εὐαγγελίζω (euaggelizo)
"to announce the Good News of victory in battle"
"to announce the Good News of victory in battle"
"With many such parables He spoke the word
to them as they were able to understand it.
Without parables He did not speak to them,
but to His own disciples He explained everything in private.”
to them as they were able to understand it.
Without parables He did not speak to them,
but to His own disciples He explained everything in private.”
θεωρέω (theoreo)
("to perceive, discover, ponder a deeper meaning")
("to perceive, discover, ponder a deeper meaning")
The Gospel proclamation this Sunday opens with a person scattering seed, an action that people of Jesus’ day would know well. Even in the contemporary era, the action evokes a clear image of one working in a backyard garden or thousand acre farm. The sowing of seed, into soil prepared and continuously irrigated, initiates a miracle of hidden growth. The anticipation of the furture harvest motivates the farmer to provide proper care while exercising abundant patience as growth unfolds. Such is the initial appeal and popularity of Jesus’ parables as He employs actions familiar to Himself and the people of the crowd.
As popular as parables are, describing them is a bit more challenging. Many define a parable as ‘just a story to teach a lesson or impart a moral teaching.’ Parables do present a lesson and often the lesson is couched in a story that aims to engage the heart. The difficulty is that in present culture, story is often viewed skeptically, something that is ‘made-up’ and therefore not real. The phrase ‘just a story’ becomes, at times, a way to dismiss the urgent challenge of parables which have, at their core, graciously receiving and intentionally living the Kingdom of God.
As popular as parables are, describing them is a bit more challenging. Many define a parable as ‘just a story to teach a lesson or impart a moral teaching.’ Parables do present a lesson and often the lesson is couched in a story that aims to engage the heart. The difficulty is that in present culture, story is often viewed skeptically, something that is ‘made-up’ and therefore not real. The phrase ‘just a story’ becomes, at times, a way to dismiss the urgent challenge of parables which have, at their core, graciously receiving and intentionally living the Kingdom of God.
Those who have studied the parables may be familiar with scholars such as Dodd, Jeremias and Beech to name only a few. In the world of Dodd, parables have been described more or less as ‘similes or metaphors drawn from day-to-day living that arrest the listener by their vividness or strangeness thus teasing the mind and heart into active reflection concerning parable’s insight to living the Kingdom of God.’ While not a direct quote from Dodd, the elements of metaphor, strangeness and teasing that Dodd cites are operative in all the parables, albeit in varying degrees. Dodd and company have opened the horizons of our minds and hearts to experience the richness of living the Kingdom of God as presented in the parables.
The word parable is part of the bolein family of verbs in Scripture and theology. Bolein is the Greek verb that means “to throw.” It forms the basis for a number of important words in theology such as symbol, diabolic and parable. Depending on the nouns referenced, the Greek prefix para can mean “with” or “besides.” Para coupled with the Greek verb bolein yields an awkward literal English rendering “throw with” or “throw besides.” So how does this shed light on Gospel parables? Professor C. Clifton Black authored an article a number of years ago in the biblical journal, Interpretation and noted another literal meaning of parable from the Greek, “thrown alongside.” He goes on to present that this “thrown alongside” that characterizes Jesus’ parables is a collision between the world and the Kingdom announced by Jesus. It is not a collision in the sense of an ‘us-against-them,’ but a world that is still ‘being created’ daily to mirror the beauty and glory of the Creator. “When everyday reality is pierced by divine revelation,” says Black, “a parable has happened; a parable has been uttered.” A parable, while technically a noun, is essentially an action: the action of the Creator’s ongoing work of creation. Professor Black contends that the parable “is nothing less than a life-giving encounter between human hunger and Godly nurturance.”
The word parable is part of the bolein family of verbs in Scripture and theology. Bolein is the Greek verb that means “to throw.” It forms the basis for a number of important words in theology such as symbol, diabolic and parable. Depending on the nouns referenced, the Greek prefix para can mean “with” or “besides.” Para coupled with the Greek verb bolein yields an awkward literal English rendering “throw with” or “throw besides.” So how does this shed light on Gospel parables? Professor C. Clifton Black authored an article a number of years ago in the biblical journal, Interpretation and noted another literal meaning of parable from the Greek, “thrown alongside.” He goes on to present that this “thrown alongside” that characterizes Jesus’ parables is a collision between the world and the Kingdom announced by Jesus. It is not a collision in the sense of an ‘us-against-them,’ but a world that is still ‘being created’ daily to mirror the beauty and glory of the Creator. “When everyday reality is pierced by divine revelation,” says Black, “a parable has happened; a parable has been uttered.” A parable, while technically a noun, is essentially an action: the action of the Creator’s ongoing work of creation. Professor Black contends that the parable “is nothing less than a life-giving encounter between human hunger and Godly nurturance.”
