Jesus used parables as the chief means of his story-telling. A parable is a story told in a specific way, often to make a single clear point. Parables are conundrums. They contain unresolved tensions. They invite multiple understandings. They press for exploration and investigation. We have a few parables in the Gospel reading for this coming Sunday!
The accounts of Jesus that we have in scripture—Mark’s “beginning of the good news of Jesus”, Matthew’s “book of origins of Jesus, Chosen One”, and Luke’s “orderly account of the things fulfilled”—each contain a number of parables. Even in John’s “book of signs”, there are some parable-like sections, buried in the midst of the long discourses that this book contains.
In the section of Mark’s “beginning of the good news of Jesus” that the narrative lectionary offers for this week (Mark 4:1–34), we begin with a parable (4:1–9), followed immediately by an “interpretation” of the parable (4:1–20). For years, I followed the line (and taught my students) that this later allegorising understanding of the parable has been placed on the lips of Jesus, in this Gospel account. In this understanding, the interpretation really treats the parable as an allegory, rather than as a simple parable.
In an allegory, each and every character and event in the story is regarded as being a symbol for something else beyond the story. Allegory literally means, “to say something other”; it comes from two Greek words, the verb agoreuo (to speak in the assembly), and the prefix allos (other). Allegories are found in ancient literature; in Greek, from the earliest literature, that of Homer, through to Plato, and on into the writings of people centuries after the time of Jesus. They were commonplace across Greek and Latin literature.
However, in more recent times, I have come to see parables differently—especially in light of how they were seen and used in Judaism. The idea that the allegorising interpretation was a later addition, beyond the time of Jesus, has held sway for a number of decades in critical biblical scholarship. Christian scholars are dubious about whether Jesus would have utilise this somewhat hellenised approach to stories. (We know that allegories were in evidence centuries before Jesus in Greek literature. Whether Jesus knew this long tradition is debated.)
This critical Christian perspective on parables overlooks the claim that Judaism, and the long stream of Jewish tellers of parables, have on such stories. Parables are found, in Jewish literature, in various forms. With that information, we might well come to the text of Mark 4 with a different set of questions. How do we hear these parables of Jesus? In what sense do they reveal “the secret of the kingdom of God”? (Mark 4:11). Do they remain to us words which we may well “listen, but not understand”? (4:12, quoting Isa 6:10).
How do we undertake the task that Jesus instructs of his disciples at the start (“listen!”, 4:3) and at the end of this section (“let anyone with ears to hear listen!” (4:21), which he then undergirds with a final saying, “pay attention to what you hear” (4:22). Will we be able to respond to the question of Jesus, “do you not understand this parable?” (4:13) with a resounding “of course we do!”? Or will we remain, as the disciples did, hard of hearing and lacking in understanding (see 6:52; 7:14, 18; 8:17, 21; 9:32). The task of interpretation in this passage is daunting indeed!
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Parables are found in various places in Hebrew Scripture. There is, for a start, a brief introductory announcement (“listen!”) and a single image which is used to describe a characteristic of the kingdom (a sower sowing seeds). The first part of this week’s parable (4:3) has this form. It is short and direct.
The parable then tells of the sowing of seeds onto a variety of surfaces, which gives the story plot development of a kind. In this regard, this is like other parables of Jesus, which are a little more developed; they still make a single point, but it is developed or explained a little more. What do these ground surfaces represent? What do we make of the actions of the sower?—they seem somewhat profligate, sowing on hard ground! So the questions are raised … and the listeners ponder, and consider their responses …
The development that occurs in the plot of this parable, and the subsequent allegorical interpretation, might well relate to the fact that the Hebrew Scriptures also contain parables with developed plots and allegorical elements. In an allegory, particular individual features can play an independently figurative role, so that the story told becomes a kind of riddle which invites a response from the listener. “What do you think?” becomes the implied way that the allegory-riddle ends. Listening to the story is not enough—the listener needs to engage, enter the conundrum, make up their mind!
What do you think, then, about the sower who sowed seed on four different types of ground. A symbol of the lavish generosity of God? A farmer who wasn’t really thinking sensibly? A pointer to the need to receive the seed, ground it deep, and nurture it, so that it will flourish? A warning about “the wiles of the devil” who waits to choke the growing plant? The possibilities are endless … … …
In like fashion, what do we make of the short,sharp parables in the latter part of this passage? The seed growing secretly seems to be a set-up,for some of the typical eschatological teaching that Jesus gave (“when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come”, 4:29).
