Luke The Great Historian of Christ & His Church Lesson 25 Introduction to Jesus Teaching Using Parables Luke 5:33-39; 6:1-5; 8:16-21 Jesus is a master teacher... During the course of His earthly ministry, Jesus used many types of teaching styles to convey His message to the crowds in general and to His disciples in particular... He told stories with themes and illustrations that were familiar to His audience... He used parables to compare an understood truth to another more difficult one... He used metaphors and similes as well... By the time of the first century, the Jewish spiritual leaders had distorted the meaning of much of God's Law... They had changed God's loving boundaries into stifling and often insurmountable barriers... Jesus gave powerful lessons correcting those errors and distortions... Most of Jesus' parables were intended to instruct His disciples while withholding truths from other listeners... All three Synoptic Gospels include the parable of the Sower... We will explore its meaning in a few weeks... It is important also because Jesus explained His approach to teaching with parables when He discussed it with His disciples... In his Gospel, Mark records it this way: Mark 4:10-12 NET When he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. He said to them, The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those outside, everything is in parables, so that although they look they may look but not see, and although they hear they may hear but not understand, so they may not repent and be forgiven. During this quarter, we are going to look at many of the lessons that Jesus taught... Each lesson is designed to stand alone so that we can enjoy the summer months with friends and family without losing the continuity of our Sunday school... If you have guests visiting, please feel free to bring them with you... We'd love to have them share our class... Following are several different examples of Jesus' teaching found in the Book of Luke... As you read each, please consider both what Jesus described and what else He might have meant by the illustration... The text is from the New English Translation (NET Bible)... Please refer to the version you usually use... If your Bible has study notes, please check them out...
Luke 5 The Superiority of the New 33 Then they said to him, John s disciples frequently fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours continue to eat and drink. 34 So Jesus said to them, You cannot make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? 35 But those days are coming, and when the bridegroom is taken from them, at that time they will fast. 36 He also told them a parable: No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old garment. If he does, he will have torn the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 Instead new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 No one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, The old is good enough. Luke 6 Lord of the Sabbath 1 Jesus was going through the grain fields on a Sabbath, and his disciples picked some heads of wheat, rubbed them in their hands, and ate them. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, Why are you doing what is against the law on the Sabbath? 3 Jesus answered them, Haven t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry 4 how he entered the house of God, took and ate the sacred bread, which is not lawful for any to eat but the priests alone, and gave it to his companions? 5 Then he said to them, The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath. Luke 8 Showing the Light 16 No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand so that those who come in can see the light. 17 For nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing concealed that will not be made known and brought to light. 18 So listen carefully, for whoever has will be given more, but whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him. Jesus True Family 19 Now Jesus mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not get near him because of the crowd. 20 So he was told, Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you. 21 But he replied to them, My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.
Study Questions and Thoughts What is a parable and how is it different from other teaching methods? Why do you think Jesus used parables as a means of teaching His disciples while withholding from others? What is the meaning of the parables of the new and old garments and wineskins? Why did Jesus use the example from the life of David to explain His disciples rubbing wheat on the Sabbath? Why is Luke 8:16-21 important to understanding the whole idea of Jesus' teaching in parables? What life lessons for today can be taken from these passages?
