Alright, so last week we began studying parables kind of like overall, right?
And we've been talking about, now we'll get into the parables themselves and we've been
summing like looking at a few of them as we go along like as examples and getting the
lessons out of them which will help when the time comes because there are a lot of parables
and the parables will, if we would study them all one after another after another Old Testament
and New Testament it would take a really long time.
So we won't study them all when that time comes but we'll study a bunch of them that
make a big difference and they all can make a big difference but we're just going to study
a bunch of them that make a big difference in our understanding of what a parable is
and what Jesus' purpose for using parables was.
So that is our ultimate goal.
You'll notice it says parables at the top but I have left a portion of the word for
you to fill in there so you can finish the word parables artistically as you desire or
you can just leave it the way it is if you want.
And then we are starting right at the top of the page under the word parables and you're
going to see a definition for the word parables there.
And if I was describing the word parables and I had a word that began with the letter
F, is anyone going to guess what that word might be?
Faithful is great.
Faith would be good.
I have fictitious or fictional.
Fictional or fictitious.
So this is a definition of the word parables.
It is one that is used when you're studying literature.
So not a Bible study, not looking at the Bible the way we understand it, the inerrant inspired
word of God.
But when you think about the Bible in general as literature, this is a definition.
So the parables are fictitious, fictional, figurative.
Then the next word is particular.
So in other words, they pick out a certain thing and then they're past tense, which is
interesting because right now you're thinking in the back of your head some of the parables
are not past tense in the Bible.
But when they study it, in a minute you're going to see that they call those things something
different.
So that's not a parable.
So fictitious, particular, past tense.
And an example then is the parable, that P is parable, of the, somebody finish it, parable
of the what?
Nope, it's not Lord.
Two words, they go together.
It's the parable of the lost, actually in this case, son.
But that is a parable, Jason, you're right, the parable of the lost son.
Now in the church we call the parable of the lost son what?
The prodigal son.
So that word is not in the Bible, the prodigal is not in the Bible.
It's about a son that runs away from home.
Does anybody know the reference or approximate reference of that parable?
Yes sir.
I can't hear you.
It is in Luke, that is correct.
Does anybody know what chapter?
Ten?
Close, it's fifteen.
And it's verses eleven through thirty-two.
And that's the story, we're not going to read this one today, so I'm just going to give that
brief summary so we make sure we understand we're talking about the same story.
There was a fairly wealthy man, he had two sons, and one guy said, give me my inheritance
now and I'm going to go away and live on my own.
I don't want to live here anymore, I don't want to take care of the farm anymore, I don't
want to do this work anymore, I don't want to be part of this family anymore.
And he took the wealth and he went off and he wound up spending it all on frivolous living,
okay?
To the point that all he had left was a job feeding pigs slop, and he thought, boy, if
only I could eat the slop that the pigs eat, I'd be better off than I am, because I'm starving.
And then he thought, boy, if I could, okay?
He thought, boy, if I could go back to my father's household and become a servant in
my father's household, the servants there are doing so much better than I am, and he
did go home and his dad runs off the porch and grabs him, falls on him, kisses him on
the neck, puts a robe on him, a ring on him, shoes on him, kills the fatted calf, has a
huge party.
Even though he betrayed him, even though he took half his fortune and went and blew it
on frivolous living, the father responds that way in the story, that's the parable of the
prodigal son, or the lost son, as the world studies it as literature, it's a lost son,
okay?
So now go over to the right and you'll see like two curtains, we're going backwards on
that arrow, you'll see two curtains and those are stage lights at the top.
So we went over to the right after the number three, and it says T U, and I'll give you
that because you wouldn't have any guess probably, it's technically, technically, T E C H N I
C A L L Y, technically used, technically used.
So when you take writing, you take a kind of writing and you look at just exactly what
it says, even if it's a parable and it's got some figurative language, you know what, but
you look at what it says and you try to learn from it as that and it's not inspired by God,
you're not thinking of it that way, you're not thinking of it as a word from the Lord,
anything like that, then you're looking at it technically, like it's the same as if you
took the instructions on how to install a TV box or how to put a hard drive in and you
look at those things technically, like okay, if I do this step, this step, this step, this
step, I'm going to get certain results, right?
