Jesus Parables

Several years ago, Bill Morgan, Pastor of Jersey Village Baptist, told a story during his sermon that has stayed with me all these years. That is because of where I was in my faith walk with Jesus. Here is how I remember the story.

“After the service was over, the pastor was at the door shaking hands with the members as they were leaving, when one man stopped to talk to the pastor. He said, Pastor, I have read the Bible from cover to cover, and it makes no sense to me! The pastor replied That’s what you get for reading someone else’s mail!”

That sermon helped me to understand that if you are not looking for anything, you will most likely find nothing. I am in the process of reading a John MacArthur book titled “Parables: The Mysteries of God’s Kingdom Revealed Through the Stories Jesus Told.”

In the Introduction of the book, John talks about statements that various biblical experts have said about Jesus using parables for teaching, and he explains his reasons for Jesus choosing to use them. These verses were used to describe his reasoning.

The Purpose of Parables
¹⁰ And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”

¹¹ He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ¹² For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. ¹³ Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. ¹⁴ And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:

‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
And seeing you will see and not perceive;
¹⁵ For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.’
Matthew 13:10-15 New King James Version

Any person without the discipline or desire to seek out Christ’s meaning will not understand the true meaning. When you have your heart ready to understand, the message will be clear. Notice how these scriptures tie back to my earlier story? The Bible contains so much information with things we do not fully understand until we are ready. We may use reading glasses to be able to read the words better, but God reveals truths as your heart is ready to receive them. We may believe we fully understand some scriptures, until sometimes years later we read the same scriptures, and we realize we had not seen things not revealed before.

We hear people talk about “My Truth Is….” A lot of churches with thousands of members, with televised services, present their version of what Christianity is and what Jesus would approve today. Some have even stated it does not matter what you believe as long as you believe it. A person high on drugs may truly believe they can fly when they jump off the roof of a thirty-story building; however, the pavement may bring a whole new reality.

There is more to be understood about what is in the scriptures above. The warning includes those who have chosen to believe in Christ but have put limits on how much they are willing to adopt as a change in their life. “These are the areas where I will agree to change.” “I will make these changes, but I don’t want anybody to know about it.”

We might think that we are doing something to help God or that God needs us to do something. Truth is, God gives us opportunities to grow and realize our potential, but He can always get someone else to do anything He wants done. He made everything in our world without my help. We cannot understand God’s love for us until we are willing to love God in meaningful ways.

Statler Brothers – The Teacher