- [Jon] Jesus of Nazareth was a master teacher.
And some of his most well known teachings are told
in short stories called parables.
- [Tim] Yeah, like the Kingdom of Heaven
is like a merchant who was looking for pearls.
And when he found the ultimate pearl,
he sold everything so that he could buy it.
- [Jon] It must have been some pretty amazing pearl.
- [Tim] Or the Kingdom of God
is like a tiny mustard seed
that a farmer planted in his garden.
It grew and became a huge tree
and birds came to perch in its branches.
- [Jon] And that's a beautiful image,
but what does it mean?
- [Tim] Exactly.
Jesus didn't tell parables to make everything clear.
Rather he wanted to provoke the imagination
and invite people to see what God is doing
in the world from a new perspective.
- [Jon] So let's talk about
how to read the parables of Jesus.
Now, there's many great teachers
that throughout history have used stories to teach students
about morality, religion, philosophy.
- [Tim] But Jesus didn't use his parables
to teach abstract religious or moral ideals.
He said that his parables were
about himself and his mission.
- [Jon] His mission, which was to announce
that the Kingdom of God was arriving on Earth
as it is in Heaven.
- [Tim] Right.
So in Jesus' day, the Israelites were ruled
by the Roman empire, but their Scriptures promised
that one day their God would come
to rule his people as king.
And so many Israelites wanted to revolt
against Rome and fight for their freedom.
- [Jon] And this is what some people thought
of as the Kingdom of God.
- [Tim] Exactly.
But Jesus was a poor traveling prophet,
healing the sick, inviting people to follow him.
And he said that this was the arrival of God's Kingdom.
- [Jon] And that didn't fit people's expectations.
- [Tim] Right.
And so Jesus used some parables to help people imagine
that his small movement was the arrival of God's Kingdom.
- [Jon] Oh yeah, like the parable that the Kingdom
of God is yeast hidden in a lump of dough.
And you might not see its influence,
but it's gonna change everything.
- [Tim] Jesus also told parables
about the upside-down values of God's Kingdom,
about how the least important people in the world
are actually the most important people to God,
especially those who are poor and of low status.
- [Jon] Yeah, like the parable
about the business owner who hired workers
throughout the day, in the morning, later in the day,
and even towards the end of the day.
And when it was time to pay everyone,
he paid them all the same wage.
- [Tim] Right.
Jesus is showing how money and status are irrelevant
to God, who offers his generous mercy to everybody.
- [Jon] Now, not all of the parables
have happy endings.
Some are really intense.
- [Tim] Yes, Jesus stood in the tradition
of Israel's prophets who also told parables
to criticize Israel's leaders
because they mistook their kingdom for God's.
So Jesus warned the leaders of his day
if they don't accept his offer of God's Kingdom,
they're headed for destruction.
- [Jon] Yeah, like the parable of the landowner
who built a wonderful vineyard
and he expects it to produce fruit.
- [Tim] Yes, Jesus gets this parable
from the prophet Isaiah, but then he adapts it.
- [Jon] Right, so the landowner appoints managers
to take care of this vineyard.
And at harvest, he sends servants to collect the fruit,
but those managers kill the servants.
- [Tim] And so the landowner sends his own son
to confront the managers and they kill him too.
And so Jesus asked the people around him,
what do you all think this landowner should do?
- [Jon] Oh, he's gonna punish those managers
and hire new ones.
- [Tim] Jesus knew that if Israel
kept on their current path
they would be destroyed by Rome.
And so in parables like this,
he's forcing people to make a decision
about his offer of God's Kingdom.
Are people going to reject him,
ignore him, or trust and follow him?
- [Jon] Now, if this message of God's Kingdom
is so important,
why cloak it in parables?
Why not be more clear?
- [Tim] Well, through riddles and parables
Jesus could make really bold claims that revealed truth
to people who were open-minded.
- [Jon] For those who have ears to hear.
They could ponder it and go deeper.
- [Tim] But the parables
would also conceal his message from those who were
against him so that he could buy more time.
- [Jon] Buy time?
For what?
- [Tim] Well, Jesus was preparing
his closest followers for the greatest surprise yet.
Jesus claimed that Israel's God was coming
to rule over his people,
not through coercion or violent force,
but through self-giving love
as he was going to die for their sins.
- [Jon] But his death wasn't the end.
- [Tim] Right.
He said that his death would be
like a tiny seed buried in the ground,
but then it would grow and produce a crop with many seeds.
- [Jon] So these parables,
they explain who Jesus was and what he was up to.
- [Tim] And the Gospel authors
have preserved these parables so that now every generation
of Jesus' followers can read and ponder them.
- [Jon] And imagine how God's Kingdom
is still at work even today.
- [Tim] Right.
These ancient parables are still full
of new surprises and challenges.
They're like a storehouse packed with treasures.
Some that are new, some that are old,
and it's all just waiting to be discovered.