Browsing by Author "Muenamanga, Benoit"

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    An Essay on The Parable of The Sower in The Synoptic Gospels
    (Tangaza University College, 2005) Muenamanga, Benoit
    Our journey consists in looking at the parable of the sower in the synoptic Gospels and to come up with its message. Our focus will be more on Mark's Gospel. Our preoccupation is to grasp the meaning, the significance and the implication of the parable of the sower in its context. Prior to all of these we need to know what the parable is and why Jesus speaks in parables. Basically a parable is a comparison which has a specific message. Any parable in this sense has only one message but it can be contextualized in various situations. Meanwhile the parable is literally considered as "something thrown beside something else." On the other hand a parable is a story taken from below (earthly) in order to give meaning from above (heavenly). To grasp well what is above we need common earthly illustrations so that the truth might be clear and understood. This is what Israel did, to describe the divine life from earthly realities, which are taken from the value of signs. The Greek word parable is a comparison and it "must be understood as the dramatic use of symbols that is of images drawn from earthly realities in order to signify the realities revealed by God [...], a procedure that more often than not calls for an explanation in depth." Parable (Masale) is also an enigma. It was interpreted as such in the Old Testament by the prophets such as Ezekiel (17:12-21). The parable is also a method. A method, which is new and adopted by Jesus, who is the perfect revelation of God, and God himself in order to reveal the truth. Jesus used parables only to the outsiders because he wanted to reveal the mystery to them through their own thinking, efforts and to elucidate his message by prompting reflection. Then the outsiders were not so initiated as the insiders to whom everything was directly revealed namely not in parables. And so the parables become a characteristic of Jesus' teaching. In this sense Jesus will be called and known as the "master of the parables." Barclay stresses that Jesus used the parabolic method in order to draw attention of the people to listen because he was publicly dealing with the crowd'. He was no longer teaching in the synagogues. So, his purpose here was to interest them, to awaken them; it was something common and new by some Jewish teachers and audiences. It was understandable by the Jews. Jesus wanted to make the abstract ideas concrete to compel people to think for themselves and to find out the truth themselves. In this case we could say that Jesus used the parabolic method to stimulate people to think for themselves, to be active in their mind and to take their own responsibility. For example a good way of helping a child is not to do everything for him but to show him through stories, how to be able to do many things by himself. Thus the use of the parabolic method by Jesus was not a useless way but a method "to encourage them to do their own thinking. He presented them with truth, which if they would make the right effort in the right frame of minds; they could discover for themselves, and therefore posses it in a way that made it really and truly theirs."5 This corresponds to the Socratic Method (Maieutic). The use of parables is also found in the Old Testament e.g. the famous story found in 2 Samuel 12:1-7. We have examples in non-biblical texts of rabbinic parables. In the historical books parables are used to show the importance of sacred history e.g. Jg 9: 8-15; 2Sam 14: 5 ff. A parable can be transmitted in oral or in written form. In our context here we have it in written form. This text can &so be a metaphor as a simile. When used by Jesus a parable contains realism because it always presents a common point between Jesus and human beings in daily experience. Indeed it implies also Christ°logical and theological implications, which should be proclaimed to all humanity. The study of the parables of Jesus always needs an examination, introspection to oneself Many questions can be asked in studying the parables of Jesus such as: what is in general the meaning, the significance of the parables why is it inserted in the Gospel? What is its meaning in a particular context for the church? What is its purpose in the Christian community? Why did he use the parables? What is the original meaning in its original context? These questions may help one to grasp or have a general view about the parables. They are also part of our motivation for this study.