Post #7 Parables as Theology

Parables as Theology

All throughout the Gospels, Jesus uses parables to help depict the kingdom of God. These parables hid Truth from some, but revealed Truth to others.

"the secret of the Kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that,

"'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,

and ever hearing but never 

understanding;

otherwise they might turn and be 

forgiven!'" (Mark 4: 11-12; Isaiah 6:9-10)

Jesus speaks in parables to:

1. Reveal Truth to His disciples ; they were then stewards of the revealed Truth. 
2. Hide His ministry to non-believers until He fulfilled prophecies made about Him -- until He accomplished all He came to accomplish. 
3. To reveal all who "had ears to hear" and those who did not. 

The way Jesus chooses to communicate with the large crowds gathering around Him is done in a way that would allow for many to not understand anything He is saying. They would hear the words, hear the story, but that's all they would hear. There is no deeper meaning behind the words that would impact their life from an eternal perspective. God chooses to reveal Himself in the manner, for as Lane speaks of in His first axiom on the sacred, is that it chooses, and God reveals Himself as He wills. Taken at word-value, the parables Jesus speaks of mean little, but deeper in the communication there is spiritual and eternal significance.