Jesus parables and their theological significance

Jesus' Parables

The words of Jesus serve as the message of God, even today outside of their historical context. Jesus used parables to relate the more complex and abstract message of God to the people in simpler, more understandable terms. Thus, in this context, we can understand the various parables not only in their spiritual terms, but also examine them through their roots within the historical context that gave birth to them.

Parables implore the use of everyday knowledge, from the historical period when Jesus was teaching, in order to grasp divine concepts which the transcend the limitations of a historical era. Jesus' use of parables explores a divine lesson by breaking into a simpler, more earthly message that can be understood within the context of daily life.

Thus, Jesus is teaching abstract concepts, fundamental to the traditions of Christianity, by simple and practical examples. These practical examples are tied to the elements of life typical of the day, much different than life in the modern context as we know it today. However, the underlying lessons underneath the simplicity of the parallels still work within life in the modern era. But, as the parables are written in the Bible, they are done so in a historical reference to the typical nature of life during that time period. Using previously understood concepts, Jesus explains deeply spiritual and abstract concepts to the people of that era. Thus, he shows how everything fits into the divine plan, even the death of Jesus (Bovon 11). This plan must then be put forth in laymen's terms in order to most successfully permeate into the minds of every day men. This is what Jesus accomplishes with the telling of the parables. He was using ideas and concepts that Palestinian peasants would have understood (Horsely 95). "our only sources for obtaining reliable historical information of Jesus are the Gospels," (Charlesworth 5).

There is an extreme lack of Jewish and Roman sources, which then also give more weight to using Biblical references as our primary sources of a real historical Jesus (Voorst 131).

"Jesus lived out his own parable, the almost predictable counteraccusation to such open commensality would be immediate," (Crossan 69). Thus, Jesus' words are both representations of the culture which he lived in, as well as more universal conceptions that are allowed to transcend through the generations and prove relevant for people of all time periods.

The first parable to be explored is the Parable of Talent, which discusses the rewarding of faithful service. The Parable of Talent is found in both the gospel of Matthew and Luke. In Luke, there again is a remembering of the fundamental principles of the parable in Matthew, but without a direct telling of the tale over again. This reflects the common practice of the day, where works would in many ways reference to earlier works common in the mind of the people (Horsely 131). In this parable, the master traveling. This was a common practice in the era of the telling of the parable, but is also representational of God not being physically present during the context of the human life. This is meaning is what is allowed to transcend the generations and the historical context of the parable itself. The master then gave three of his servants different sums of money. Talents were a form of currency during the day, thus the framework of the parable is in terms the people of the era would understand. A talent was a large sum of money, and so it is clear that the master was greatly entrusting of his servants, for he gave them several talents; "To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey." (Matthew 25:15). As in any era, the most reliable will receive the largest sum. It is then clear to both people of the day and a modern audience, that the more reliable two servants receive a larger sum. This is clear when one explores what the servants did after receiving the funds. The more reliable servants turned around and did their master justice by putting his money to work; "The one who had received five talents went off right away and put his money to work and gained five more. In the same way, the one who had two gained two more." (Matthew 25:16-17). The servants who gained the master a profit while he was away were then rewarded with more responsibilities based on their showing of the capability to do more work. The other unreliable servant did nothing with his master's gifts, and hid them in the ground; "But the one who had received one talent went out and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money in it," (Matthew 25:18). Thus, the good servants took the gifts of the master and spread them around, creating more wealth. So is the case with the teachings of the Lord; when one increases the spiritual wealth of the Lord, that servant will be greatly rewarded. Faithful service will always be rewarded with more responsibilities and more of a chance to enjoy reaping the benefits of the success of those opportunities. This is also the case in heaven, where more responsibilities will be rewarded to those who show more faithful service while alive on earth. Such servants of God will be rewarded with eternal joy, while those who do not take the responsibility of faithful service seriously, will be cast out of the Kingdom of Heaven "into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth," (Matthew 25:30). Thus, like all parables, this one has a larger significance than simple works with money. In this parable Jesus is asking his followers to work harder and smarter for their God as a way for him to enlighten their lives and provide them with more joy and success. Its underlying message is clear; "For the one who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough. But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him," (Matthew 25:29). Although tied to historical currency, it is a message which can transcend the generations.

The next parable, that of the Unmerciful Servant, is also a testament both to he historical era which created it, as well as something more universal that cannot be constricted to the context of time. It takes historical images of the day, which people of the era would have understood and uses them to relate a more universal spiritual message; "Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants," (Matthew 18:23). God is equated to the image of an earthly king, a figure that most individuals of the time would have understood and been able to relate to, being under the rule of kings. The king is the Lord, our King. The servants then represent the servants of the Lord. When the servant asked for mercy and patience on the king's behalf, "The servant's master took pity on him, canceled his debt and let him go," (Matthew 18:26). The King absolved the servant of his debt, despite the large monetary amount that was owed. This shows a more universal spiritual idea that the Lord will forgive even the greatest of grievances. However, the servant did not pass forward this grace; for when he found someone that owed him he was very unmerciful-throwing him in prison. This was a typical punishment of the day, which in many cases is still executed against that in great debt today, as seen in the case of Tax Evasion charges. The servant did not learn the lesson of humility and forgiveness that was just shown to him by the king in his own case. The amount of money owed to the servant was also incredibly less -- the servant owed more money to the King than he could have made in a lifetime. This shows how people of all eras are forgiven by God despite being in debt for their entire lives to Him. Therefore would have been easier to forgive his fellow servant than the king had forgiven him. As a result, the king's forgiveness of the servant was revoked; "Thus us how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart," (Matthew 18:35). The parable is universal in that it promotes forgiveness of the sins and grievances committed by others against you.