Most of Jesus' parables were intended to instruct His disciples while withholding truths from other listeners... All three Synoptic Gospels include the parable of the Sower... We will explore its meaning in a few weeks... It is important also because Jesus explained His approach to teaching with parables when He discussed it with His disciples... A Collection of Parables A It was not the first time that Jesus had used parables, but the first time that he had spoken so many and some of such length. He will use a great many in the future. The parables already mentioned in Matthew include the salt and the light, the birds and the lilies, the splinter and the beam in the eye, the two gates, the wolves in sheep s clothing, the good and bad trees, the wise and foolish builders, the garment and the wineskins, the children in the market places. It is not certain how many he spoke on this occasion. Matthew mentions eight in this chapter (the Sower, the Tares, the Mustard Seed, the Leaven, the Hid Treasure, the Pearl of Great Price, the Net, the Householder). Mark adds the Parable of the Lamp, the Parable of the Seed Growing of Itself, making ten of which we know. But both Mark and Matthew imply that there were many others. Without a parable spake he nothing unto them, on this occasion, we may suppose. The word parable (parabole from paraballo, to place alongside for measurement or comparison like a yardstick) is an objective illustration for spiritual or moral truth. The word is employed in a variety of ways (a) as for sententious sayings or proverbs, for a figure or type; (b) a comparison in the form of a narrative, the common use in the Synoptic Gospels like the Sower; (c) A narrative illustration not involving a comparison (Broadus), like the Rich Fool, the Good Samaritan, etc. The A Robertson, Archibald Thomas, Word Pictures In The New Testament; public domain. (Note at Matthew 13:1)
oriental genius for picturesque speech found expression in a multitude of such utterances (McNeile). There are parables in the Old Testament, in the Talmud, in sermons in all ages. But no one has spoken such parables as these of Jesus. They hold the mirror up to nature and, as all illustrations should do, throw light on the truth presented. The fable puts things as they are not in nature, Aesop s Fables, for instance. The parable may not be actual fact, but it could be so. It is harmony with the nature of the case. The allegory is a speaking parable that is self-explanatory all along like Bunyan s Pilgrim s Progress. All allegories are parables, but not all parables are allegories. The Prodigal Son is an allegory, as is the story of the Vine and Branches (John 15). John does not use the word parable, but only paroimia, a saying by the way. As a rule the parables of Jesus illustrate one main point and the details are more or less incidental, though sometimes Jesus himself explains these. When he does not do so, we should be slow to interpret the minor details. Much heresy has come from fantastic interpretations of the parables. In the case of the Parable of the Sower we have also the careful exposition of the story by Jesus as well as the reason for the use of parables on this occasion by Jesus.
All three of the Synoptics have this element: Mark records it this way (// Matthew 13:10-17; Luke 8:9-10) Mark 4:10-12 NET When he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. B He said to them, The secret C of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those outside, everything is in parables, so that although they look they may look but not see, and although they hear they may hear but not understand, so they may not repent and be forgiven. D B Jewish teachers normally used parables to illustrate and explain points, not to conceal them. But if one tells stories without stating the point they were meant to illustrate, as Jesus does here, only those who listen most astutely and start with insiders knowledge could possibly figure out one s point. The members of the Qumran community believed that God gave secrets to the prophets that they encoded in the Bible, and that God revealed the interpretation of those biblical texts to their own teacher, who shared it only with them. Greek teachers like Plato and sometimes Jewish teachers would leave certain points obscure to keep them from outsiders; only those who were serious enough to persevere would understand. [IVPBBC] C Grk the mystery. The key term secret (μυστήριον, mustērion) can mean either (1) a new revelation or (2) a revealing interpretation of existing revelation as in Daniel 2:17-23; 27-30. Jesus seems to be explaining how current events develop old promises, since the NT consistently links the events of Jesus' ministry and message with old promises (Romans 1:1-4; Hebrews 1:1-2). The traditional translation of this word, mystery, is misleading to the modern English reader because it suggests a secret which people have tried to uncover but which they have failed to understand (L&N 28.77). [NET_Bible] D The point in the context of Isaiah 6:9-10, which Jesus quotes here, is that God s people had hardened their hearts so that they could not hear him; God thus chose to harden them further (what some have called penal blindness ) by sending them his message anyway. [IVPBBC]
