Benchmark - Parables of Jesus

The Parables of Jesus Student A. Sample University: <Course> <Instructors Name> <Date> The Parables of Jesus Parables are crucial to the four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Contemporary texts agree that parables are stories that ancient instructors and prophets used, primarily Jesus, to communicate profound spiritual facts (Elwell & Yarbrough, 2022). At first glance, parables seem like simple stories, meaning their complexity is often overlooked (Gowler, 2017). In the article “And finally… the kingdom of God is like this…” by Kim (2005), the writer encourages readers to find modern ways of expressing biblical truths, similar to how Jesus used everyday images of His time to convey messages. This essay explores a parable of Jesus from the gospel books and analyzes its meaning and how it illustrates biblical truth. The essay will also create a contemporary parable with the same meaning. The Parable of the Sower The parable of the sower appears in Mark 4:1-9, where Jesus tells the parable and interprets it to his disciples and others around Him. The parable states that a farmer went out to sow his seed. Some of the seeds fell along the path, and birds ate them. Some seeds fell on rocky ground with little soil. The seeds sprang up fast because of the shallow soil but were scorched by the sun and withered because they could not develop roots. Other seeds fell among thorns, growing up and choking the plants so they could not bear grain. Still, some seeds fell on good soil, grew well, and produced crops. Some multiplied thirty, some sixty, and others a hundred times. Jesus often offered a double command to his audience to listen and see the parables. The reason is that the parables were often difficult to interpret correctly and left most of the audience unsure of what the message was in the parables. As explained by Goud et al. (2022), the parable of the sower follows a sort of parable methodology appearing across the gospels, in which a passage from Isaiah 6:9 is often quoted that “seeing they may see but not perceive, and hearing they may hear but not understand.” Indeed, the disciples did not understand the parable, and they asked Jesus what it meant. Jesus explained that the farmer sows the word, and some people are like the seed that fell on rocky ground, along the path, among the thorns, and on good soil. It means that some people will hear the word, but Satan takes away what is sown in them. Other people receive the word with joy, but the lack of root means the word lasts only a short time. Others hear the word, but it is choked by worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth, meaning the word fails to bear fruits. Some people are like good soil as they accept the word and produce a crop. The historical and cultural context of the parable is visible from the parable. Jesus offered new teachings about the Kingdom of God that differed from what people knew. Therefore, people received Jesus' teachings differently, with some accepting and following the teachings, while oth...