The Subversive Parables
Introduction
Matthew 13:10-17
Why did Jesus use parables? Only the three synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke have him speaking in parables. John has only one reference to a “parable-like” teaching (John 10:6).
Understanding how to interpret the parables has been the source of lots of theological debate. Most people today interpret the parables to represent something. Some parables are simple to understand. The parable of the prodigal in Luke 15 is one of those. The father represents God, the prodigal represents disobedient humanity. The angry elder brother represents the established religious institution. But it is actually one of a very few for which this kind of interpretation works. For example: The Parable of the Unjust Judge or some call this the Parable of the Persistent Widow in Luke 18. Is the unjust judge supposed to be God? If so, then God is an unjust judge and humans only get their way if they pester God long enough to wear God’s last nerve to a frazzle. This kind of interpretation of the parable would give us a very skewed understanding of God and our relationship with God. Now, certainly the parables have been interpreted like this. The result has been the rise of fundamentalism and an understanding of God based on faulty readings.
What if the parables had another purpose? What if the parables weren’t theological or moral stories but economic and political stories? The word “parable” means “riddle”. Why would Jesus need to speak in riddles? And more importantly, if these were just nice theological stories about heaven or our relationship with God, why did they end up inciting such violence against Jesus? Jesus was executed as an enemy of the state. An itinerant preacher pacifying the peasants to be good wouldn’t have been a threat to the state. You remember that Jesus was crucified with two other criminals and all of them were charged with subversion. That was why the sign was put on his cross that he claimed to be “the king of the Jews.” For the Roman authorities to execute the people’s king was a political act.
So something about what Jesus was teaching was threatening to the imperial government. Maybe we need to be reading the parables differently. Is it possible that Jesus was using parables to present familiar situations to the rural populations and encode the systems of oppression that controlled their lives and held them in bondage? It opens up a completely different dimension in which to understand the power of the parables and why they became such a powerful tool of communication in the time of Jesus.
Next Wednesday is Holy Wednesday so it will be part of the Holy Week series of worship services, but the last three Wednesdays of April we will take one parable and look at it from this perspective and see if there is new meaning to be discerned. Here are the parables:
Matthew 20:1-16 The Parable of the Laborers
Matthew 18:23-25 The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
Luke 18:9-14 The Parable of the Pharisee and Toll Collector
Read them ahead of time and ask yourself some questions. How have you interpreted the parable in the past? What problems with allegorical or theological interpretations have you had? What could the parable be saying to the oppressed that they didn’t want their political leaders to understand?
Give yourself permission to be subversive.
Sources:
Herzog, William R. II. “Parables as Subversive Speech: Jesus as Pedagogue of the Oppressed.” (Westminster/John Knox Press: Louisville) 1994.