Matthew 13:10-17 10 Then the disciples came to him and said, Why do you speak to them in parables? E 11 He replied, You have been given F the opportunity to know the secrets G of the kingdom of heaven, but they have not. 12 For whoever has will be given more, and will have an abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. H E That some members of the community of disciples would not persevere fits Old Testament models; in the Old Testament, some persons, like Saul, turned away from obedience to God, whereas others, like David, persevered through many trials. (IVPBBC) F tn This is an example of a divine passive, with God understood to be the source of the revelation (see ExSyn 437-38). (NET_Bible) G sn The key term secrets can mean either (1) a new revelation or (2) a revealing interpretation of existing revelation as in Daniel 2:17-23; Daniel 2:27-30. Jesus seems to be explaining how current events develop old promises, since the NT consistently links the events of Jesus' ministry and message with old promises (Romans 1:1-4; Hebrews 1:1-2). The traditional translation of this word, "mystery," is misleading to the modern English reader because it suggests a secret which people have tried to uncover but which they have failed to understand (L&N 28.77). (NET_Bible) To know the mysteries The mystery-religions of the east had all sorts of secrets and signs as secret societies do today. But those initiated knew them. So the disciples have been initiated into the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. Paul will use it freely of the mystery once hidden, but now revealed, now made known in Christ (Romans 16:25; 1 Corinthians 2:7, etc.). In Philippians 4:12 Paul says: I have learned the secret or been initiated. So Jesus here explains that his parables are open to the disciples, but shut to the Pharisees with their hostile minds. In the Gospels musterion is used only here and in the parallel passages (Mark 4:11; Luke 8:10). (RWP) H sn What he has will be taken from him. The meaning is that the one who accepts Jesus' teaching concerning his person and the kingdom will receive a share in the kingdom now and even more in the future, but for the one who rejects Jesus' words, the opportunity that that person presently possesses with respect to the kingdom will someday be taken away forever. (NET_Bible)
13 For this reason I speak to them in parables: I Although they see they do not see, and although they hear they do not hear nor do they understand. 14 And concerning them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled J that says: You will listen carefully yet will never understand, you will look closely yet will never comprehend. 15 For the heart of this people has become dull; they are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, so that they would not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them. K I Parables were meant to explain a rabbi s point by illustrating it; however, if the point were not stated, the parable would amount to no more than a story. Rabbis had some more secretive teachings that they thought only their closest disciples could handle, and they reserved these for private instruction. The meaning of Jesus parables, then, would be understood only by those who chose to become insiders. (IVPBBC) J Is fulfilled Here Jesus points out the fulfillment and not with Matthew s usual formula: The verb anapleroo occurs nowhere else in the Gospels, but occurs in the Pauline Epistles. It means to fill up like a cup, to fill another s place (1 Corinthians 14:16), to fill up what is lacking (Philippians 2:30). Here it means that the prophecy of Isaiah is fully satisfied in the conduct of the Pharisees and Jesus himself points it out. (RWP) K sn A quotation from Isaiah 6:9-10. Thus parables both conceal or reveal depending on whether one is open to hearing what they teach. (NET_Bible)
16 But your eyes are blessed L because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. M Luke 8:9-10 (NET) N Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, You have been given the opportunity to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that although they see they may not see, and although they hear they may not understand... L Blessed are your eyes (humon de makarioi hoi ophthalmoi). A beatitude for the disciples in contrast with the Pharisees. Note position of Happy here also as in the Beatitudes in Matthew 5. (RWP) M Some Jewish texts describe how the righteous in the Old Testament longed to see the era of messianic redemption and a fuller revelation of God. Making a statement about someone (here, Jesus) by blessing someone else (here, those who saw him in contrast to the blind of Matthew 13:15) was an accepted rhetorical technique of the day. (IVPBBC) N Jesus disciples had asked Him what the parable meant. But before He told them its meaning, He explained why He used the parabolic form of teaching. People who were spiritually discerning, that is, were following Him and acknowledging His message as true (such as those in 7:36-8:3) would have the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God. But others who were not responding to Jesus message of the kingdom would not understand the parable (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:14). In support of this Jesus quoted Isaiah 6:9 the people heard what He said but did not understand it. Jesus speaking in parables was actually an act of grace to those listening to Him. If they refused to acknowledge Him as Messiah, their judgment would be less severe than if they had understood more (cf. Luke 10:13-15). [BKC]
Luke 5 The Superiority of the New (//Matthew 9:14-17; Mark 2:18-22) 33 Then they said to him, John s O disciples frequently fast P and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, Q but yours continue to eat and drink. R 34 So Jesus said to them, You cannot make the wedding guests S fast while the bridegroom T is with them, can you? U O Most MSS read Why do John's...? here, turning the statement into a question. But such seems to be a motivated reading, assimilating the text to Mark 2:18 and Matthew 9:14. The reading represented in the translation is supported by à 4 1 א B L W Ξ 33 892* 1241 sa. John refers to John the Baptist. [NET_Bible] P John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees followed typical practices with regard to fasting and prayer. Many Jews fasted regularly. The zealous fasted twice a week on Monday and Thursday. [NET_Bible] Q Although the Old Testament commanded many more