But if I look at those things, just kind of like poetry, or if I look at them, how they're
written and think of like, oh, it could be not talking about a hard drive, it could be
talking about something else, right?
Then that's not technical, I'm not looking at it technically.
So they would say, this what we're about to see is a technical use of the term parable,
okay?
And the next line is for modern studies, okay?
So it's technically used for modern studies.
So they use that definition that we had for modern studies of literature, which they would
consider the Bible also to be literature.
And some of them are Christians, some of them expect that it's from God and all that kinds
of things, but they still study it as literature.
So it's technically used, modern studies, to distinguish from other but problems arise.
That's what it says.
So in other words, they're going to distinguish a parable from other kinds of writing, and
we're going to look at that here in a second, what those other kinds are.
They're going to distinguish a parable from other kinds of writing, but then right away
you're going to see the issue.
The Bible was, and I'm going to burst the bubble right now by just telling you, the
Bible was not meant to be studied as a literature.
It isn't even meant to be studied as a history book.
Yes, ma'am?
Yes, from other but problems arise.
You could put others with an S. That would make it actually decent grammar.
Not great, but decent enough.
From others but problems arise.
Okay?
So this was not meant to be studied as a piece of literature.
It's not meant to be studied just as a history writing.
It's not meant to be studied as the textbooks they used to use in school, although that's
true.
This was the only textbook that existed, right, in regular, like up through seventh or eighth
grade at least.
Okay.
So that definition that we just looked at, fictitious, particular, past tense, such as
the parable of the lost son, that is the definition that they use when they're talking about it
in technical modern studies, technically used modern studies.
Now you follow the arrow down to the middle.
When I said others, we're now going to talk about what the others are.
How would they say a parable is different from other types of writing?
Okay?
And the first one is on the left.
You like these, Josh?
And it is a similitude.
S-I-M-I-L-I-T-U-D.
It's all I's.
It comes from the word simile.
So it's S-I-M-I-L-I-T-U-D-E.
We're not going there yet.
We'll get there in a minute.
Don't jump ahead of me.
Okay?
So the first one is similitude.
And a similitude is a comparison.
C stands for comparison.
Okay?
Now you know about the parables that when Jesus talked and told parables himself that
he told parables about farming, he told parables about agriculture, he told parables about
war, about building, all kinds of things.
But all of these are using real life examples.
So that's the next line, using real life examples.
Anybody want to take a stab at PT?
So we have similitude.
It's a comparison using real life examples.
What do you think PT might stand for?
Say it again.
Past tense.
That is correct.
Past tense is correct.
So these stories would be considered past tense.
Okay?
So they would say that Jesus used similitudes.
Remember, there are problems with that assessment, but he would say he used similitudes.
And they are stories using real life examples that are past tense.
And they would say that they are comparing one thing to another.
So I'm going to give you, I'm going to read one to you now.
It's just very short.
It comes from Matthew 13.
So that's Matthew 13, 31 and 32.
He presented this to them.
He presented another parable to them saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed.
So when you see that is like a, the like is what makes it a simile.
A simile is when you use as or like.
He had a big nose like a school bus.
I mean, that's a weird symbol, simile, right?
But it's big like a school bus.
School buses are big.
So that's a simile.
It was blue like a winter sky.
Right?
So we use like or as, that's a simile.
And these similitudes use language like that to compare one thing to another.
So they say that's what this is.
They would say that what we're reading now is not a parable.
If you remember from last week's study, we studied it pretty thoroughly and we came up
with there was a much broader definition of parable and this would definitely be included.
But modern literature, people studying it would say, no, this is actually a similitude.
So I hope you're following my logic.
He presented another parable to them saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed,
which a man took and sowed in his field.
And this is smaller than all other seeds.
See it's a comparison.
One seed to another.
But when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants.
See it's a comparison.
The plant produced by the seed is larger than the garden plants.
So he's saying it's a comparison.
This is smaller than all other seeds.
