Thought for Today
Psalm 78:1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, 3 things that we have heard and known, that our ancestors have told us.
Matthew 13:34 Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing.
Luke 8:10 He said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that 'looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand.' 11 "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
“A parable’s import is often subtle and multidimensional. It may speak to you differently from the way it speaks to someone else. No one’s insight is invalid.” (These Days, July 18, 2026)
I find that assertion today in These Days a very bold and contentious one. I do believe that parables are multidimensional. I am not the first to compare analysis of a parable to peeling an onion. Removing the outer layer, the most obvious understanding of a parable, often does open up additional layers, deeper understandings. But, for me, claiming that no one’s insight is invalid is a ‘bridge too far.’
The history of our faith is littered with discarded interpretations and theological theories, many now considered heresies. That history seems to me to prove our human capacity to misinterpret and misunderstand even the simplest, most basic lessons of scripture.
It seems to me that there are certain ground rules and boundaries marking and containing our understanding and application of Jesus’ parables. For example, any interpretation of the Parable of the Talents which suggested that parable legitimized involuntary servitude since it begins, "Matthew 25:14 For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them” is obviously invalid. It is not a parable about slavery or servitude. It is a parable about faithfulness and about using the talents and abilities we are given by God. It also offers us a contrast between our human economics and God’s economics, a lesson that it’s not about how much we have but about how we use what we have (or do not use it).
Although parables are multidimensional, I do not believe their import is subtle. In fact, I believe Jesus taught in parables deliberately. I believe he did so for several reasons, among which are that lessons offered in the context of ordinary life and experience are easy for all to understand. While I love to read the arguments offered by theologians to explain the precepts of our faith, when I read Jesus’ parables, I can relate those stories to the events and occurrences in my own life.
In that devotional today, the author reflected on the Parable of the Weeds in Matthew 13:24-30. It is one of the parables where Jesus did elaborate and offer an explanation. Jesus offered that parable in a primarily agricultural society and economy. Most listeners knew well all about how and where to plant their seeds. In all likelihood, even the fishermen knew a lot about planting. Even today, in our industrial society, most of us know those same, obvious lessons about planting in good soil and properly watering the seedlings, and inevitability of weeds cropping up among the ‘wheat.’ That particular parable is eschatological, dealing with “13:39 the end of the age.” Any insight offered in its understanding that does not take that into account must be invalid.
Jesus was not offering that parable as a lesson in agriculture. By further expounding and explaining, Jesus leads us to a fuller understanding that “The seed is the word of God.” For me, Jesus is once again addressing faithfulness and obedience to the Word of God. In a sense, this is another lesson in truth.
Are there eternal and immutable truths? I believe there are and that any insight or understanding offered in contradiction of those truths is invalid. Read the truth in Genesis 1:1. Read the truth in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Read the truth in John 3:16-17. Any insight or understanding of parables or of scriptures which is offered that is inconsistent with those truths is invalid.
Read your Bible, think and pray about what you read, trust God,
Pastor Ray