feasts than fasts, fasting had become a widespread Jewish practice; Pharisees often fasted twice a week. Although ascetic fasting was forbidden, many people probably did fast for ascetic reasons. Fasting was an important practice to join with prayer or penitence, so it would have been unusual for disciples (prospective rabbis) to have avoided it altogether. A teacher was regarded as responsible for the behavior of his disciples. [IVPBBC] R Grk but yours are eating and drinking. The translation continue to eat and drink attempts to reflect the progressive or enduring nature of the action described, which in context is a practice not limited to the specific occasion at hand (the banquet). [NET_Bible] S Grk the sons of the wedding hall, an idiom referring to guests at the wedding, or more specifically, friends of the bridegroom present at the wedding celebration (L&N 11.7). [NET_Bible] T The expression while the bridegroom is with them is an allusion to messianic times (John 3:29; Isaiah 54:5-6, 62:4-5; 4 Ezra 2:15, 38). [NET_Bible] U Questions prefaced with μή (mē) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a tag at the end in English (here it is can you? ). [NET_Bible]
35 But those days are coming, and when the bridegroom is taken from them, V at that time they will fast. W 36 He also told them a parable: X No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews Y it on an old garment. If he does, he will have torn Z the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. AA 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. AB If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. AC V The statement when the bridegroom is taken from them is a veiled allusion by Jesus to his death, which he did not make explicit until the incident at Caesarea Philippi in (i.e., Luke 9:18ff.) [NET_Bible] W Wedding feasts required seven days of festivity; one was not permitted to fast or engage in other acts of mourning or difficult labor during a wedding feast. Jesus makes an analogy about the similar inappropriateness of fasting in his own time. [IVPBBC] X The term parable in a Semitic context can cover anything from a long story to a brief wisdom saying. Here it is the latter. [NET_Bible] Y Grk puts; but since the means of attachment would normally be sewing, the translation sews has been used. [NET_Bible] Z Grk he tears. The point is that the new garment will be ruined to repair an older, less valuable one. [NET_Bible] AA The piece from the new will not match the old. The imagery in this saying looks at the fact that what Jesus brings is so new that it cannot simply be combined with the old. To do so would be to destroy what is new and to put together something that does not fit. [NET_Bible] AB Wineskins were bags made of skin or leather, used for storing wine in NT times. As the new wine fermented and expanded, it would stretch the new wineskins. Putting new (unfermented) wine in old wineskins, which had already been stretched, would result in the bursting of the wineskins. [NET_Bible] AC Most MSS have and both will be preserved, assimilating the text to Matthew 9:17. The earliest and best witnesses, as well as many others however, lack the words. The meaning of the saying new wine...into new skins is that the presence and teaching of Jesus was something new and signaled the passing of the old. It could not be confined within the old religion of Judaism, but involved the
38 Instead new wine must be poured into new wineskins. AD 39AE No one after drinking old wine wants the new, AF for he says, The old is good enough. AG inauguration and consummation of the kingdom of God. [NET_Bible] AD Jesus uses two familiar facts to make his point. Older clothes had already shrunk from washing. Wine could be kept in either jars or wineskins; wineskins, unlike jars, would stretch. Old wineskins had already been stretched to capacity by wine fermenting within them; if they were then filled with unfermented wine, it would likewise expand, and the old wineskins, already stretched to the limit, would break. Watered-down wine was drunk with meals. [IVPBBC] AE The Western textual tradition lacks Luke 5:39. The verse is unique to Luke, so the omission by these MSS looks like assimilation to the other synoptic accounts. [NET_Bible] AF Although distillation had not yet been developed and wine could achieve only a certain level of alcoholic content, aged wine was generally preferred over fresh wine that had not yet begun to ferment (a proverb, e.g., Ecclus 9:10; rabbis). Jesus is probably indicating why the religious people are objecting to the joy of Jesus disciples: it is something new. [IVPBBC] AG Most MSS, especially the later ones, read better, a smoother reading. The reading of the text is preferred as the more difficult reading. This reading could suggest that the new thing Jesus brings is not even considered, since the old wine is already found quite acceptable. The third illustration points out that those already satisfied with what they have will not seek the new (The old is good enough). [NET_Bible]
