Consider the following example of this method as done by
the spiritual giant and brilliant scholar, St. Augustine: [Fee, How To Study the
Bible ..., 124]
A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho = Adam
Jerusalem = the heavenly city of peace, from which Adam fell
Jericho = the moon, and thereby signifies Adam's mortality
thieves = the devil and his angels
stripped him = namely, of his immortality
beat him = by persuading him to sin
and left him half-dead = as a man he lives, but he died spiritually,
therefore he is half-dead
The priest and Levite = the priesthood and ministry of the Old Testament
The Samaritan = is said to mean Guardian; therefore Christ himself is meant
bound his wounds = means binding the restraint of sin
oil = comfort of good hope
wine = exhortation to work with a fervent spirit
beast = the flesh of Christ's incarnation
inn = the church
innkeeper = Paul
the morrow = after the Resurrection
two-pence = promise of this life and the life to come
What is wrong with this picture? It becomes meaningless and/or impossible to “go and do likewise”!!! Also misses point: to whom am I a neighbor? Challenge to rabbinic attempts to define and provide clear-cut answers.
Parable like joke: depends on knowledge of culture, context, customs, etc. [e.g. 2 people waiting in line for bread in USSR in Gorbachev’s time – if you don’t know what life was like then, you won’t get it]; also similar in that it can challenge you to think about something in a new way (the parable of the Good Samaritan sets the reader up, expecting it to be a kind of joke making fun of the priest; the punch line is intended to make the listener angry and thereby self-reflective, rather than laugh). {We won’t discuss humor in the parables now; maybe some other time}
How do we translate the point of the parable today, so that the impact is the same? {see example on Fee & Stuart, p.147 – at present a closer parallel would probably be a pastor, a Sunday school teacher and a Muslim}
The parable of the two lost sons (structure shows both are focus; missing ending). Cultural background. {Points to make: Asking for inheritance = ‘I wish you were dead’; expected result = beating; partial repentance (make me a hired worker = I will pay you back) thus the second time, when he doesn’t suggest this, shows final, genuine repentance; old man running; other son’s insult of father (refused to go in); has he misunderstood sonship? – ‘I have slaved for you’; hates his brother – ‘this son of yours’, ‘prostitutes’; no finale – does the second son go in and rejoice with his father & brother?} See further Kenneth Bailey, Poet & Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes.
What, then, are parables? Would ‘sermon illustrations’ be an appropriate term? Or riddles?
Rabbi Chanina told a parable about a traveller journeying on the highway. As it grew dark he came to a lodge where the innkeeper said to him: "Come into the lodge away from the wild beasts and robbers." But the traveller replied: "It is not my custom to enter a lodge at this time." As he went on his way midnight and thick darkness overtook him and he returned to the lodge. He cried out and pleaded with the innkeeper that he would open up for him. The innkeeper answered: "It is not customary for the lodge to open up at night and it is not the custom of the inn-keeper to receive a guest at such an hour. When I asked you to come in you were not willing and now I cannot open up for you." Thus also the Holy One blessed be He said to the children of Israel: "Return, O backsliding children" and "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found."
Things to consider:
- translation into Greek
- change of situation and audience
- new setting in early church
- allegorization
- embellishment and conflation
Examples of how Gospel authors changed settings: The unforgivable sin (Mark 3:22-30; Matthew 12:22-32; Luke 11:14-22; 12:1-12)
In looking at our earliest sources, many historians would be very wary of assuming that the narrative context into which a saying of Jesus is placed necessarily reflects the original setting in the activity of the historical Jesus.
Thus there are different levels of story incorporated in the Synoptic Gospels:
(1) there is the teaching of Jesus
(2) which was retold and passed on orally (or in written form) in the church before
(3) being placed in written form by the evangelist.
All of these levels can be studied through redaction criticism, form criticism and historical criticism. But in trying to get to the historical Jesus, it is the earliest layer that really interests us.
1) Parables of the Kingdom:
a. The mustard seed (Mark 4:30-32; Matt.13:31-32; Luke 13:18-19): What is the point? Mustard is a weed, so you can’t control it. Mustard is almost invisible as a seed (not quite the smallest, though!) yet suddenly springs up everywhere. Is the point small beginnings, or that it is uncontrollable, or that it grows to miraculous proportions that are not explicable? The answer to this latter question depends on whether one thinks that the original had it becoming a ‘tree’. Note that Matthew and Luke agree against Matthew suggesting that this parable may have been in both Mark and Q. Mustard doesn’t become a tree (even though it can grow to 10 feet), and birds cannot perch in it.
b. The leaven (Matt.13:33 = Luke 13:20-21). How much flour? [5 pecks (more than a bushel, or around 40 quarts dry measure – Jeremias suggests it would make enough for 100 people] Why did the woman ‘hide’ or ‘put’ it there?
c. The sower: Mark 4:1-9 & parallels
2) Treasure
3) Reversals of values/use of negative images:
- Pharisee & tax collector
- Good Samaritan
4) Humor
- The man with the telephone pole in his eye
- Excuses: “I’ve just got married and so I’m, well, you know…”
5) Radical discipleship
- Matt 8:18-22 = Luke 9:57-62
- Luke 6:46-49 = Matt. 7:21-27
6) Riddles: Salt losing its saltiness
7) Responding to injustice
Luke 6:27-38 = Matt. 5:39-44
Should the ethos of non-violent protest be traced back to Jesus or the evangelist?
Epilogue: What do the parables and sayings of Jesus suggest about categories into which he might fit? Sage/Wisdom teacher?
FOR NEXT TIME: Find as many sayings of Jesus as you can relating to the Jewish Law. Also read Sanders, pp.189-237.
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Kenneth Bailey, "The Clothes Horse and the Beggar" (See also The Parables in Luke)
Kenneth Bailey, "Capitalism and the Parable of the Talents"
Notes on the Parables by Students at Northwest Nazarene University http://courses.nnu.edu/bl425gl/StudentNotes1.htm
Linda McKinnish Bridges, History of Interpretation of the Parable of the Good Samaritan
Samuel Lamerson, "Teaching the Parables to a Postmodern Society"
How to Interpret Parables http://www.discipleship.net/parables.htm
Richard Wagner, "I Am the Older Brother..." http://www.digitalwalk.net/archives/Number3/olderbrother.html
PARDES: Notes on the Parables http://www.the-park.net/pardes/notes.html#archive
TOPICS TO FOLLOW SOON:
Jesus and the Jewish Law
Jesus and Purity
Jesus and Social Outcasts
The Twelve Apostles