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MIRACLES AND PARABLES

Stephen Pinfield

THE BIBLE is not a theological textbook. God has not merely left us with a list of abstract religious ideas. Rather, the Scriptures record that He has communicated His purpose with the world by playing a very real part in its history. He has revealed Himself "in many and various ways" (Heb. 1:1, RSV) to be a personal God with an active interest in this creation. Parables and miracles are two powerful and graphic ways in which He has done this.

The nature of miracles

In both the Old and New Testaments a number of different words are used to describe miracles (see the table "Miracles, Wonders and Signs", below). Basically these words can be divided into three fundamental ideas: ‘mighty act’, ‘wonder’, and ‘sign’. The first idea emphasises that miracles are a demonstration of Divine power over nature and mankind. The second idea describes the response that a miracle should elicit in those who witness it or hear of it. The third idea shows that miracles are meaningful and significant occurrences.

This last idea is important. Miracles in Scripture are ways of communicating a message. They are never stunts. Indeed, Jesus is specifically recorded as having resisted the temptation to perform a meaningless stunt: "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God" (Mt. 4:7). Throughout his ministry he refused to perform a sign just for the sake of it (for example, Matthew 12:38-40). Instead, his miracles were always designed to convey a particular message.

The message of miracles

The fundamental message of most miracles is one of authority. A miracle was a demonstration of power and, as such, of Divine authority. Just before the Exodus, God said to Moses: "And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth Mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them" (Ex. 7:5). As well as being a general demonstration of God’s power, it is also interesting to note that the plagues which followed were specifically directed against the false gods of Egypt. [Hapi the Nile god, Heqit the frog god, and Re the sun god, were amongst those who suffered.]

Christ also saw miracles (along with all of his other deeds) as a way of demonstrating his authority: "the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me" (Jno. 5:36). On one occasion he used a miracle specifically to prove his authority to forgive sins: "But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house" (Mt. 9:6). The Apostle Peter summarised the point when preaching: "Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you..." (Acts 2:22). Here the words "approved of God" can also be translated ‘authenticated by God’. Miracles were God’s stamp of approval on Christ’s ministry.

Miracles, then, do not normally stand alone. Their primary function is to authenticate. What they authenticate is teaching. Miracles and teaching therefore stand together. After the ascension of Jesus, Mark records that the apostles "went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following" (16:20). The writer to the Hebrews confirms this relationship between the word and miraculous signs: "how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?" (2:3,4).

Miracles and God’s love

But miracles are not just authentication. They are also graphic illustrations of God’s love and care for His people. Miracles usually have a very obvious immediate purpose: the healing of the sick, the feeding of the hungry, the deliverance of the righteous. Christ is sometimes said to have had "compassion" before performing a miracle (for example, Matthew 14:14 and 20:34). In doing so he was manifesting the loving kindness of his Father (see Psalm 86:15). It is this loving kindness and compassion, revealed in God’s willingness to intervene in the world through miracles, in which we trust. Indeed, the whole basis of our faith lies in the belief that God has in the past intervened in the ‘natural’ course of events, and will do so again in the future, to bring about our salvation. Miracles are a way of giving us assurance of this.

It should come as no surprise, then, that miracles in Scripture seem to have occurred in ‘clusters’ at significant times of God’s purpose of salvation, particularly at the time of the Exodus and the time of Christ. Of course, the greatest assurance we have is the miracle of the resurrection of Jesus: God "hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised him from the dead" (Acts 17:31).

Spiritual lessons

Miracles are, then, a demonstration of God’s power and of His love, but they also often teach a particular spiritual lesson. Apart from being an illustration of God’s power and of His care for the children of Israel, the provision of the manna in the wilderness was, for example, designed to teach the people a specific lesson: "And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna... that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live" (Deut. 8:3).

Describing himself as "the true bread from heaven" (Jno. 6:32), Christ emphasised that the Feeding of the Five Thousand was also designed to teach a spiritual lesson. It was a symbol of the giving of his "flesh... for the life of the world" (v. 51). Similarly, he drew attention to the spiritual meaning of the healing of the blind man in John 9:39: "For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind". The cleansings of lepers also seem to be symbols of salvation from sin and corruption.

Miracles are, then, in some respects parables. They seek to challenge men and women to see the spiritual significance of the physical. But they could also be called types. They look forward to the day of salvation in God’s Kingdom. When John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask if Jesus was the Messiah, Jesus replied with a reference to Isaiah 35:5,6: "the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them" (Mt. 11:5). Isaiah 35 is a prophecy of the Kingdom, when "the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs..." (v. 10). Jesus is telling us, then, that his miracles are pictures of the Kingdom. They are a foretaste of the time when all will be made "whole" (see also Luke 11:20).

The nature of parables

Whilst we may find it easy to recognise the challenging nature of miracles, we may sometimes overlook the way in which parables would have challenged their listeners. And yet parables were designed to do just that: "They were a challenge to men to think". [John Carter, Parables of the Messiah, Birmingham, The Christadelphian, 1947, p. 4.] They did this by ‘putting things side-by-side’ (the literal meaning of the Greek word parabole, ‘parable’), comparing the natural with the spiritual, in order to teach important lessons.

As with miracles, we see some of the most supreme examples of parables in the ministry of Christ. But parables are by no means limited to that period. The Greek parabole seems to be used in a similar way to the Hebrew mashal. Mashal has a wide range of meanings in the Old Testament. It can describe a ‘saying’ (for example, 1 Samuel 10:12), an ‘allegory’ (for example, Ezekiel 17:2ff.), or a prophetic ‘discourse’ (for example, Isaiah 14:4). It is often translated ‘proverb’, and it is interesting to note that Old Testament proverbs often provide the basis for Christ’s parables. [See David Burges, "The Wisdom that is From Above: 4. The Hidden Wisdom in the Parables", Apr. 1996, pp. 126-30.]

