JESUS' LIFE: His Parables
When Jesus taught the crowds he often told them stories about every day life. These stories had a deeper, heavenly, spiritual meaning and are called Parables. This episode is a great introduction to what parables are and why Jesus used them in his teaching.
And hundreds of year before Jesus was even born, Matthew remembers that a prophet wrote about parables:
Jesus used stories when he spoke to the people. In fact, he did not tell them anything without using stories.
35 So God’s promise came true, just as the prophet[b] had said,
“I will use stories
to speak my message
and to explain things
that have been hidden
since the creation
of the world.”
Matthew 13:34-35
And it came true! Jesus did use stories to explain his messages and he had a very good reason for it too!
Jesus told parables so that those with the right heart could hear and understand but those with the wrong heart - those who don’t like to hear new things - would not understand and might leave Jesus alone.
We know this because Jesus’ disciples actually asked why Jesus often used stories to speak to the people. Jesus’ reply was written down in the bible in Matthew 13:13-17
"Jesus said, “I use stories when I speak to them because when they look, they cannot see, and when they listen, they cannot hear or understand. 14 So God’s promise came true, just as the prophet Isaiah had said,
“These people will listen
and listen,
but never understand.
They will look and look,
but never see.
All of them have
stubborn minds!
Their ears are stopped up,
and their eyes are covered.
They cannot see or hear
or understand.
If they could,
they would turn to me,
and I would heal them.”
16 But God has blessed you, because your eyes can see and your ears can hear! Many prophets and good people were eager to see what you see and to hear what you hear. But I tell you that they did not see or hear.”
If you want to understand Jesus’ parables, you can ask God to give you a brain for understanding!
We are also super blessed to be living in a time where we actually have the answers! Sometimes Jesus would tell the crowds the stories and even the disciples were confused. They knew that Jesus would explain the parable to them later, so they wait until they are in safe company and ask for an explanation. These explanations were written down for us so that we don’t have to guess what each story is about! It is like having a maths text book with the answers in the back and you’re allowed to look! How awesome is that!?
Later on in the year I will create some episodes for you - telling you some more of Jesus’ parables and what message Jesus wanted us to get from them!
Discussion Questions:
If you were listening to Jesus tell the parables 2000 years ago, do you think that you would have understood what he was talking about? How do you think the people who didn’t understand the parables felt? What would you do if you were there and didn’t understand the parables? Pray and ask God for an open mind that can understand the parables and Jesus’ teachings.
