparison and not a full story. I wanted to understand better what parables are, why Jesus taught using them, and how we might better understand them.
What is a parable?
*A symbolic story that teaches gospel truths by comparing them to earthly things.
*The word is Greek in origin, meaning: "To throw or place alongside or near--a comparison." Divine truth is presented by comparison with material or temporal things.
*"Almost all teaching consists in comparing the unknown with the known, the strange with the familiar" (Dean Inge: Professor of Divinity at Cambridge best known now for his pithy quotes). You can hardly explain anything at all except by saying it is like something else, something more familiar.
*But parables are more than just this is like this. "Parables seldom clarify a truth; rather, they obscure and hide the doctrine involved so that none but those already enlightened and informed, on the very point presented, are able to grasp the full meaning" (McConkie, DNTC 1:283-84).
Why?
If parables are actually more confusing to most people, why would Jesus choose to teach with them? What was Christ's purpose in teaching with parables?
*Safety. To simultaneously teach his message to His disciples while concealing it from non-believers.
CONTEXT: We're to Jesus's halfway mark in his three year ministry. Up until this point He has preached mostly in His homeland of Galilee. Though His opposition grew rather slowly, by this point it is quite strong. It is at this time that Jesus begins teaching in parables.
AVOID VENGEANCE: In just the previous chapter, Matt. 12:14, it says there was a council held against Jesus on how the Jews in power might destroy Him. Safety was an issue. Many other things may have been accomplished through the use of parables but one definite plus was that it disguised His teachings. As Christ Himself said, "it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given" (13:11).
NEW: It appears the disciples were surprised when Jesus began teaching in parables. Matthew 13 is the first recorded instance he taught with them. Before that time he taught openly and with plainness, such as in the Sermon on the Mount: “If you do this, you will get this.” No mysteries.
*To show mercy towards those not ready to hear. Otherwise they could come under condemnation.
QUOTE Elder Talmage: "Had He always taught in explicit declaration, such as required no interpretation, many among His hearers would have come under condemnation, inasmuch as they were too weak in faith and unprepared in heart to break the bonds of traditionalism and the prejudice engendered by sin, so as to accept and obey the saving word. Their inability to comprehend the requirements of the gospel would in righteous measure give Mercy some claim upon them, while had they rejected the truth with full understanding, stern Justice would surely demand their condemnation" (JTC 296-97).
I think of this as what it would be like if we all had full knowledge of the Holy Ghost. It is merciful of God that he doesn't give us all this opportunity until we are ready.
*To make us work for it. Parables invite participation. Whenever we're engaged we're likely paying attention.
*Renewable. To teach different things on different levels. Each time you read it you might get a new perspective whereas if He spelled things out more concretely, things would be more limited.
*Variable. We might identify with the prodigal son in one point in our life, with the older brother at another point, and with the father at another.
*Generous. No one interpretation is correct.
QUOTE: Parables are "moral storytelling: appealing to our freedom to make and know the tale with the teller and to lend our feeling to the agents it imagines, generous to all points of view that have any claim on the teller's attention, giving all their due, declining to assert the finality of an authorial interpretation." (Bruce Jorgensen, Sunstone Nov 1997, 25).
*Beautiful and poetic. They entertain us while teaching.
*Stories are memorable.
*They appeal to the intelligence through the imagination.
*More receptive. We are more open to seeing our own weaknesses by viewing others who display the same weaknesses. The distance makes change possible. We aren't so defensive. Maybe thru reading the parable of the Good Samaritan we can see how we aren't being as neighborly as we should whereas if someone called us on the carpet for it we might not be as receptive.
*Relatable. People could relate to them more because the stories revolved around their day to day tasks such as sowing, planting, harvesting, fishing, mixing bread. Not only that but the people would be reminded of the stories when they again engaged in these activities.
*Spurs. Parables are not crutches. They don't spoonfeed the weak. They are spurs and challenges to those who want to learn more.
