The parable is a new style of teaching as compared with that of which
the "Sermon on the Mount" was so notable an example. That discourse
was not by any means lacking in illustration; still its main lines of
thought were of the nature of direct spiritual instruction. But here
there is no direct spiritual teaching. It is all indirect; it is
parabolic through and through. No wonder the disciples noticed the
difference, and came to the Master with the question, "Why speakest
Thou unto them in parables?" The answer He gives is a revelation of
the thoughts which have been passing in His mind. Of this disclosure
we have already availed ourselves in our attempt to picture the scene;
but it remains to look at this weighty passage as answering the
disciples' question, and so explaining the rise of that form of
instruction in which, as in all that He did, He showed himself a
perfect Master.
The whole thing turns on the distinction between earnest inquirers and
careless hearers. There must have been many of the latter in His
audience, for this was no selected company, like that which listened
to the Sermon on the Mount. The earnest inquirer has ears to hear; the
other has not. The difference this makes is most strikingly set forth
in the strong declaration: "Whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and
he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall
be taken away even that he hath,"--that is, instead of being the
better for what he has heard, he is the worse; not apprehending the
truth, he is only perplexed and confused by it, and instead of going
away enriched, he is poorer than ever.
What, then, is to be done? If, instead of doing the people good, it
only does them harm, why try to teach them at all? Why not let them
alone, till they come with ears to hear, ready to receive? Happily
this sad alternative is not the only resource. The truth may be put in
such a way that it has both a shell and kernel of meaning; and the
kernel may be so inclosed in the shell that it can be kept safely
there, ready for the time when the inner fruit, which is the true food
of the soul, can be used. For this purpose the parable is
pre-eminently serviceable. The shell of meaning is so simple and
familiar, that even a child can understand it; being of the nature of
a story, it is very easily remembered; and connected as it is with
that which is frequently observed, it will come up again and again to
the minds of those in whom the thought has been lodged; so that, even
if, on first hearing it, there is no possibility of understanding its
deep spiritual significance, the time may come when it will flash upon
the spirit the light which has been concealed within and so preserved
from waste.
Take this parable of "The Sower" as an illustration. The disciples,
having ears to hear, were ready to get the good of it at once, so to
them He expounds it (vv. 18-23) on the spot. The rest were not ready
to receive and apply it. Having ears (but not ears to hear), they
heard not; but did it follow from this that it was useless, even worse
than useless, to give it them? Had the teaching been direct, it would
have been so; for they would have heard and rejected, and that would
have been the last of it. But put as it was in parabolic form, while
they were not prepared to understand and apply it then, they could not
but carry it away with them; and, as they walked the fields, and
observed the birds picking the seeds from the trodden field-paths, or
the tiny plants withering on the rocky ledges, or the springing wheat
strangled with rank growths of thorns, or the healthy growing wheat
plant, or later in the season the rich golden grain on the good soil,
they would have opportunity after opportunity of getting a glimpse of
the truth, and finding that which at the first they were so unprepared
to receive.
In this we can see the harmony of the passage before us, with its
parallels in the second and third Gospels, where the object of
speaking in parables is represented as being "that seeing, they might
not see, and hearing they might not understand" (see Mark iv. 12, and
Luke viii. 10). It is true that the object of the parable was to veil
as well as to reveal; and the effect, which was also an intended
effect, was to veil it from the unprepared heart and reveal it to the
heart prepared; but inasmuch as the heart which is unprepared to-day
may be prepared to-morrow, or next month, or next year, the parable
may serve, and was intended to serve, the double purpose of veiling it
and revealing it to the same person--veiling it from him as long as
his heart was gross, but revealing it to him as soon as he should turn
to the Lord and be willing to use his spiritual powers of apprehension
for the purpose for which they had been given him. Thus, while this
method of instruction was of the nature of judgment on the
hard-hearted for the moment, it was really in the deepest sense a
device of love, to prolong the time of their opportunity, to give them
repeated chances instead of only one. It was judgment for the moment,
with a view to mercy in the time to come. So we find, as always, that
even when our Saviour seems to deal harshly with men, His deepest
thoughts are thoughts of love; and in His recourse to the parabolic
veil, He is once more illustrating the truth of the prophet's
description of Him cited in the foregoing chapter: "A bruised reed
shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench, till He
send forth judgment unto victory."
How many difficulties might have been avoided if expositors had used
less of the mere "dry light" of the understanding, and tried more to
lay their hearts alongside the beating heart of Christ! "Is not my
word like as a fire? saith the Lord." Had this been remembered, and
the fire of love in such a passage as this brought to bear upon the
heart, before it was used "like a hammer that breaketh the rock in
pieces," how different in many cases would have been the result! It is
sad to think that this very passage as to the object of the parables
has been used as if it simply taught predestination in its hardest
sense, dooming the poor misguided soul to hopelessness for ever;
whereas, if we enter at all into sympathy with the Saviour's heart in
the sad and trying circumstances in which the words were spoken, we
find in it no harshness at all, but the yearning of a patient love,
seeking if by any means He may reach and gain the lost.
We have, indeed, the evidence on every side that the Saviour's heart
was greatly moved at this time. We have already recognised the pathos
of the cry, "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." We have seen the
sorrow of His heart in the sad quotation from the prophet Isaiah. On
the other hand, what joy He has in those who do see and hear!--"But
blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. For
verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have
desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and
to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them." The same
satisfaction appears later (ver. 51), when, after finishing the
series, He asks His disciples, "Have ye understood all these things?"
and they say unto Him, "Yea, Lord." He adds, "Therefore every scribe
which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that
is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new
and old." The Saviour evidently rejoices in the thought that these
disciples, having ears to hear, are making real progress,--so much so
that in due time they will be ready to be teachers of others, each
having a treasury of his own; and not only will they be in possession
of the old, but will have power to strike out new views of sacred
truth, and so be prepared with freshness and variety to set forth the
glad tidings of the kingdom of heaven. How fully these hopes were
realised we have only to look forward to the epistles to see. There we
have things old, the very truths the Master taught in the days of His
flesh; and not the old alone, for there are things new as well, fresh
settings of the old, new aspects, varied applications of the truth--a
treasury indeed for the ages to come. The Saviour, then, had good
reason to take comfort that some of the seed He was sowing in tears
was falling on good soil, and promising a rich and blessed harvest.
But the dark and discouraging side is never long out of sight.
Returning to His own country, and teaching in their synagogue, He so
impressed the people that they could not but ask certain questions,
which, if they had only pondered them, would have led them to the
truth: "Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?" But
the mere outside things that met their eyes so engrossed their
attention, that their heads and hearts remained as empty as ever.
Instead of pressing the question _Whence?_ which would have led them
up to heaven and to God, they dwelt upon "_this man_," this common
man, this carpenter's son, with a mother called Mary, and brothers
with the common names, James and Joseph, Simon and Judas; so, proving
themselves to be of the earth earthy, they closed their ears and were
"offended in Him." It was very evident that the only hope of reaching
people of that kind was to speak in parables, which they could
remember without understanding in the meantime, with the hope that
by-and-by as they thought of the subject without such prejudices as
these which now cause them to stumble, they may at last understand,
and receive the truth and inherit eternal life.