But when it's full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree so that
the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.
Okay?
So they would say in modern literature studies that is a similitude, not a parable.
Even though the Bible says, remember we looked at that word last week.
Does anybody remember the word from last week?
Nope, not the actual word for parable is what I'm looking for.
But you're right, that was one.
We'll get there on that.
Parable A. That's right.
So that word right there where it says he presented another parable is the word parable
A. It goes all the way back to the Greek and then it came to the Latin, to the English.
Right?
So it's parable A. And when it came to the English, they made up that word because it
didn't previously exist.
It came from through that chain.
All right?
And so then all of this we're studying is the debate of what a parable is.
That's what we're talking about.
And last week we concluded because of what the Bible says, that it is a broad category
of things and this would be a parable.
Okay?
But modern studies says it's not a parable.
It's actually a similitude where he's comparing one thing to another, which in this case is
seed to seed, seed to kingdom of heaven.
So can somebody give me, Bible scholars or Holy Spirit led people ready to preach, tell
me what is the lesson that we learn from the parable or similitude of the mustard seed?
Go ahead.
I'm going to remind you what it says.
It says the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field,
smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it's larger than the garden
plants and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.
So what does that teach us?
I mean it could be several things, but give me one thing.
Say it again.
I love my tree.
Okay.
Somebody else want to take a stab at it?
Okay.
There you go.
So he's saying that Jesus is teaching us that there is a certain kind of seed, and I submit
to you it's a kingdom seed, right?
It's a God thing, that planted will ultimately have a huge impact.
But then he takes that and he says the kingdom of God is like that.
I'll give you an example.
I just told some of this story.
I read it this last week and you might hear it again on a Sunday sermon upcoming if it
applies at that time.
And D.L.
Moody tells this story where he goes to a train station late at night and there's a
man standing under street light, kind of gruff looking dude, and the Holy Spirit led him
to go up and talk to him.
And he walked up to him and he said, are you a Christian?
And he said, get away from me.
And he got really mad.
How dare you ask me that?
And he blew up at him for even asking that question.
The man did.
And D.L.
Moody said, he said, it's none of your business.
And he said, actually, I'm a Christian.
I'm a follower of the Lord.
It is exactly my business.
This is what I do.
And he said, but if you don't want to talk about it, you don't want to talk about it,
you let it go.
Six months later, that man come knocking at his door, he knocks his door and he goes,
opens the door.
And there's that man standing there and it was quite a surprise to him.
I'm not sure if he immediately recognized him or not, and that man said, can you tell
me how to become a Christian?
So just that question, are you a Christian?
Even though the man blew up or whatever, six months later becomes everything that leads
that man to become a Christian, to desire to become a Christian.
The kingdom of God is like that.
That's what the parable is.
So Jesus is trying to say, just get started.
Just do something godly.
Just do what God wants you to do.
You don't have to understand why.
You don't even have to understand what the results are going to be.
Maybe in this lifetime you may never know what the results are going to be, but God
is going to blow it up.
As long as it's kingdom, it's going to grow and it'll have a huge impact on the world.
So that similitude or what we believe, parable, teaches us that.
So then the middle one, the E, we're ready for the E. Exemplary, exemplary.
So when something is exemplary, without looking it up, yes?
It is not a comparison.
Very good, Caleb.
So our next phrase there is not a comparison.
He is correct.
Okay?
That being said, somebody tell me what exemplary does mean.
E-X-E-M-P-L-A-R-Y.
In layman's terms, simply put, what does exemplary mean?
What word does it come from?
You know that, right?
It comes from example.
Okay?
So what is an example?
Exemplary means has the character of an example.
That's what exemplary means.
So what is an example?
Okay, that's a good kind of what an example does, yes?
Say it again.
Okay, could be, could be, yeah, to tell what it's like.
Okay, so an example is, you want to do it?
You want to do it?
In layman's terms?
Okay, it could be something, one definition is something worth imitating.
Okay?
Or something that stands out, and I submit to you, it also could be something that you
don't want to imitate, right?
