The Stories that Jesus Told Part 1 with Pastor Athol Barnes | 02.02.2025

Once upon a time…

We all love a good story, don’t we?

Jesus was the greatest storyteller when he walked with his disciples. He taught many things in what we call parables, which are simple stories that reveal a deeper meaning. Jesus spoke in parables not simply to teach moral lessons in a way people would remember but to reveal the kingdom of heaven. There are multiple layers to every parable that Jesus taught, but each one shows us something about God’s character and our own hardened, sinful human nature.

Thirty-five percent of the content in the synoptic Gospels is the parables that Jesus told. If parables were Jesus’ primary teaching method, then they should be very important for us to study.

What is a Parable?

The word parable means “to set alongside”. A parable is a story that is set alongside a timeless truth to reinforce or to clarify a certain truth.

Dr/ Albert Mohler defines a parable as, “Surprising stories and word pictures drawn from the familiar, that powerfully reveal to us the unfamiliar”.

God uses this concept throughout the Bible. Sometimes God uses historical accounts to stand as a standard to reveal His character and nature. In the Old Testament, God frequently God referred to himself as, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt”. The Egypt deliverance was their great story.

The books of Esther and Ruth reveal aspects of the nature of God and the Gospel.

The prophets were sometimes called upon to act out the message in sometimes uncomfortable ways, providing a visual parable if you will (look at Jeremiah and Hosea for example).

Job is a true story that has become a parable for the sovereignty of God.

Our creator knows our mind is wired for story because He created it that way. Our creator came, teaching in parables 2000 years ago, and they still speak to us today.

Truth Obscured

When Jesus first taught the parables to the original audience, they were obscure; his listeners didn’t grasp the true meaning of what Jesus was saying. 

The disciples asked Jesus in Matthew 13 verse 10, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”  They noticed that Jesus was not explaining the parables to the people. 

Jesus answered in verse 11, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.”

Why would Jesus intentionally obscure truth from the very people he came to save? The disciples and the people thought they knew who Jesus was. They were expecting a messiah who would overthrow the Roman empire and re-establish the great nation of Israel. The disciples were trying to help Jesus create a following by revealing who he was, or at least who they thought he was. Why was Jesus hiding the truth in stories?

While Jesus explained the parables to his inner circle, he was really speaking to the church that would be birthed after his ascension. The parables are for us, revealing truths about the Kingdom of Heaven.

In verse 12, Jesus explains that there are two kinds of people, those who hear and understand, and those who hear and do not understand.

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