And what do we make of the even shorter parable about the mustard seed? This tiny seed grows into a large shrub with large branches, such that “the birds of the air can make nests in its shade” (4:32). Is this, as is often suggested, a subtle indication of the worldwide spread of the good news of the kingdom? (The prophetic parable of the lofty cedar is often cited in this regard; see Ezek 31:2–9, esp. v.6 regarding the birds).
A classic short, simple riddle in Hebrew scripture is that spoken by Samson, “out of the eater came something to eat; out of the strong came something sweet” (Judg 14:14). The narrative comment that follows is delightful: “for three days they could not explain the riddle”! Another example is the proverb quoted by two prophets, about the impact of the Exile: “the parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge” (Jer 31:29; Ezek 18:2). The point of this saying is clear, and telling.
In Hebrew Scripture, the allegory of the Eagles and the Vine (Ezek 17:3–10) is described as both ḥidah (“riddle”) and mashal. The parable first describes “a great eagle, with great wings and long pinions”, who carried seed far away where it took root and became a vine (a classic symbol of Israel). It then offers a further description of “another great eagle, with great wings and much plumage”, which the teller of the parable fears may seek to uproot the vine. “When it is transplanted, will it thrive”, the parable ends (v.10)—will Israel, transplanted into exile, manage to survive that experience?
Further parable-riddles occur in subsequent chapters in Ezekiel. There is the Lamenting of the Lioness (Ezek 19:2–9) and the Transplanted Vine (Ezek 19:10–14), and the stories of the Harlot Sisters (ibid. 23:2–21). There is also one of my favourites, the very vivid—and gruesome—parable of the Cooking-Pot (Ezek 24:3b—5).
In this parable, the prophet warns the people of judgement: “set on the pot … pour in water … put in the pieces, the thigh and the shoulder … fill it with choice bones” (that is, the meat and bones of the Israelites being punished). The prophet concludes with a booming denunciation: “woe to the bloody city … the blood is shed inside it … to rouse my wrath, I have placed the blood she shed on on a bare rock” (Ezek 24:6–8, and then the metaphor extended still further in 24:9–14).
Each of these parables are clearly allegorical, in that the overall point is clear, and yet also the details in the story invite connection with specific people or events. Ezekiel is a powerful speaker, who utilises this dramatic story-form with great flair, and effect.
A third type of mashal is the fable, where animals or inanimate objects are made to speak and act like men. The article on “Parables” in the Jewish Virtual Library notes two good examples: Judg 9:8–15, where the trees confer as to who will become king, and 2 Ki 14:9–10, where a thornbush sends a message to a cedar, but a wild animal tramples down the thornbush. These fables can be seen to relate directly to the political situation of Israel at different times in their history.
The article on “Parable” in the Jewish Virtual Library also notes: “Mashal and ḥidah are used almost synonymously in Ezekiel 17:2; Habakkuk 2:6; Psalms 49:5 and 78:2; and Proverbs 1:6. Certain proverbs are in effect parable-riddles, e.g., Proverbs 30:15a, 15b–16, 18–19, and 21–31.
“Other biblical forms related to the parable type of mashal are: prophetic oracles where a metaphor is extended into a lively description, e.g., Isaiah 1:5–6; Hosea 2:2–15; 7:8–9, 11–12; Joel 4:13; and Jeremiah 25:15–29; prophetic oracles proclaimed through symbolic actions, e.g., I Kings 11:29; II Kings 13:15–19, and Isaiah 20:2–6; extended personifications as of Wisdom and Folly in Proverbs 1:20–33; 8:1–36; 9:1–6, 13–18; and revelatory dreams and visions having symbolism which the sequel interprets as allegorical, e.g., Genesis 37:6–11; 40:9–13, 16–19; Zechariah 1:8–11; 2:1–4; and Daniel 2:31–45.”
Beyond these many examples, there are the multitudes of parables in rabbinic literature (about which, see the further resources listed at the end of this blog).
All of which leaves us with the question: what do we make of these parables of Jesus? Have we gained insight into “the secret of the kingdom of God”? Or will we remain with the outsiders, deaf of hearing and unable to grasp the good news of what God is about to do? These questions confront us as we hear this passage, this coming Sunday.
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The Jewish Virtual Library article on “Parable” can be found at https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/parable
For further reading on parables in the rabbinic tradition, see
Click to access rabinnic-parables.pdf
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