Parables
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As Jesus entered this world, He brought with Him the Kingdom of God, enabling us to acclimate to living within His Kingdom while still on this earth. This situation can be likened to the lifestyle of astronauts, who utilise spaceship simulators to adjust to the realities of actual space travel. They learn to operate all the systems and adapt their diet to capsules instead of conventional food prior to embarking on their voyage. Because of this preparation, they do not experience much discomfort during their journey. Similarly, Jesus employs numerous parables to instruct us about the Kingdom of God and…
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In discussing the moral of this parable, Luke emphasizes two key lessons that everyone should take to heart: to pray continually and not to give up. These two points reveal Jesus’ deep understanding of the human heart. He knew that people often turn away from God when their desires remain unfulfilled over a long period. Instead of waiting patiently, many shift their focus to other options—often seeking quicker, easier ways to get what they want. In their relentless pursuit of blessings by any means, some end up aligning themselves with the devil, who offers the pleasures and riches of this…
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This Parable was part of Nathan’s message that the Lord had sent for king David. Not only did he covet and forcefully took another man’s wife he even had Bathsheba’s husband killed off on the pretence of war (1 Samuel 11). Uriah was not just any other man, but part of David’s thirty, he was a loyalist and a firm supporter from the early days when David was on the run from king Saul. But David, succumb to his lust forgot about Uriah and took away his family and his life in one fell sweep. After committing such heinous acts,…
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As Jesus was warning His followers about the times of tribulations that were fast approaching, He encouraged them saying that the Holy Spirit will always be by their side throughout the ordeal. When they would be dragged to the synagogues and courts and be on trial before the authorities, they need not worry about what they had to say as the Holy Spirit will defend them. Now amongst the crowds, there were many who would not have understood what Jesus was talking about and one man asked Jesus to settle a dispute that he was having with his brother. “Teacher,…
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On His final trip to Jerusalem, Jesus visited several towns and villages along the way, teaching and healing those who came to Him. His ministry was gathering steam as more and more people started following Him. Jesus’ popularity drew such large crowds that when they were passing through the ancient city of Jericho, a tiny man named Zacchaeus had to climb up a tree just to get a glimpse of Him. When Jesus went with Zacchaeus to his home, it spurred him to disburse his ill-gotten wealth to the poor. Jesus even called Zacchaeus, a tax collector who was deemed…
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The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were questioning Jesus’ authority after he had caused a ruckus in the temple. His condemnation of turning the temple into a marketplace was directed at them as they were the ones who had allowed the sellers in the temple. Thereafter, they desperately looked for opportunities to seize and even kill Jesus and the string of Parables that are found in Matthew’s gospel are in response to their schemes. The Parable of the Wedding Banquet, a variation of which is found in Luke’s account as well (Luke 14:16-24) was, Jesus letting the Jewish…
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As Jesus was gaining more followers each day, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law sought to use His popularity against Him. They started murmurs about how Jesus was mingling with the wrong crowd and that His followers were nothing but prostitutes and tax collectors, sinners that He should not be associating with. In response, Jesus narrates three parables of things that were lost but were later found. The last of these was the parable of the lost sons as one of them left his father’s house to live in a foreign land, while the other though stayed close…
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When Jesus prophesied about the day of the lord and the abomination that causes desolation the disciples were curious to know when would these things come to pass. Like students who constantly ask the invigilator for the time remaining during their examination, we too want to know the exact time of our lord’s coming. We feel if we know the hour of His coming, we would mend our unrighteous ways and get our lives in order to be ready for Him. The disciples would have also exuberated the same confidence when they asked Jesus for the times of his coming.…
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Once a rich man had come to Jesus asking what he must do to “gain” eternal life. We know that we cannot do anything to gain eternal life or even our salvation as it was freely given to us. But the rich man was persistent and Jesus’ standard answer of following the commandments did not seem satisfactory to him. So Jesus told him to sell off all his possessions, give them to the poor and then follow Him. At this, the rich man went away in sadness as he had a lot of wealth and the thought of parting with…
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After Jesus had cleared the temple of the various merchants, He called out the Jewish leaders for turning the house of the Lord into a den of robbers. This did not sit well with the chief priests and the teachers of the law, as they started looking for ways to kill Him. They questioned the authority of Jesus as each religious group sent their representatives to test Him. This is when Jesus told them the “Parable of the Tenants” which builds on the Parable (Song) of the Vineyard found in Isaiah’s book. The Pharisees were well versed with the prophet’s…
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Both Matthew and Mark have placed the Parable of the Sower right after the arrival of the family of Jesus, who came to one of His gatherings to try and put an end to His mission (Mark 3:21). The Jewish leaders had already made up their minds about Him and now His own family was turning against Him. Although Luke places their arrival after this parable, still it was in and around that time that Jesus narrated this parable about a farmer and how it was not his seeds, but the difference in the seeding grounds that produced different results.
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The sequence of events that lead up to Jesus narrating the parable of the Wineskins is found in all three synoptic Gospels. There is some ambiguity when it comes to who originally questioned Jesus but this is one of the rare events that was captured in the same chronological order by all three writers. According to Luke, the Pharisees raised the question about fasting while John writes that it was the disciples of John the Baptist asking the question, and Mark does not explicitly mention any particular group but this is the only variation in all their narrations. All of…
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Found only in the Gospel of Matthew, the Parable of the unmerciful servant, was Jesus teaching His disciples on how to deal with each other’s transgressions with patience, and above all being able to forgive each other just like the Father forgave their sins. The disciples were worried about who would be the greatest in heaven and a sort of competitive environment was beginning to fester within their group. When Jesus was teaching them about forgiving each other it was Peter who once again asked the question that no one dared ask Jesus. He wanted to know how many times…
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The story of the Hare and the Tortise is a beloved childhood memory that taught us the contrasting approaches of two different creatures towards the same end goal. Everyone loves an underdog story and while no one expected the underdog to win, the persistent tortoise beat the arrogant hare in the foot race. Moral stories with two polar opposite characters, usually have the underdog come out in a good light. However, when Jesus started the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, no one could have imagined the underdog to end up as the one being ‘Justified’ by God.
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One day, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. They had heard that John (the baptist) had taught his disciples to pray and perhaps wondered why Jesus had not done the same, not realising that Jesus is the answer to all our prayers. So Jesus taught them a prayer which we now call as “Our Lord’s Prayer“. Jesus did not simply give them the words to recite as prayer but also taught them on having the right attitude while praying. The parable of the Audacious Friend serves as the base for the disciples to develop the correct…
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Found only in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus narrated the parable of the lost son (prodigal son) and the parable of the dishonest manager (shrewd manager) one after the other. But while the parable of the prodigal son is well known for its theme, the lesser-known parable of the shrewd or dishonest manager has people divided over its obscure message. The audience for the parable of the shrewd manager included both the disciples and the Pharisees present, whom Jesus has addressed right at the end. Following the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus continues on the same theme, as both…
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Found only in the Gospel of Luke, this Parable on the surface might seem like a tale of brotherly love, but it has a deeper message behind it.
The Jordan Valley 