In the Synoptic Gospels there is an explanation of Jesus' use of jmrables which is a startling paradox.
It is tiiat He spake to those without in parables, and that He tlid so to hide His meaning (Mt 13'"■'^ Mk 4"- '-, Lk 8"). It is easy to show that these words are not universally true, and that the aim of Jesus generally was to make Himself under- stood. So Jiilicher (^MPyc. Bibl. art. 'Parables') rejects this conception, placed on the lips of Jesus, as quite unhistorical. But we hnd that in all these Gospels this exjilanation occurs at one place, namely, between the parable of the Sower as spoken to those without and its interpretation to the dis- ciples. And there tlie words have a real signifi- cance. The parable did not convey its meaning on the face of it. In the circumstances in which it was spoken, it was largely an utterance of the ironic spirit. Jesus was looking on the multitudes, drawn together by curiosity and various motives, caring so little, most of them, for the truths He had to tell them ; and He gave utterance to the pathetic thoughts of His spirit. He spoke this parable which tells the disappointments of a prophet and the hope that sustains him, the faith that some, his sheep, will know his voice. It is a simple enough parable; and yet a veil does rest upon it for the careless unspiritual many who are listening, though not any veil of subtle allegory. Jesus is speaking of hopes and fears they compre- hend not : and, looking on them in their ignorance, it was natural tliat the words of old prophecy, with their kindred patlios and irony, should come to His lips, and He should .speak about those who hearing iinderstood not and whose hearts were darkened. That explanation has in it a hint of wider suggestiveness. Clearness ami directness of speech are not the only sources of enlightenment. ' Art may tell a truth obliquely, do the thing shall breed the thought.' A truth stated objectively, indirectly, in the form of a stoiy, may not compel the understanding ; careless ones may hear it as though they heard it not ; but it has greater effective- ness witli those who receive it. That is exempli- fied in Jesus' latest parables. These are parables of judgment ; the shadow of the Cross rests on them. In them, by their very form, the meaning is veiled somewhat. The intention and the value of that stand out strongly in this contrast. When Stephen stood before the Sanhedrin, he said : ' Ye stiff-necked and nncircumeised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost : as your fathers did, so do ye ' . . . (Ac l-''^"-). There is no mistaking that accusation, or evading it ; but there is no persuasion there. No wonder the bold truth- speaker was stoned. Jesus says to His enemies, ' Hear another parable ' ; and after the parable of the Two Sons, He tells the ]nv:\]>]c of tlic House- holder :iimI lii,Vincy,n.l. It i, t hr ..inii' rhnrue, but
thouuht,-. ihat i> :i way nt i.i-i-iiaMnn : sympathy and love, wliicli are tlie sources of persuasiveness, have woven a vesture for the truth that, through the imagination, it may reach the heart. See art. Parables.
One great, though iinliicit. \ahu' of Jesus' illus-
trations must
not be 1
11— ei
their witness to
the ma
.iHew (1) H
IS, their is h"un
r\ ea
11.^ .
1 His mind and
heart.
live
li.ell
..,1 of teaching
reveals
the fashion" of
His
lun.l.
1-anai speaki
of ' that kind
metaphorical
nielli
111 ut e\|iression
which
our Blessed Lo
'd ac
0|ile,
.' Ilie ihuUght
there i
of as
irtir a
'rZ^Uul
upoi
to
mind llii.iugh a His simple un-
Iran,'','
: 1 - I 1 H H
■,!. 1
e first had a thought,
a>Ml Ih,
11 scale
aie >
mple
familiar picture
tu cxpi
CSS it.
Ihll a 1
(aist.i
mary method of
.speech shows ' reasoned in f
lis lualin
•1 111
' Mr
in-.' Our Lord
■ea\l^
had an eye for
nature
Tho ight uud
iliia'
1' y.r
. horn together
in His
seeing
"His wa
, tliC
pucL
■, mind, with its
?78
IMAGE
iMAGillATioJi
concreteness and beauty, its outlook of the whole personality, its individual vision of things flushed with emotion ; and the pictures He set in the light give joy to the generations as they pass,because they Hrst of all gave joy to Himself as they
imagination. (2) Thi' ilhi also the simplicity and fiilii It is amazing how the idini in procession through His ^
in His He uses reveal of I lis interest in life 1 lifi' of His day passes ds 1 The sower in the
fields, the merchant on his travels, the fisherman on the beach looking over his catch, the labour waiting to be hired in the marketplace, the beggar at the rich man's gate and the dogs licking sores, the clamorous woman with her wrongs at the unjust judge's door, the poor woman turning her house upside down for her lost coin, the play of the little children in the streets ; and even the faults and follies of men, the Pharisee with his broad phylacteries and wide fringes praying osten tatiously at tlie street corners, the craft of the dis honest stewanl, the son wIid s;iys 'I go, sir,' and goes iimI, ilie ,■111X1. Ill- li,i-.i lic-.jiiiu- for a loaf at niidiiivl.l, :iiia 111.' ,-iuinl.liiiL; lii.-u.l in bed with hischiMieii .ill , -peak ef til.' interest with which Jesus looked on life. ' The learned eye is still the loving one. ' He was no thinker whose mind ranged among ideas, no dreamer living in a world of ideals. His heart was amid the pell-mell of ordinarj' life, ordinary men, and ordinary duties ; His thoughts of religion found their sphere there.