Like the example of the guy on death row, he's an example of how you don't want to be,
right?
Some people are like that, and that's where this is going to go.
So exemplary, not a comparison.
Caleb got that right, not a comparison.
Okay?
It's typical, the T is typical.
So it means it's like the way things normally are, okay?
Or recurring.
So in other words, it's a thing that happens sometimes.
It's happened before.
Talking about a storm, storms happen.
Talking about a seed being buried, seeds get buried, right?
So it's a thing that we're kind of sort of familiar with happens in the world.
Might be talking about an earthquake, we know earthquakes happen.
Typical or recurring event, and there's that RL again, what was the RL?
Say it again?
Real life, that's right, real life, very good.
Okay?
What was the E?
The E is event, recurring event, a recurring event is something that happens.
Okay?
And then it's talking about people a lot of times, even though it might be done in symbolic
language.
So it's referring to personal character traits.
The next three blanks are personal character traits.
And then what do you think the P or N stands for?
If it's personal character traits, you have two kinds of personal character traits and
they are P or N.
Go.
It's okay.
I'm going to take a stab at it.
If you have personal character traits, you divide them into two categories.
One is you pick your nose and the other is you never tell a lie.
Positive or negative.
That's right.
Okay?
And that's reversed.
Actually, picking the nose is negative.
Never telling a lie would be positive.
Okay?
So they're personal character traits, positive or negatives.
And then they are to be I, Josh already gave us that, imitated or starts with an A.
Avoided.
Perfect.
Yep.
So they are, so it's talking about personal character traits, positive or negative, to
be imitated or avoided.
Okay?
And then this is a list of parables.
So we have the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Very good.
And the reference is under the line there.
It is Luke 10, 30 to 35.
Do we know this story?
I'll give you a basic summary.
Can you give me a basic summary of the parable of the Good Samaritan?
It's, I think it's about, I want to keep doing my turn at all.
That's all right.
Sorry.
So I'm going to take a stab at it.
Chris, go.
Yep.
That's the Luke.
Yep.
So why is he called the Good Samaritan?
Yes, he was a Samaritan.
And people looked down on Samaritans.
They were half-breeds.
And he was called the Good Samaritan because he was the one who helped.
Right?
Does anybody remember why that parable was told?
They asked Jesus a question.
Yes, they asked Jesus, who is my neighbor?
And that's, Jesus told that story.
Okay?
And at the end of the story, what is the answer?
What does he say?
Does anybody remember?
Who was neighborly to the man or who was good to the man who fell on the road?
And then they said, the Samaritan.
And Jesus said, go and do likewise.
So what is he basically saying?
He's saying, stop asking who your neighbor is and be a neighbor.
Right?
That's the basics of the story.
So they were looking for an out.
They wanted to be told they didn't have to help people if their people were in a certain
circumstance.
Then they could dismiss them and say, well, that's not my neighbor, I'm not required
to help them.
And Jesus didn't give them out.
He said, you go and be a neighbor.
That's what you actually are supposed to do.
All right.
So that's the parable of the Good Samaritan.
So in that parable, the Samaritan has personal character traits that are to be imitated.
We should be like the Samaritan.
But also there were some priests, as Chris mentioned, who were in the parable who had
personal character traits, who were not to be imitated.
They were to be avoided, which is not the way the Jewish people normally would have
thought.
They would have been like, oh, priests, holy, good.
They preach the word.
They teach the word.
They know more Bible than I do, all those kinds of things.
So I want to be like the priests.
That's what they thought.
But Jesus said the opposite.
When the priests are like this, you don't want to be like the priests.
So that is the emphasis of the exemplary story, which is a kind of literature, they would
say.
We're not going to do all of these, but we'll look at the next one.
So the next one is the rich fool.
It's the rich fool.
It's already filled in for you.
And it's in Luke 12.
Does anybody remember the parable of the rich fool?
Just a basic summary without us having to read it?
There's a guy and he's rich.
And he decides he's so rich, he's having a problem.
And he decides he's going to fix his problem.
Isn't he even unhappy?
No.
I mean, he might have decided to do something to make himself more happy, but he wasn't
really unhappy.
