Ep. 72: Three parables
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LUKE 12:13-21,13:6-9, 14:1-24
The three parables which follow may generally be designated as those ‘of warning.’ Each of them is set in a historical frame, having been spoken under significant circumstances.
In the parable of the foolish rich man, it appears that someone among them had the idea that the authority of the Great Rabbi of Nazareth might be used for his own selfish purposes, that he might possibly enlist Jesus as his champion. The Jewish law of inheritance was so clearly defined that if this person had any just or good cause, there could have been no need for appealing to Jesus. Hence, it must have been ‘covetousness’ in the strictest sense, which prompted it. Such an attempt to derive profit from his spiritual influence accounts for the severity with which Christ rejected the demand.
Jesus teaches him about the wisdom in laying up the good treasure which cannot be taken from us, so is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God. It was a barbed arrow out of the Jewish quiver, for we read in the Talmud that a Rabbi told his disciples, ‘Repent the day before thy death’ and when his disciples asked him, ‘Does a man know the day of his death?’ he replied, that on that very ground he should repent to-day, lest he should die to-morrow. And so would all his days be days of repentance.’
The special warning intended to be conveyed by the parable of the barren fig tree follows on. This parable speaks of Israel in its relation to God; the need for repentance, the nature of repentance and its urgency and the relation of Christ to Israel. The fig tree had been specially planted by the owner in his vineyard, which was the choicest location. Fig trees, as well as palm and olive trees, were regarded as so valuable, that to cut them down if they yielded even a small measure of fruit, was popularly deemed to deserve death at the Hand of God.
Allegorically, the fig tree in the Old Testament served as the emblem of the Jewish nation, whereas the vineyard is in the New Testament the symbol of the Kingdom of God, as distinct from the nation of Israel. So the parable may be thus translated; God called Israel as a nation and planted it in the most favoured spot, as a fig tree in the vineyard of his own Kingdom. And it bore no fruit, so the axe beckoned. ‘Between the tree and the axe, nothing intervenes but the intercession of the Gardener, who would make a last effort, and even his petition applies only to a short and definite period, and, in case it passes without result, this petition itself merges in the proposal, ‘But if not, then cut it down.’’ How speedily and terribly the warning came true. Whether this parable should be applied to all circumstances of nation, community, family, even of individuals, it is not necessary to speak.
The third parable of warning, that of the Great Supper, refers not to the political state of Israel, but to their religious status and their role as the representatives of the Kingdom of God. What led up to this parable was his healing of the man with the abnormal swelling in sight of them all on the Sabbath, after he rebuked their perversion of the Sabbath Law and of those characteristics of Pharisaism, which showed how far they were from bringing forth fruit worthy of the Kingdom. Jesus had spoken of making a feast, not for one’s own, but for the poor and afflicted. This would imply true spirituality, in the giving to strangers, but not condescendingly. The Pharisee’s words imply that he fully expected to share in these blessings as a matter of course just because he was a Pharisee. Accordingly, it was to this man personally that the parable was addressed.
One of the principal points in the parable was this; to come to that feast, to enter into the Kingdom, implies the giving up of something that seems most desirable and the enjoyment of which appears only reasonable.
Be it possession, business and pleasure, or the priesthood, the main point is that, when the time came, they all refused to enter in, each having some valid and reasonable excuse. But the ultimate ground of their refusal was that they felt no real desire and saw nothing attractive in such a feast; they had no real reverence for the host. Then let the feast be for those who needed it and to whom it would be a feast, the poor and those afflicted, the maimed, blind, lame, on whom those great citizens would look down.
He finishes by saying, ‘For I say to you, that none of those men who were bidden shall taste of my supper.’ And this was the final answer to this Pharisee and to those with him at that table and to all such perversion of Christ’s Words and misapplication of God’s Promises of which he and they were guilty.
This is an extract from the book, Jesus : Life and Times, available for £10 here (Finalist for Academic Book of the year at 2023 CRT awards))