Lukeus Reflection

Parables are told to reveal the truths about the kingdom of God. To be revealed in a manner in which only those who truly care will come to know. By doing so Jesus was able to separate the audience into two groups, the

In the New Testament, parables are a very important way that Jesus uses to teach the Pharisees, the disciples, and Christians for all time to come. “The Parable of the Lost Sheep” and “The Parable of the Lost Son” are two examples of the teaching of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel of Luke teaches us about life, and how Jesus had helped so many, and how we can follow in Jesus’ footsteps and continue to do what he has done, through the parables that Luke has written in the

He came into the world to work along side the poor, the rich, the healthy, the sick, the good and the bad. Examples of this are shown in stories such as that of Jesus and Zacchaeus, the sinful tax collector (Luke 19) and the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37). These gospel stories are used today to show how Jesus’ love and compassion flowed through to all man kind and that it was not reserved for any favoured groups or individuals. Luke is demonstrating to his audience the universality of Jesus and that salvation is offered to everyone.

The Gospels of the New Testament contain 39 different parables told by Jesus (Phillips 2004, 18-19) and no doubt he spoke many more during his ministry. Jesus’ choice to use parables to teach his people is one that has intrigued many people throughout history. The aim of this essay is to get to discover why he chose to use those parables, and also what we can learn from this teaching method when evangelising today.

Parables are stories written in the Bible for truth and life guidance. We have to understand that parables are implied by God to encourage his written word and carry his truths. God’s words can touch a heart of faith despite their external circumstance. The history of parables started with Jesus writing “the sower and the seed” in the book of Matthew. The sower and the seed was the seed is “the word.” The hard ground represents the person who is hardened by sin. Parables date back as far as

The parables in the Gospel of Luke are meant to be a guide for everyday living; this gives Christians a path to live their lives so as to merit the Kingdom of heaven. As God the Father sent His Son to earth to teach us how to live in His goodness, His Son teaches Christians through parables as written in Luke. Luke’s Gospel confirms that Jesus is the Son of God, thus dispelling doubts. Luke’s Gospels are part of the synoptic gospels. That means that they are parallel in stories with the gospels of the other two writers, Matthew and Mark.

Jesus deliberately used parables to shock, to provoke, and to produce a response in His hearers. He did not necessarily seek to explain everything to everyone’s satisfaction; rather His goal was to point out that His hearer’s previous understanding and explanations were unsatisfactory. His purpose was to direct their

A parable is a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson. Parables teach using examples from everyday life. Some examples of parables include those such as the lost sheep, the sower and the seeds, and the rich fool. These parables were written long ago and as a result, today's society aren't able to relate to the everyday actions of the past as society once was able to relate, but we are still able to learn from them. The events that occur in parables are often used elsewhere in the bible, this is called typology.

The parables screen the understanding of Jesus’ audience. The parables was a way of determine who really came to understand his teachings or just came for a miracle. The parables provided teachings on different topics. Several of Mathew’s parables deal with God’s judgment of humanity. A number of Luke’s are about issues such as prayer and money.

Parables from Jesus “The Parable of the Prodigal Son” and “The Parable of Lost Sheep”, written in the New Testament in the book of Luke, are both told by Jesus Christ. Luke documents Jesus’ words to a group of sinners that illustrates reoccurring ideas throughout both the parables. Both of these short stories both present the same central messages. The first message conveys that, there is joy in heaven once a sinner confesses their sins.

The Gospel of Matthew is placed at the very beginning of the New Testament. It shares the story and teachings of Jesus. It has been estimated that at least one-third of Jesus’ recorded teaching is found in the parables (Wiersbe, “Windows On The Parables”, p. 15). The Gospel of Matthew contains over 23 parables. In these parables, Jesus shares stories that everyday people could relate to and understand the “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven”. Parables are shared in all three Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, but there are many that are exclusive to Matthew, particularly in Matthew 13.

To better appreciate its deeper meanings let’s look at the word parable for a moment. Parable defined by most dictionaries would say something along this line. “A simple allegorical story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson”. In the original Greek language, parable is actually two words; παρα-βολη {para-bolee}. Put together, Para and Bolee where Para means ‘Along Side’, Bolee means ‘To Throw’. It really seems odd to connect these 2 words together as it’s meaning is obscured until we reverse the order? ‘To throw, along side’. A better way to understand the value of a parable is that it is an illustration that Jesus would use to ‘to throw along side’ of the truth, so that we can understand something revealed in the natural world in order to see the spiritual truth.

In the Bible, the four Gospels push different ideologies, views, lessons and different stories that center around the central figure of Jesus. The Gospel of Luke main themes center on Universalism, social justice, compassion for outcasts, the role of woman and the Holy Spirit.(Hauer and Young) These parables are able to connect to the context of when Luke was able bring these stories together in 85 CE. The Gospel was most likely written in Greek speaking area located in the Roman empire.(Coogan et al.) This time of stability allowed for the proliferation of Christianity and Gospels such as Luke. The passages that will be discussed will mainly focus on compassion for outcast seen in Luke 16:19–31 and warning against greed in Luke 12:13-34. Luke 13:6-9 focuses on a fig tree talks of the opportunities people and if they use them properly. Finally, the last parable is 7:11-17, which focuses on holy spirit and the possibilities for miracles and the importance of life. These parables in Luke are able to give a social justice commentary that can make a person feel compassionate for the poor and the reckoning they would receive in the afterlife if they didn’t follow Jesus’s teachings. As, well the story is able to push across a message that will everlasting importance to people. This has led to the Gospels of Luke becoming one of the main 4 Gospels and one of the most highly regarded of the Gospels. (Hauer and Young)

Starting in the years of Jesus Christ the savior, a parable is a widely used term in the Christian religion. A parable is known as a story mainly used in the New Testament of Christianity. The purpose of a parable is to portray some kind of moral meaning or to teach a lesson. This is commonly done in the New Testament with a reading from one of the Apostles. These parables, commonly found in the scriptures were usually told by Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, four of the apostles. The main focus was to illustrate a lesson of morals and values. A lot of these stories told in the gospel are said to be simple, but create a visual image in the audience 's head. Although they may be simple to comprehend, the messages are very deep in meaning and are said to have a spirituality to them. Even some of the shorter parables have been known to impact a person’s morality, but not as much extremity of the longer more in depth stories of the scriptures.