Nope.
That's a different fool.
Apparently there's more than one fool around.
The land of a certain rich man was very productive and he began reasoning to himself saying,
what shall I do since I have no place to store my crops?
And he said, this is what I will do.
I will tear down my barns and build larger ones and there I will store all my grain and
my goods.
And I will say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come.
Take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.
There's making himself happy, I guess.
But God said to him, you fool, this very night your soul is required of you and now who will
the man, I'm sorry, and now who will own what you have prepared?
So is the man who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.
That one fit really well with this last Sunday's sermon.
So that's the parable of the rich fool.
And it is an example, he is an example of personal character traits to be avoided.
So that's why they're looking at these pieces of literature this way, is because they see
that.
And then there's the next one is the blank man and Lazarus.
What was his adjective?
What was he?
What goes in the blank?
Say that again.
Wealthy or rich, is a rich man and Lazarus.
We won't go there and read it again for the interest of time, but this is the story of
Lazarus.
Interestingly enough, in modern literature they immediately say this is not a parable
because it's exemplary, it's that kind of literature.
Do we say it's a parable?
The story of Lazarus and the rich man, do Christians say that that's a parable?
Are you with me, girls?
Natalie, do you think it's a parable?
Rich man and Lazarus?
Do Christians say it's a parable or not?
No.
Okay.
Does anybody know why?
You're right.
Why?
Do you know why?
Because he was alive at the time.
Lazarus, not living.
That is correct.
That's pretty good, man.
I'm surprised you got that.
I guessed.
You guessed well.
So that is correct.
It is the only story that Jesus tells and it uses the name of a man who was actually
alive during his day.
In any case, it uses a name.
So even if it was a different Lazarus, it uses a name.
None of the others do that.
There was a king, there was a shepherd, there was a farmer, never a name.
But this story has a name.
So it is probably almost surely not a parable.
It is the story of an actual event that occurred during their time.
So Christians realize that is not a parable.
And interestingly enough then, so they study it and they say, no, we don't think it's a
parable either.
We think it's an example of a real life event that took place and it has negative personal
character traits and we should not imitate what the rich man did.
And we should imitate what Lazarus did if you can.
And I'm not sure you really can.
And then there is the, anybody want to fill in the blanks?
Can you guess it?
Okay, it's tax collector.
What was the first part?
What was the P?
Payor?
Oh, the payer.
Okay, no.
So it is tax collector.
That's correct.
We need the P yet.
It's the.
We just need the P, the plank and tax collector.
These guys are pretty famous preachers in that day.
Pharisees, that's right.
It's a Pharisee and tax collector.
Okay, there you go.
There's a fun one for you.
P-H-A-R-I-S-E-E.
Not a word we use other than in that context.
Although, you can be Pharisaic, which means you pretend to be righteous, basically.
I replace the P into the other.
Okay, Pharisaan.
Okay, sounds like a video game.
Okay, so we're not going to read it, but the story is basically two guys go and they're
praying, right?
Two men went up to see him.
One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood, was praying, bless to himself.
God, I thank thee.
I'm not like other people.
Swindlers, unjust adulterers, or even like this tax gatherer.
I fast twice a week.
I guess I did read it.
I pay tithes and all that I get.
But the tax gatherer standing some distance away was even unwilling to lift up his eyes
to heaven, but was beating his breast saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner.
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.
For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted.
Okay, and in that case, the character traits that are good to be imitated are named and
the character traits that are to be avoided are also named.
So it was in there.
Jesus actually said it.
Okay, so that one's exemplary.
And then the last one, and this is where it really starts to become a problem, is on the
right hand side and I filled it in for you.
It's allegory.
We talked about this a lot last week, but this is their idea, if you will, of allegory.
So in modern studies, allegory, this category is the most difficult.
Those two blanks right there are the most difficult.
And allegory is difficult.
We talked about quite a bit about it last week because it is difficult.
It's hard to understand allegory.
It's hard to digest it.
But that's part of the lure of the parables is that there's a lot of allegory in them.
Okay.
So then it says common.
