How Things Work: A Brief History of Reality
BOOK II: The Power of Three (Science & Religion) – Consideration #109. "Understanding the Parables of Jesus"
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Tuesday November 14, 2023
“Jesus was short on sermons, long on conversations; short on answers, long on questions; short on abstraction and propositions, long on stories and parables; short on telling you what to think, long on challenging you to think for yourself.”
– Brian D. McLaren
PREFACE
Welcome Everybody!
Jesus often spoke in what are commonly known as parables, or analogies. There are twenty-three parables in the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew saw this not as a communication style, but as another fulfillment of Messianic prophecy.
“In them [parables] is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’"
Matthew 13:14-15
However, there were many other practical reasons why Jesus chose to speak in parables.
CONSIDERATION #109 – “Understanding the Parables of Jesus”
Jesus considered his teachings regarding the nature of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, and True Righteousness to be extraordinarily consequential and powerful. They were also extremely controversial and dangerous. Going against, or even questioning, some Jewish dogma could get you killed.
Parables were a way of “hiding” some of these controversial truths such that those who heard them, and could do harm, would be confused. Whereas those who were called would be confused yet intrigued, leading them to seek more information and knowledge. Parables were a way of managing who would get additional teaching and who would not. Thus, those who recognized the truth, would be entitled to even more truth.
“The disciples came to him and asked, ‘Why do you speak to the people in parables?’
He replied, ‘Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables:
Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’’
So, those who meant to harm Jesus, such as the Pharisees and Sadducees, would not understand the point of Jesus’ sermons. However, later, Jesus would explain the hidden meaning to his disciples and followers in private.
“Then he told them many things in parables, saying: ‘A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Matthew 13: 3-9
Those who have “ears to hear” will understand, or later be explained, the meaning of the parable. However, those who do not understand the parable have no ears to hear, therefore, they will simply be confounded by the story. Those who have ears capable of hearing the truth will be given more truth, while those who do not will remain ignorant and receive no further explanation.
However, Jesus often explains the parables directly to his disciples.
“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
Matthew 13:18-23
Parables were used by Jesus to communicate deep theological principles in a way that was simple, straight forward, and secret. They also prophesied, or foreshadowed, the dark and dangerous times ahead for his ministry. There are consistent references to the persecution that would be suffered by those who stood with him, and the word.
POSTSCRIPT
Unlike the Jewish leaders of the time who leaned heavily on the Law of Moses to explain the nature of divine will, Jesus used simple analogies and stories that people related to personally. He did not tell people “what to do,” he encouraged them to consider things from another perspective. What might the world look like if you could “see” it differently?
Jesus’ focus was not on sin; his focus was on the cause of sin. The cause of sin was a separation from God that occurred in the Garden of Eden. Jesus’ mission was to reunify God and Mankind in a new Garden of Eden he called the Kingdom of Heaven.
Next week we will begin a special three-part “metaphysical thought-experiment” related to Quantum Miracles based on a modern mythology surrounding a strange speculative story related to the alleged creation of a secret time-device supposedly invented in the 1950’s by a Benedictine Priest named Pellegrino Ernetti called the Chronovisor…
This Week on “The Thread”…
Excerpt From This Week’s Podcast…
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•UNTANGLING THE KNOTS OF REALITY: Podcast #69 – Untangling Western Metaphysics and the Catholic Church (How are Greek metaphysics connected to Christianity and Science? How is the Holy Trinity similar to other Western abstractions? How did Descartes’ understanding of rational and inspired reason lead to the break between science and religion? How does geometry, atomic theory, and the Holy Trinity demonstrate the power of three? Is all reality simply an expression of rational trilogies as suggested by Hegel? These are a few of the knots we will attempt to untangle in this week’s podcast. That’s a lot of Christian metaphysics for one podcast! So, let’s get started….
• REALITY BY A THREAD: Quantum Miracles (Parallel Universes & Dimensions ) “The idea of parallel universes is not really a theory of physics, but rather a conclusion reached by several theories within physics: particularly quantum mechanics and String Theory. There are many expressions of this “multiverse” within the various theories. In 2003, a young MIT physicist, named Max Tegemark, classified these universes into four possible categories in a paper titled, ‘Science and Ultimate Reality.’”
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