The parables of Jesus also take a number of forms. Sometimes they are short sayings, such as "Physician, heal thyself", which Jesus himself calls a parable (Lk. 4:23). At other times parables are punchy similes: "The kingdom of heaven is like..." (for example, Matthew 13:33). Still other parables are detailed allegories, such as the Parable of the Sower (13:3-9). They may also take the form of an ‘example story’, where characters typify acceptable and unacceptable behaviour before God; the Parable of the Pharisee and Publican (Lk. 18:9-14) falls into this category. A few remaining parables combine a number of these features and therefore do not fit neatly into any of these categories.

Interpreting parables

Because of this it is essential that we are very careful when interpreting the parables of Jesus (and indeed all parables in Scripture). Sometimes our familiarity with the stories can mean that we take their interpretation for granted. We should avoid the tendency to interpret all parables according to some simplistic formula. Instead we should look at each particular parable on its own terms in the context within which it occurs. The box, "Interpreting the Parables", summarises some important things to bear in mind when interpreting the parables.

Nevertheless, it is important to recognise that most, if not all, parables contain significant allegorical features. The Parables of the Sower and of the Wheat and Tares, which Jesus himself interprets, are detailed allegories. There is a straightforward one-to-one correspondence between the symbol and the symbolised. But there is no lack of detail or complexity—it is a mistake to assume that all parables can be boiled down to a single moral lesson. The Parable of the Prodigal Son illustrates this (Lk. 15:11-32). Here there are a number of important lessons associated with the behaviour of each of the major characters: the mercy of the father, the repentance of the son, the bitterness of the brother.

However, the allegorical and symbolical features of parables are not always straightforward. The Parable of the Unjust Judge (Lk. 18:1-8), for instance, cannot be interpreted as a straightforward allegory. The widow of the parable certainly symbolises the believer, and her behaviour illustrates the importance of persistence in prayer. But the judge cannot be said to symbolise God. Indeed, he is specifically described in terms which make him the exact opposite of God. The lesson here lies in the contrast, not in the correspondence between the characters.

It is sometimes thought that Christ’s explanation of the Parable of the Sower gives us a detailed formula for interpreting all parables as straightforward allegories. When asked by his disciples about the parable, he replied: "Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?" (Mk. 4:13). It is sometimes inferred from this that the interpretation which follows provides a framework for interpreting all parables. However, it is just as likely that Jesus is simply criticising the lack of spiritual insight shown by his disciples. In other words, if they could not interpret this parable, how would they have the spiritual insight to interpret others?

The purpose of parables

Parables were designed to reflect life. In doing so they made the message of Christ very immediate. Christ was not preaching about vague philosophical ideas, but about how we should actually live. Parables were an effective way of emphasising this. He was able to paint detailed and yet compact word pictures which were both memorable and profound. The frequent use of the word ‘hear’ when Jesus is talking about parables indicates that parables, like miracles, were designed to convey a message: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear" (Mk. 4:9). But, as with miracles, many of Christ’s contemporaries did not want to recognise their significance.

Jesus explains the purpose of parables in Mark 4. Here he makes it clear that they have a dual purpose. When asked by his disciples why he spoke in parables, he replied: "Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them" (vv. 11,12). These verses place Jesus’s audience into two categories, "you" and "them".

Mark 4:9 had also divided men into two categories, those who "hear" and those who do not. For the first category (those who "hear") it "is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God" revealed in parables. But for the second category (those who do not hear) parables may even obscure the message. Parables did not, then, have an entirely negative function, as is sometimes claimed. Those who followed Jesus, who searched for an interpretation, and were able to listen to the Lord’s explanation, had a powerful message revealed to them. And the power of the message was enhanced by the parable. [Nathan’s parable of the poor man’s ewe lamb (2 Sam. 12:1-14) is an Old Testament example of the power of parables. The meaning was not initially clear, but when Nathan explained, "Thou art the man" the power of his message was enhanced.]

Christ’s quotation of Isaiah 6 in Mark 4:12 gives us an important insight into the reason for parables. The early chapters of Isaiah, including the Parable of the Vineyard (Isa. 5:1-7), describe Israel’s hardheartedness. Isaiah is sent to preach even though he knows most of the people will not hear. Jesus equates this situation with that of his own day; many who witnessed his preaching were determined not to "hear". For those whose hearts were hard, the parables would do nothing to make the gospel clearer. An appreciation of the message of a parable required seeking and asking in faith. It still does. The purpose of parables, then, was both to reveal and to obscure, to reveal the message to those who wanted to hear and obscure the message from those who did not: "Those with understanding hearts know more; the unresponsive become more incapable of response...". [John Carter, op. cit., p. 87. See also David Wenham, The Parables of Jesus, Downers Grove, Ill., Inter-Varsity Press, 1989, pp. 239-45.]

At the centre of the message which was revealed in most, if not all, of Christ’s parables was the Kingdom of God. Virtually all of them were about God’s ‘royal rule’ in the nation of Israel, in the life of the believer, or in the future age ("The kingdom of heaven is like..."). Like his miracles, then, our Lord’s parables were pictures of the Kingdom. They heralded the day when God would intervene in the affairs of men to establish a better order of things.

Conclusions

The proclamation of the Kingdom of God was at the centre of our Lord’s ministry. Miracles and parables were important means by which the message was proclaimed. Throughout Scripture, miracles and parables show to us a powerful and loving God Who wishes to reveal Himself to His creation. He has communicated in a challenging and effective way to those who will hear. He has intervened to teach, to heal and to save the faithful. He will do so again. We can be assured that the day is indeed coming when the earth shall be full of His glory.