It's a series of related, and we have an M. Maybe we'll take a stab for what that M might
be.
Metaphors.
Very good.
I'm impressed.
A series of related metaphors.
And so they're saying an allegory, that's the definition of an allegory, which notice
that makes it different than their definition of a parable, different than their definition
of a similitude, and different than their definition of an exemplary story.
Okay.
So an allegory would be different because it is a series of related metaphors.
Okay.
Then it does not use, so we fill in does not use, an X for your blank, does not use like
or as.
It does not use like or as.
What kind of speech did we talk about that uses like or as?
So if we say the man has a nose like a bus, it's a simile, or this type of story would
be a similitude.
Okay.
So this does not use like or as.
So if you read any story and it has a like or an as in it, it would not fit in their
category of allegory.
It probably would fit in similitude, but it could still fit somewhere else if it was something
else, right?
If it fit one of the other definitions better.
Okay.
So here we go.
Does not use like or as.
So now we're going to talk about the issues.
This is where it really becomes a problem.
And actually what happens is these problems are so severe that they kind of throw out
this whole system that I've just explained to you a little bit.
It doesn't, there are, there's still value in it.
Like I mentioned where exemplary better understands the story of the rich man and Lazarus than
people who say it's a parable, right?
So if some people make that mistake, call it a parable, then exemplary would do a better
job of explaining that story than calling it a parable would do.
So there's still some value in it, but these problems that I'm going to lay out, they're
really only just two of them.
The problems I'm going to lay out explain to you why this, their system doesn't quite
work.
Okay.
So the first one is there's not too many words that start with OBS in the English language.
Anybody want to name one?
What?
It's not obstacle, but that would be a decent word.
It's not observation either.
Obscure is the word.
Is that what you said?
I missed it.
I'm sorry.
So obscure or obscurity.
Obscurity is OBS, C-U-R-I-T-Y.
Obscurity.
So this is the question.
Jesus made it clear while he's teaching, if you're going to use their system to look at
his teachings, which you would have to do because they consider the Bible a piece of
literature, right?
So you're going to use their system to look at his teachings.
It's clear that Jesus had to explain the parables to his disciples, not always, but often.
And he did.
He was teaching them.
He wouldn't teach the crowds, right?
So he would say it to the crowds and the crowds would go, oh, that's really, you know, they
would all act like they understood it or they would have questions or whatever.
And then he would go back over here and the disciples say, could you explain that to us?
And he would explain it in detail.
So that means that if the metaphors that make up the series, remember it's a series of related
metaphors, if the metaphors are obscure enough that they need decoded, right?
You see that word, I got that word already there for you, decoded, which is what Jesus
was doing.
He was decoding the metaphors.
So if they're obscure enough that they need to be decoded or are they common?
The next word is common.
Okay.
So do they need decoded or are they common?
And when you read the metaphors, you read the parables, you think, man, I think this
needs decoded.
That's the first thing you see, right?
You think it's obscure enough, but how obscure does it have to be in order for it to be allegory
is the question.
If it's common enough that anybody can read it, then it's not really, it doesn't make
any sense.
It doesn't fit with all of these allegories that are being used that are not easily understood.
So there's a contrast there.
Also, the next one is how many, anybody want to put the RM in there?
Remember what we're talking about?
Perfect.
Very good.
How many related metaphors do you have to have?
Just two, three, five.
If the definition is you have to have a series of related metaphors, what forms a series?
And what happens if the metaphor is right at the beginning and then there's the whole
store and then there's just one at the bottom and there's a whole bunch of stuff in the
middle?
Does that still make it an allegory?
Isn't that confusing?
That makes it a hard definition.
Say again.
Related metaphors.
So the question is how many related metaphors would be required to define allegory?
And if you had just two metaphors and they, so you've got, the whole thing includes two
metaphors, but it's not exemplary or a similitude or fit the definition of a parable at the
top, then what is it?
Cause this is all there are.
It's just these four things.
So then the problem is like, what is it?
So the two big problems are they go, well, that's allegory.
No it's parable.
No, it's allegory.