Luke 6 Lord of the Sabbath (// Matthew 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28). 1 Jesus was going through the grain fields on a Sabbath, and his disciples picked some heads of wheat, AH rubbed them in their hands, AI and ate them. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, Why are you AJ doing what is against the law AK on the Sabbath? AH Or heads of grain. While the generic term can refer to the cluster of seeds at the top of grain such as barley or wheat, in the NT the term is restricted to wheat (L&N 3.40; BDAG 941 s.v. 1). [NET_Bible] AI Some scholars have suggested that rubbing with their hands by extension constituted threshing, a forbidden category of work on the sabbath. Although the law of Moses was especially authoritative for Jewish legal experts, the narratives of other parts of the Old Testament sometimes illustrate principles of the law s spirit taking precedence over its normal practice. If Jesus could demonstrate his case from Scripture, his opponents technically could not prosecute him successfully, due to the variety of Palestinian Jewish views on how the sabbath was to be observed. [IVPBBC] AJ Note that the verb is second person plural (with an understood plural subject in Greek). The charge is again indirectly made against Jesus by charging the disciples. [NET_Bible] AK The alleged violation expressed by the phrase what is against the law is performing work on the Sabbath. That the disciples ate from such a field is no problem given Deuteronomy 23:25, but Sabbath activity is another matter in the leaders' view (Exodus 20:8-11). The supposed violation involved reaping, threshing, winnowing, and preparing food. This probably explains why the clause describing the disciples "rubbing" the heads of grain in their hands is mentioned last, in emphatic position. This was preparation of food. [NET_Bible]
3 Jesus answered them, Haven t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry 4 how he entered the house of God, took and ate the sacred bread, AL which is not lawful AM for any to eat but the priests alone, and gave it to his companions? 5 Then he said to them, The Son of Man is lord AN of the Sabbath. AL Grk the bread of presentation. The sacred bread refers to the bread of presentation, showbread, or bread of the Presence, twelve loaves prepared weekly for the tabernacle and later, the temple. Each loaf was made from 3 quarts (3.5 liters; Heb two tenths of an ephah ) of fine flour. The loaves were placed on a table in the holy place of the tabernacle, on the north side opposite the lampstand. It was the duty of the priest each Sabbath to place fresh bread on the table; the loaves from the previous week were then given to Aaron and his descendants, who ate them in the holy place, because they were considered sacred. These were the loaves that David requested from Ahimelech for himself and his men (1 Samuel 21:1-6). [NET_Bible] AM Jesus' response to the charge that what his disciples were doing was not lawful is one of analogy: 'If David did it for his troops in a time of need, then so can I with my disciples.' Jesus is clear that on the surface there was a violation here. What is not as clear is whether he is arguing a greater need makes this permissible or that this was within the intention of the law all along. [NET_Bible] AN The term lord is in emphatic position in the Greek text. To make this point even clearer a few MSS add also before the reference to the Son of Man, while a few others add it before the reference to the Sabbath. A second point in Jesus' defense of his disciples' actions was that his authority as Son of Man also allowed it, since as Son of Man he was lord of the Sabbath. [NET_Bible]
Luke 8 Showing the Light 16 No one lights a lamp AO and then covers it with a jar AP or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand so that those who come in can see the light. 17 For nothing is hidden AQ that will not be revealed, and nothing concealed that will not be made known and brought to light. AR 18 So listen carefully, for whoever has will be given more, but whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has AS will be taken from him. AO This is probably an ancient oil burning lamp or perhaps a candlestick. Jesus is comparing revelation to light, particularly the revelation of his ministry; see Luke 1:78-79. [NET_Bible] AP Jesus is a master of the graphic illustrations in which Jewish teachers sought to excel: invisible light is pointless, and God wants people to receive the light of his Word. The lamps Jesus mentions were small clay lamps that had to be set on a stand to shed much light in a room; anything placed over the lamp would have extinguished it. [IVPBBC] AQ Nothing is hidden. Light also exposes, and Jesus was suggesting that his teaching likewise revealed where people are and where they will be. Truth will be manifest in the future, just as it was declared by him then. Nothing will be concealed. [NET_Bible] AR If the crowds do not obey what light they receive, they will never receive more. The language of measuring is the language of weighing food and other commodities at the market; it was sometimes used for God measuring out just judgments in the final day. [IVPBBC] AS The phrase what he thinks he has is important, because it is not what a person thinks he has that is important but whether he actually has something or not. Jesus describes the person who does not heed his word as having nothing. The person who has nothing loses even that which he thought was something but was not. In other words, he has absolutely nothing at all. Jesus' teaching must be taken seriously. [NET_Bible]
Jesus True Family AT 19 Now Jesus mother and his brothers AU came to him, but they could not get near him because of the crowd. 20 So he was told, Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you. 21 But he replied to them, My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it. AV AT Thinking of one s coreligionists as brothers and sisters was common; respecting older persons as mothers or fathers was also widespread. But allowing ties in the religious community to take precedence even over family ties was unheard-of in Judaism, except when a pagan converted to Judaism and regarded his new family as more important than his old one. [IVPBBC] AU The issue of whether Jesus had brothers (siblings) has had a long history in the church. Epiphanius, in the 4 th century, argued that Mary was a perpetual virgin and had no offspring other than Jesus. Others argued that these brothers were really cousins. Nothing in the text suggests any of this. See also John 7:3. [NET_Bible] AV Hearing and doing the word of God is another important NT theme: Luke 6:47-49; James 1:22-25. [NET_Bible]