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EDWARD D. ANDREWS (AS in Criminal Justice, BS in Religion, MA in Biblical Studies, and MDiv in Theology) is CEO and President of Christian Publishing House. He has authored ninety-two books. Andrews is the Chief Translator of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV).
Jesus was the master at using parables that related to the lives of people. Many of his parables reflected things that he had no doubt seen while he had up in Galilee. Ponder for a moment about his early life as a child and a teen. How many times did he see the common practice of his mother preparing leavened bread where she took a piece of fermented dough saved from a prior baking and using it as a leavening agent? (Matthew 13:33) How many hundreds of times did he watch as the fishermen let their nets down into the clear blue waters of the Sea of Galilee? (Matthew 13:47) How many times had he been playing or watching other children playing in the marketplace? (Matthew 11:16) Jesus saw an experienced many commonplace things of ancient life that made their way into his parables, such as the sowing of seeds, the marriage feasts, as well as the grain fields ripening in the sun.—Matthew 13:3-8; 25:1-12; Mark 4:26-29.
Therefore, we are hardly surprised to find the everyday life circumstances and situations of Jesus Christ sprinkled throughout Jesus’ many parables. Hence, if we are going to appreciate more fully his skill in using this teaching method, it will be necessary to examine what his words meant to the Jewish people who listened to him. Let us take a moment to consider two examples.
The Parable of the Weeds Among the Wheat
Matthew 13:1, 2, 24-30 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
13On that day Jesus left the house and was sitting by the sea. 2 And such large crowds gathered to him that he went aboard a boat and sat down, and all the crowd was standing on the beach. 24 Another parable he set before them, saying: “The kingdom of the heavens was likened to[155] a man who sowed fine seed in his field. 25 But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed darnel[156] among the wheat, and went away. 26 But when the wheat[157] sprouted and bore grain, then the darnel became evident also. 27 So the slaves of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? From where[158] then does it have darnel?’ 28 And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ So the slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, for fear that while gathering the darnel, you uproot the wheat with them 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest season, I will tell the reapers: First collect the darnel and bind them in bundles to burn them up; then gather the wheat into my storehouse.’”
We begin with The Parable of the Weeds Among the Wheat in the above text. We find Jesus telling us about “a man who sowed fine seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed darnel [weeds] among the wheat, and went away.” Why did Jesus choose this distinct hostile act? Well, we must remember that this parable was told to the people near the Sea of Galilee, and the main occupation of the Galileans was obviously agriculture. There is scarcely anything more harmful to a farmer than to have an enemy come in the night and secretly oversow harmful weeds into his field! If we look at the laws of the government at that time, we find that such attacks happened. So, here again, we find a parable being drawn from a real-life situation that his listeners would be able to understand and appreciate the nuances that would make Jesus’ point more clear.
Luke 10:30-37 Update American standard Version (UASV)
30 Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and laid blows upon and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by coincidence a certain priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, 34 and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And on the next day, he took out two denarii[1] and gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Next, we have the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus began by saying: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and laid blows upon and departed, leaving him half dead.” (Luke 10:30) It is meaningful that Jesus used the road that went “from Jerusalem to Jericho,” which contained the right details to make his point. When he was telling this parable he was in Judea, not far from Jerusalem. There, it is very like that his listeners were familiar with this seventeen-mile road in his parable. That road was “a dangerous place, and robbers often lay in wait for unprotected travelers.”[2]This was especially true of anyone traveling alone. It twisted through lonely terrain, providing many places for robbers to lay in wait.
We have something else unique about Jesus’ reference to the road that went “down from Jerusalem to Jericho.” First, the account is historically accurate by using the description of going “down.” “This is a stark and desolate seventeen-mile road, dropping from over 2,500 feet above sea level in Jerusalem to approximately 800 feet below sea level at Jericho. (Josephus, J.W. 4.8.3 §474.)[3]According to the account, first it was a priest and then it was a Levite who was also traveling that road, although neither of them stopped to help the victim. (Luke 10:31-32) The priests served at the temple in Jerusalem, and they were assisted by the Levites. When they were not working at the temple, many priests and Levites lived in Jericho, for Jericho was only 17 miles [27.4 km] from Jerusalem. Therefore, we see that they undoubtedly had many opportunities to travel that road. An important insight is that Jesus chose to tell the account from the perspective that the priest and the Levite were going along the road “from Jerusalem to Jericho,” not ‘from Jericho to Jerusalem.’ In other words, the priest and the Levite were going home (having time to stop and render aid and something more), not going to serve in the temple. You see, Jesus knew that, if the priest and the Levite were going to the Temple, people could argue that they thought the man was dead and they would have been unclean by touching a dead body, making them temporarily unfit to serve in the temple. (Leviticus 21:1; Numbers 19:11, 16) Again, Jesus’ parables reflected things that were well-known to his listeners?
Characters
The man going down to Jericho
The Robbers
The Priest
The Levite
The Good Samaritan
The Innkeeper
The lawyer
The three main characters are the priest, the Levite, and the good Samaritan. Think about it, does it really matter who the man is? Jesus told the story of one man, who is a victim without making known the man by race, occupation, or reason for traveling. What about the robbers and the innkeeper? They only serve the function of getting us to that main point. They are like the extra in a movie. Their only role is to move the movie along.
Looking to the End
As is true with any kind of story, the end of the story carries the weight of importance. This is no different with parables. The ending is where the answers lie. Look at the end of the story one more time; take note of Jesus’ question to the lawyer. Jesus removed the attention from the term “neighbor.” Essentially the lawyer had asked, ‘who is the one that I should show my neighborly love to?’ Notice his attention is on the one receiving the kindness. However, Jesus asked, “which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” Notice that Jesus’ focus was not on the recipient of the love, but the one who showed the love, the Samaritan.
Who Carries the Conversation
We may have noticed that there is no conversation between the man going down to Jericho and anyone else. There is no conversation between the robbers and the man, the priest and the man, the Levite and the man, the Samaritan and the man. The only direct conversation is between the Samaritan and the innkeeper. The focus of the conversation is between the Samaritan and the innkeeper, which highlights the Samaritan’s motive and heart attitude.
Who Gets the Most Press
Generally, whoever gets the most coverage in a story is the primary character, followed by the secondary person that must exist to facilitate the story and its main point. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, there is little doubt that the Samaritan gets the most coverage throughout the parable, as he gets six verses, while everyone else received one verse. However, the man who went down to Jericho receives just as much coverage, with seven verses actually. Yet, his role is secondary to the active role of the Samaritan.
Thus, our two primary characters are the Samaritan and the man. It might be added that this “man” who went down to Jericho and fell victim to robbers, was a Jew, as the context of the story shows. The lawyer asking the question is also a Jew, likely with many other Jewish listeners. The priest and Levite in the parable were Jewish religious leaders, who ‘when they saw him [their own Jewish countryman lying there dying from a robbery] they passed by on the other side.’ However, we have a Samaritan willing to help a Jewish victim. Thus, the primary point involves both characters (they who received the most press). Remember Jesus focus was on the person showing the love, not the victim needing a loving act of kindness. A true neighbor [the Samaritan] takes the initiative to show love to others [the man going down to Jericho] regardless of their ethnic background.
[1]Denarius: (dēnarion; Roman, silver) The denarius was equivalent to a day’s wages for a common laborer (12 hours). It was sixty-four quadrantes. It had an image of Caesar on one side. It was the “head tax” coin demanded by the Roman government from their subjects.–Matt. 20:2, 9; Mark 14:5; Lu 10:35; 20:24; John 6:7; Rev. 6:6.