No, it's parable because parable is the other than the allegory.
Parable is the broadest category, but some things just don't fit, especially like if
they're not fictional, for example, or if they're not past tense, for example.
So if you had a present tense story that had just two metaphors, one at the very beginning,
one at the very end, and there's a bunch of stuff in the middle, is that an allegory?
And if it's not, where does it go?
There's nothing.
It doesn't fit anywhere.
And so that's what blows up the system because based on this system, there are other parts
of literature that don't fit in any of these four categories.
Or you would have to say, well, just two metaphors is enough, right?
In which case then you jump things that are clearly not parables, clearly they're not
meant to be even that kind of speech or that kind of writing.
You jump it into this category all of a sudden.
So now everything's an allegory pretty much because you can say, well, that could be a
metaphor.
There's one.
That's a series.
One's a series.
But no way.
It's clearly a parable.
And that's why I put the boxing gloves there because what happens is they start fighting
is it allegory or is it parable?
And they're back and forth and back and forth.
And now you look at the people who do this and you cannot find agreement.
If you ask them about a hundred, bless you, if you ask them about a hundred parables slash
allegories or whatever, one puts 51 in the allegory category and the other one puts
the other 51 in the parables, but they're not the same 51.
Or you've got people say, well, that's not even allegory or parable.
It actually goes over here in this other category.
And they're fighting like crazy.
There's no peace.
There's no settlement of what it means.
You can't even get majority actually.
All right.
And so there are value to understanding that the parables break down to some degree into
these categories, but to say that something is not a parable because it fits one of these
other three categories would be incorrect.
Makes sense?
So when Jesus says it's a parable, parable A, and it's a similitude as well, actually
what we have is a similitude that's a parable.
Not, oh, well, he didn't really mean it was a parable because it's actually obviously
a similitude.
So it's not really a parable.
Right?
So that's the end result of all of that.
And then on the diagonal down to the right, it says ready to fight.
So here's the question that I have for you.
So we're reading the Bible, we're studying the Bible, and we get a story like the parable
of Lazarus and the rich man, except it's not a parable, right?
It's an actual story because it's got a name in it.
So we know it's an actual story.
Are you willing to fight over that?
Or you read a story where Jesus tells about the mustard seed in the kingdom of God.
Are you ready to fight and say, well, that's a similitude?
No, that's a parable.
Well, a parable can't be a similitude.
Are you willing to do that?
And the answer should be no, because what we looked at last week, we dug deeply into
the parables.
And what we found was that biblically speaking, they are used to communicate complex ideas
in a simple way.
But they contain allegories sometimes.
They illustrate or teach, right?
They have a broad meaning.
So you might read the parable one time and it means one thing to you.
You might read it another time and it actually means another thing, right?
And so it's not that the first one is ruled out, but God is using it to speak another
way at another time.
Okay.
All right.
So we're going to ask some questions off this page.
If you filled it in, you should be able to get most of them.
I'll try to be a little tricky with my questions.
Are you guys ready?
All right.
It's time to make the sweet tooth work.
Okay.
This kind, according to the technically used modern studies definitions, this kind of story
is not a comparison.
Jason.
Exemplary.
That is correct.
Nice catch.
Woo.
Don't stand in front of that one.
Okay.
All right.
So there is a question of whether or not the allegories need to be decoded or common.
If they need to be decoded, then they should be this.
Somebody else a chance.
Hold on, Jason.
You want to take a stab at it?
Go.
Say that again.
Okay.
They are related metaphors, but if they're related metaphors that need to be decoded,
what is that fancy word that we use to describe them?
Yeah.
Who said it?
All right.
Ladies.
One for each of you.
Okay.
Don't steal their chocolate.
Never steal a lady's chocolate.
It's very dangerous.
All right.
In the parable of the good Samaritan, what were the professions of the men whose personal
character traits we should not imitate?
Caleb.
That's correct.
There we go.
It has a stick in it, so be careful.
Those little candy bars fly really good.
They do.
Okay.
Again, this is all in the technically used modern studies idea.
I said personal character traits break down into two groups, and those two groups are?
