Jesus Christ Parables Impact, Essay Example

Introduction

In his teaching, Jesus Christ embraced so much use of parables to pass on his message as opposed to using plain language. Of course, he had many varied reasons for doing this. First, what is a parable? A parable is a story either in prose or in verse form whose major aim is to illustrate principles or lessons. Most if not all the time parables like using animals, plants, objects or even human beings to put across their message (Davis, 168). There are many reasons as to why Christ liked using parables in His teachings. The first one being that it was one way of dividing between serious seekers of God’s kingdom vs. jokers. Secondly, Christ did not want to reveal everything about Him before His time was due. This was to allow Him minster fully to the flock before His time of departure came. Finally Christ used parables to enable provoke critical thinking among the followers.

Parable of the sower and seeds

This is one of the most popular parables that were told by Christ. It is narrated in almost all the gospel books i.e. Luke, Mark and Mathew. The story goes as follows:

A sower went out to plant seeds. During this exercise, some seeds fell on the path, others on the rock. The third category of the seeds fell among the thorns while the last group of seeds fell on good soil. The first batch of the seeds that fell on the path were eaten by the birds of air besides being trodden by people who were using the path. Due to these conditions, the seeds never even grew in the first place. The second category of seeds that fell on the rock grew up, but on the process, they withered away because there was no moisture. At the end of the day, they just died like that. The third batch that fell among the thorns started growing well but in the process were choked by the thorns. Finally, the seeds that fell on good soil grew up well and in the end yielded a hundred fold (Mathew 13:4).

Interpretation

One good thing about Christ is that He tried and interpreted the parables to the followers. He did not just leave them like that. In his interpretation, He told them that the seed is the word of God. The first group of seeds that fell on the path represents a group of people. These are the type of people who get the gospel or the word of god but immediately the devil comes and snatches it away from them. Due to this, they never even get a chance to benefit from the word. Therefore, they continue with their unhappy life of living in sin and never get an opportunity to believe the word and be saved through it.

The second category of seeds that fell on the rock grew but withered away due to lack of moisture represent also another class of people. These are the type of people who gladly receive the word but during temptation times, they fall away. This is either because they have no root in the word and hence when temptations come they are easily left aside or temptations are stronger that their faith. These really represent a great number of human beings. Because during the first time a person hears the good news of salvation, they tend to receive it with joy but as time goes by, they drop it. Hence, they never grow to maturity in their faith (Luke 8:13).

The next batch of seeds that fell among thorns represent those individuals that receive the word well until it starts growing in them. It is at such time that the pleasures, cares and riches of this life choke them up. As a result they never get a chance to grow to maturity in their Christian faith. These also represent a sizeable number of Christians in our contemporary Christian life. When people get the word, of God in the first time they tend to receive it warmly but as time goes by, they are carried away with their activities of everyday life that they forgot about their faith. This is because in or daily life there are many challenges that we are supposed to contend with.

Lastly, talking of the good seed that fell on the good soil and grew up to maturity and yielded a great harvest, also represents a group of people. These are the type of people who receive the word of God, take time to understand it and finally grow fully in their faith. They do not just stop there; they also spread their faith to others. In our contemporary life, this represents a very small percentage of human population (Luke 8:14).

Meditation

The parable of the sower and seeds remains a very powerful gospel message to us now than ever before. It clearly depicts how the society receives the message of the cross even now just as it was during the time of Christ. We receive God’s word in different ways and as a result, we bore different fruits. The first category represents the prejudice hearer of the word who can also be described as having a closed mind. Such people are very hard to preach to even in current world. They are very skeptical of the message. Secondly, there is a shallow hearer of the word. Such people gladly receive the message of the cross but because they lack spiritual depth, it wears away easily from their minds. Such people require utmost tendering if the word is to grow in them. The second last type of hearer is the one who has many cares and pleasures in this life but lacks the wisdom to know what is important. Such types of people also need a lot of guidance and training on the true meaning of the gospel. They need to be taught that the message of the cross is far more important than any other cares and pleasures of this life. Finally yet importantly, the last type of hearers represents those with open mind. These nice people are trainable and have the wisdom to distinguish between what is important and what is not. They are not too busy or proud to learn god’s word. They listen, understand and give a chance for the word to transform them. Such are the people who grow in their faith until they become a blessing to others.

Conclusion

As much as this is a very common parable to all Christians, it has not been taken with the seriousness it deserves. This parable is very informative especially to anyone who is involved in ministering the word of god to other people. It clearly shows the kind of audience that you are expected to get when you go out. Therefore, you should not be surprised when you do not get the kind of audience that you were expecting. In as much as parables were more relevant in Christ time, they can also be used in today’s contemporary Christian life. God’s word has the power to transform or change us in to Christ’s likeness and hence we should strive as much as possible to be in the category of seeds that fell on the good soil and grew to maturity.

Works cited

The parables of Jesus available at:

http://www.rc.net/wcc/parable7.htm The Bible Mark 4:3 – 9 and Mathew 13: 3 – 9

Davis, Derek H. (2008). The Evolution of Religious Liberty as a Universal Human Right, 2^nd edition. London; Oxford University Press. Pp. 170