The Case for Parables

Ever wonder why Jesus used so many parables and stories to get His points across? Why is the Bible choc full of stories and tales? On one hand, we left-brain leaning types may frequently be impatient to get to the bottom line as quickly and efficiently as possible, and move on. ‘Hey, what’s the point, and what are the facts and figures to support it?’, we might ask. The more right-brain thinking among us may tend to get lost in a myriad of interpretations of the twists and turns of every fine point in the story, seemingly never reaching meaningful, practical conclusions.

So why did Jesus choose to communicate in this manner? Here’s my take.

1. The Bible is a book for all ages and cultures. Though it includes many facts and figures, these are most relevant to a specific age and/or culture, and may lose some of their significance as time and cultures change. Stories and parables, however, are timeless. Moreover, they respect the manner in which God designed us to think - in pictures, painted across the vast canvas of our imagination, leapfrogging across the boundless expanses of time and space. Try doing this with recitations of facts and figures. No wonder many of us tune-out when we bump into the Biblical genealogies, the begats. Thank God for more interesting stories and parables!

2. Parables challenge the highest element of our being – our spirit. As we listen to these stories and parables, we embrace the opportunity to personalize the context, to size, shape and strategically place the characters as we like; and to create and colorize our own believable stage sets to accompany the story line. Setting our mental stages in this manner frees our minds from distractions and defensive responses to frontal ‘thou shalt…thou shalt not…!’, thus enabling us to perceive into the story or parable without too many hurdles. We attribute the spiritual factors of attitudes and motivations to the characters, and in doing so, subconsciously inject a bit of our own spiritual baggage into the story line -- good, bad or indifferent.

3. Parables prompt relational understanding. The Bible reveals God’s deep-rooted interest in us knowing Him as God…

‘And you/they shall KNOW that I AM…’

God declares this 68 times in the Bible, 57 of which are in one book – Ezekiel, the ‘Know that I AM’ book. We can see just how critical this is when considering the Biblical principle that every important point or matter is to be ‘established in the mouths of two or three witnesses’.

But knowing God is God is simply the first step in an eternal journey that begins with knowledge, and progresses to wisdom, and ultimately settles on understanding. This three-step progression is oft repeated in Proverbs. Facts and figures – the primary interest of many left-brained thinkers, mostly promote knowledge (mind/mental). The insights of wisdom are required to apply such knowledge effectively (soulish, i.e., the mind, will, emotions, intellect/intelligence and imagination). Understanding, however, aims for a much higher level ‘relation between the knower and an object of understanding’. (Wikipedia) 

And this is what God desires and requires, as revealed in Jeremiah 9:23 – 24:

This is what The Lord says:  ’Let not the wise boast of (be proud about) their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know Me, that I AM the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares The Lord.

So parables and stories help to free us from endless recitations of mind numbing, time or culturally irrelevant facts and figures. They are captivatingly entertaining, engaging us in the theatre of our minds. Most important, parables and stories invite us into a relational understanding of some important characteristics of our timeless God and Creator, and in doing so, they challenge the excess spiritual baggage with which we are so heavily laden.

The next time you encounter a Biblical parable, relax and enjoy the upward ride.