Wait for it.
That is correct.
That was well thrown.
You should have just caught it.
Okay.
All right.
Somebody say parable in Greek.
Parable in Greek.
Jason's on a roll.
Would you like a... You have coffee right before you came in here or what?
Okay.
In the English language, a simile uses one of these two words.
Caleb?
Like or as.
That's correct.
By the way, if you know that and you haven't learned it in English and then you go tell
your English teacher, she'll be all super excited and stuff.
Okay.
All right.
In this whole system, parables, similitude, and exemplary all are stories of events that
come from where?
Real life is correct.
I'll give it to both of you.
She's going to get it.
We're going to make them all catchers is what we're going to do.
All right.
What was the job of the prodigal son when he decided to go home?
Go.
That's right.
He's a pig feeder.
Jason, you better start sharing candy with friends over there, man, because you don't
need to eat all that candy anyway.
Start passing it out to people.
Okay.
All right.
Okay.
In similitude and the story type of similitude, all of the real life events take place when?
Past tense is correct.
You do that.
There's a person answering.
They're right there.
Right there.
Okay.
Let's see.
All right.
Let's do this.
Okay.
In the story of the rich fool, the man decides to build Caleb go bigger barns.
That is correct.
All right.
Here's one.
If you were paying attention.
Okay.
In the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector, which one did Jesus say would go away justified?
Tax collector is right.
Okay.
One, two, three.
Is there one more?
No.
I miscounted.
Okay.
I don't know how I called that one.
You're getting there.
All right.
Okay.
I'm going to give you a quick summary of this and then we're done.
What we have done is an overview discussion of how people look at parables, and I'm going
to be specific, in the Bible.
Okay.
Some people look at this as literature.
Some people look at it as a great history book or a textbook or whatever.
We know that it is so much more than that.
This is the inspired word of God, and every word that's in here from cover to cover, as
we've talked about in the past, is useful for God to work in the kingdom of God, to
work in his people, to change people, to grow people, to win souls, all of those things.
So, do we really need to take a certain story and understand what kind of story it is?
I think there's value in it for purposes of study, but the most important thing that we
need to ask ourselves, and that's what we're going to get into, starting with the parables,
we're actually going to look at parables next week.
The most important thing is we ask ourselves, what was Jesus or whoever, because some of
the parables are not told by Jesus.
Okay.
What were they trying to teach?
What was the point of the story?
What is the main thing that was being accomplished?
And a couple of those we did tonight, and like in the one, Jesus told us himself, the
humble will be exalted and the exalted will be humbled.
So, he kind of told us himself how you should act, what kind of person you're supposed to
be as a follower of God.
But there are some parables, and one in particular, and this is homework, if you know this, don't
shout out the answer.
There is a single parable that Jesus said, how will you understand all the rest of the
parables unless you understand this one?
Okay.
So, bring that, don't share it around, but bring that information for next week if you
have it, and we'll be ready to go into look at parables.
I want to say this much, as a Christian, I don't know that you will ever gain more value
from the Word of God than being able to say, what is God trying to say here, and come up
with the right answer.
If you can do that, then you can use it for your life, right?
And also, it's exciting.
You can literally go through the New Testament and read all the different parables and what
is Jesus saying to me out of this?
Now, what is he saying to me out of this?
And you can be changed day after day after day if you allow it to be more like what Jesus
wants us to be like.
But if you'll just look at it as literature, or you just look at it as a story, or that's
kind of cool, or yeah, man, he really put them on the spot, then you're not going to
get the value out of it that you could, okay?
But I think we can get there.
I think we can get to the point where every one of us can look at every one of the parables
without help from anybody else in this room, except the Holy Spirit, of course, and say,
okay, what is God saying here?
What does he want me to do about that?
And that's the goal.
So that in that sense, you don't need me or anybody else, your parent, your teacher, or
whatever, to do that with you.
You can do it yourself.
Okay, let's pray, and then we'll be through.
In heaven, I just want to praise you on a day when a lot of goofy things happened, also
on the integral, in that it was Jesus who incited those separately from their outsides.