How Can We Understand Parables Better:
Become Familiar with the Pattern:
Though there is certainly variation, there are classical sequences which parables often follow.
1. The problem requiring the parable. Maybe someone has asked a question and that question is repeated.
2. The introduction of the parable, often with redundant emphasis "Unto what is the matter like? It is like . . ."
3. The parable.
4. The application "Thus . . ." Sometimes the moral of the story is actually pointed out.
5. Biblical quotation "As it is written . . ." by the prophet Isaias or whomever
6. There are also common characteristics: repetition, the build up, the single perspective (we don't know how the father felt about the prodigal son=s departure), contrasts (wisdom/folly, riches/poverty), rule of three (never more. Three sons, three servants, three attempts), end stress (spotlight falls on the last in a series: youngest son, final adventure), temporal rather than the religious in surface content, improbable traits (Samaritan is good guy), figures are anonymous (this way we can apply them to ourselves, it doesn=t lead us to believe these events really happened), however, the events are possible (no talking animals or fanciful happenings).
It's helpful to know the pattern and to recognize the pattern. Jesus doesn't always say, "Here comes a parable" but he does usually use this pattern. This style, at least, was familiar to the Jews. It was like starting a story "Once upon a time . . ." But in the traditional Jewish wisdom teachings, the listener would be told what to think about a situation. The moral would have been explicitly spelled out for them. With parables we are not told what to think.
Participation:
Parables demand our participation. We have to involve ourselves in deciding why something happens and what that means to us. That leaning towards participation is evident in the fact that 22 parables, nearly half, begin with a question like, "Who among you?" "What do you think?" or "How?" Several other parables end with a question. But even when a question isn=t asked, it is always implied. As one scholar put it, "Parables leave the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application to tease it into active thought." In that way, parables are comparable to the Law of Christ as opposed to the Law of Moses. There is no coasting, no sitting in the back row and letting someone else figure out the answers for you.
So the format of parables was not shocking, just the content. In fact, that probably made the content all the more unsettling because Christ was following all the other rules.
Upset Our Expectations:
And the content was shocking. Some of the stories just don't make sense. They're completely illogical.
*What employer would pay the employees of the 11th hour the same wages as those hired first?
*At what village wedding would someone slam the door on the young maidens who don't consider the future, who are as carefree as the lilies of the field?
*What landlord who saw servant after servant beaten nearly to death, would then send his son to reckon with the wicked husbandman?
*What seed yields a hundredfold?
*What father is so dim-witted as to give the full inheritance to his frivolous son earlyCjust because the son asks for it? Isn't that just plain irresponsible?
*And should a wayward son really be treated like a returned missionary?
*When are outcasts, bums really, the guests at fancy feasts?
*Since when is the lowest of the low--the kind most people wouldn't even help if he were in trouble--since when is he the hero of a story?
*Who would actually sell every single thing they owned just to buy a single pearl?
These parables do not go along as we would expect. They don't make natural sense on the surface. Because they don't, it makes them all the more satisfying when we get at their deeper meaning.
Told Not to Comfort But to Change:
Parables are not stories told to comfort us, they are told to change us. They're often uncomfortable. They make us think differently. They tilt our souls. They weren't "business as usual" for the Jews--and they aren't for us. They are revolutionary.
The problem is, we think we're so certain of what the parables mean that we often don't let their messages sink into us. We're so familiar with them that we might actually get bored. It's hard to imagine how unsettling they were when they were first told, when they were hot out of the oven.
Parable of the Sower:
Now let’s finally get down to action.
Let's look at at least one parable closely.
READ Matt. 13:3-8
What's your first honest reaction upon hearing this parable? Not how you’re supposed to interpret it but how you feel right now. How do you think people might have reacted initially--without being told what to think?
*Confusion
*Frustration
*Some might understand it but not think it applies to them.
Though this is called the parable of the sower, do we really learn much about the sower? What could it better be named? Elder Talmage suggests, "The four types of soil."
