The Sower

One of the most familiar parables was the Gospel for Sunday—the Sower. The problem is, the way Matthew treats it, it isn’t a parable, it’s an allegory. The difference is important. A parable is a wisdom teaching device that has one point. Really rich parables can have more than one point, but only one at a time. And remember, Jesus is said to only teach in parables. Yet in Matthew, Jesus is asked to explain his parable to his disciples and he allegorizes it. So what, you might ask?

Really nothing, except that parables are intended to produce struggles in the hearer. Aesop used parables and, as he did with the tortoise and the hare, it ended with a tag line: “the race doesn’t always go to the swift.” He didn’t take each twist and turn of the story and fill it with meaning. The alternative use of parables is to not even provide a tag line—the more conventional way of using them. Consequently, Matthew has Jesus doing all the heavy lifting for his disciples.

I’m guessing a lot of people prefer that. Just spell it out, don’t make us think. And, by the way, give us the one “true” meaning rather than confusing us with all the options. In short, we like to be told what to think.

Frankly, I doubt Jesus actually explained himself. I think his “editor” added it. And I think he did it because he didn’t trust his readers to figure it out on their own. There is a lot of that going around. But in all things, spiritual and temporal, I think we’re better off to struggle, to debate, to disagree, and to arrive at our own conclusions. After all, if we trust in the Spirit to guide us, why rely on someone else’s guidance to short-circuit our own search?

Just a thought.

Peace,

Jerry+