"Heard Any Good Parables Lately?"

Growing up I remember reading parables in the New Testament and always being a little confused. They seemed awkward and confusing and quite frankly, I never could figure out how to study them. Sometimes I felt like throwing my hands up in the air and screaming "I don't get it!" Perhaps you have found yourself in a similar situation today when it comes to a joke. You are hanging out with a group of people and someone says, "Hey, has any one heard any good jokes lately?" This is followed by an over anxious person who jumps at the chance to share the latest "funny" he has encountered. The joke is told, everyone is laughing and your left thinking "Which part was the punch-line?" Unfortunately a good joke loses its luster when you try to share humor with someone who just stares at you bewildered saying, "I don't get it." Anyone who has tried to explain a joke to the guy who doesn't "get it" inevitably concludes with, "Now it isn't funny anymore." While the joke is now understood, the immediate response of laughter cannot be recreated. The same is sorta true with parables. They are meant to connect with a person in such a way that they generate an immediate response. While a joke is meant to generate laughter from the hearer, a parable was meant to generate a change in attitude or lifestyle because of immediate conviction in the hearer. Jokes are funny because they contain elements in them that we consider points of reference. Take for instance one of my favorite jokes..."A Mushroom walks up to a pretty lady on the street and says 'Can I buy you cup of coffee?' The lady goes crazy, hitting him with her purse and telling him how gross he is. The Mushroom responds and says 'Whoa, I don't understand, I'm a fungi (fun-guy)'." The point of reference is that we all know the nerves of asking someone out on a date and we all know that a mushroom is a fungus. Laughter comes from the mushroom using his "fungi" nature to justify to the lady that he is a "fun-guy" for a date. This is the same tool that Jesus used as he taught. He took points of reference that everyone in his audience shared to teach deep spiritual truth to their hearts. Jesus was not looking for giggles but instead a radical change in lifestyle from the hearer. We struggle to understand parables because we don't fully understand the points of reference they had back then. When Jesus tells a parable, the hearer would anticipate the "punch-line" of the parable much like we anticipate it for a joke. For us to understand the parables punch-line though we have to study parables in context of the culture they were delivered in. This means we have to study parables and not just read them. Good Bible study always requires us to do the work necessary to understand the context the verses are written in. Another good way to understand parables and experience the "response" Jesus intended is to try to recreate parables using points of reference from today. Take the "Good Samaritan" parable for example. Imagine for a second that a family of four is broken down on the side of the road. They are obviously a poor family based on the condition of the car they drive and the clothes they are wearing. The local Southern Baptist pastor comes riding down the road and they try to flag him down for help. Unfortunately the pastor is on his way to church to prepare a sermon and feels he does not have time to stop. Next comes the president of the local Kiwanis club. Surely he will stop to help the family but he too is late for the weekly club meeting and does not have time. At this point the family is not sure what to do for help. But suddenly a car pulls over and stops. Immediately the family recognizes this man. He is the outspoken atheist in the community. The man is very kind and offers to pay to have the car towed into town. He also invites the stranded family back to his house for dinner and gives them a place to stay until their car is fixed the next day. As you read that story it ought to hit a nerve inside. Of all people, you are telling me the ATHEIST stops to help. That is an outrage. And yet how often do the lost show love better than those who call themselves Christians. This was Jesus' point in his parable. The religious of that day were blinded by their own religion. They were outraged that a "degenerate" Samaritan would do good much like we would be pricked in our hearts by an atheist performing our duties. Now you get the parable. Seek to understand the rest in the same way.