Let's break things down and take a look. Since Matthew gives us one interpretation right in the same verse, let's start with that. What might the seeds represent?
Seeds=word of God
Wayside=people who hear the word but don't understand it.
Are there things that we do which prevent us from understanding God's word?
Is ignorance any excuse?
Stony places=people hear and understand but don't let it take root.
*These are the people who Christ describes as luke warm, whom he will spew out.
But isn't this most people?
*What's the advantages to not having deep roots? (Not as much effort, can change sides quickly) The disadvantages? (You don't have much strength when the storms come. Can't withstand much heat.)
The Welwitschia tree in Africa is one of the oldest plants botanists know of.
It grows in extremely harsh desert conditions.
If the plant’s roots head into the sand horizontally–
an easy layer for the roots to get through–
the plant will only live for a handful of years,
until the first real drought comes.
But if the plant sends roots down through the easy layer of sand
and then through a layer of clay, and even through a layer of bedrock
it will reach a water source deep below the desert,
and the Welwitschia can live for up to 2,000 years.
Thorny places=hear the word but are distracted.
*I imagine these people as really wanting to do what's right but just not sticking to it. They keep seeing something better come along.
*What does it mean for a person to be "unfruitful"? (Might look the same most of the time but when it comes time to deliver, where are they? Might be good at taking, not so good at giving.)
*What thorns cause people to be unfruitful? Is it just the same old stuff? Money, sex, TV, careers?
*How do we prevent these thorns from choking out the word of God in us? When is the time to stop a thorn?
Good Ground=people who hear, understand and do.
How is this like the ground where plants and flowers grow? How is it similar to that? (Tilled, watered, nourished, sunned)
There are so many unproductive areas in this field--like 75%. What could be done to help the unproductive areas to produce fruit?
Other Interpretations:
That was a good interpretation. It's cool. It makes sense. We can apply it to our lives. But isn't there anything else? Couldn't the story mean something else entirely?
*Missionary work and the ways people might be receptive towards it.
*One friend of mine compares it to her children's friends. She considers her kids the seeds and the different soils different friends that they hang with. The only way they can survive is by choosing good friends.
*Joseph Smith said that the story "afforded us as clear an understanding upon the important subject of the gathering as anything recorded in the Bible." Isn't that amazing? Did you see that? From what I understand he's saying the ground is like the earth and its readiness for the gathering. At first the seeds are on the wayside, then in stony places, then among thorns. When the time is right, the seeds will take root in good soil and the gathering will take place.
*Joseph Smith said that the parables of Matthew 13 all relate, that the Parable of the Sower is about the planting of the seed of the gospel and the Parable of the Tares is the culminationCthe severing of the wicked from the righteous, as is the Parable of the Net where they are separated out.
But couldn't there be even more interpretations? Couldn=t it apply to us individually at different times during our lives? Anything else?
Parable of the Tares:
What are meanings you derive from this parable?
*Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.
*“The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and gather out of His Kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (41-42).
* the righteous shall shine forth like the sun, in the Kingdom of their Father.
Parable of the Mustard Seed:
*The kingdom of God will spread through the Earth.
*Starts small but grows large.
*BofM came out of the ground.
Our Charge:
Christ tells us to pay attention to His parables. He says that those who do are blessed. He said, "Blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. And blessed are you because these things are come unto you, that you might understand them" (JST Matt. 13:15). In the parables of Jesus we learn of the love, the grace and the mercy of God; of the rule and return of the Son of God; and of the being and destiny of man.
As Bruce R. McConkie has stated, "Parables, planted in the minds of truth seekers, help them remember the issues involved until such time as the full and plain knowledge parts the
parabolic veil and stands revealed for all to see. Parables form a reservoir of knowledge about which even the saints can ponder and inquire as they seek to perfect and expand their limited views of gospel themes" (The Mortal Messiah, 2:239‑240).
Christ promises us that as we study and pray, as we analyze and seek to understand, He will bless us with understanding. I believe this is true and say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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