What is a Parable?

by CWK


What is a parable? The concept of parable has a wide range of meaning. Jesus employs the concept of parabole (Hebrew: mashal) in a very specific way – unique in the purpose of God. As Jesus conceived of parables, there are 3 basic elements: grace, obscurity, and metaphor.

To you it has been given to know the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away...but blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear (Matthew 13: 11-17, cf. Mark 4:11-12, and Luke 8:10ff).

a. Gracious

“To you it has been given (v.11),” this is a startling pronouncement that the knowledge the disciple had gained was a gift. Totally free. We may think of knowledge as something earned or deserved. It certainly is something we are responsible to seek – or else risk being hardened, “even what he has will be taken away (v. 11).” Yet, even after our most strenuous labor, Jesus reminds us that those who understand, understand by grace. So, one way to explore the Jewish view of parables would be to consider how Jews thought about grace, especially as it relates to teaching.

b. Obscure

Contrary to popular opinion, the parables are not cute winning stories meant to woo Jesus’ hearers. Rather, Jesus is being purposefully obscure. He doesn’t want everyone to understand. In response to the why question – why parables? – he states, almost too bold for our ears to hear, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given (v. 11).” Jesus also stresses what an undeserved blessing the disciples have received, "...blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear (v. 16).” So, one of the reasons Jesus speaks in parables is that he does not want to share the secrets of the Kingdom of God with all. These secrets are for a select group. So, we might consider Jewish views on the doctrine of election, or Jewish views on teaching – obscure, or clear? There is a strain of teaching in the wisdom literature that not everyone can understand the dark sayings; therefore, instruction is needed to comprehend what dark sayings mean. Only the instructed is able to grasp what a proverb really entails. Furthermore, a person is commanded not only to seek after wisdom literature but to cry aloud for it (Proverbs 1.6).

c. Metaphorical

The form of the parables is metaphorical narrative. One thing is compared to, or is like, another, and this comparison is followed over a narrative.

Mt. 13.24: He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field…”

Mt. 13.31: He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed…”

Mt. 13.33: He told them another parable, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven…”

            Such a construction, metaphor plus narrative, is not entirely unique: allegories, and fables also employ a similar format. However, the kind of story parable that Jesus and the OT feature, is unique. Brad Young goes as far as to say, “In fact, story parables only appear in the gospels and in rabbinic literature.”[1] His assessment is incorrect – there are several parables in the Old Testament. However, he is correct to point out that metaphor narrative of the kind Jesus employs is rare on the world stage.

            So, another way of exploring the Jewish view of parables would be to consider the Jewish view of metaphorical narrative. This will be our goal in this paper: we will explore the Jewish conception of metaphorical narrative.

            However, we note in passing that the gracious obscurity represented in Jesus’ parables gives a particularly unique setting. This setting is related, really, to overall redemptive history (salvation, saving knowledge, election, predestination, and grace). It is related to the person and work of Christ – who is he to assume to himself the task of “giving” the knowledge of the kingdom of heaven?

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[1] Brad A Young, Jesus and His Jewish Parables (Tulsa, OK: Gospel Research Foundation, 1989), 55.