Christ’s parables illustrate the inauguration of His Kingdom at His incarnation calling upon all people to determine whether they are among His citizens before its consummation.

“Context is king.”  This is the paramount hermeneutic for all Bible texts, each having one exegetical point.^[1]  The Bible’s entire text, including the parables, has one ultimate homiletical point: Bow before Jesus the King of Kings!

Steven McCarthy points out in the first article of this series, “[the Gospel] has royal, or imperial, associations: the announcement of a new monarch’s ascension to the throne…a decisive victory heralded to…the front lines of battle…Jesus’ parables…are about the kingdom that his appearing embodies.”^[2]

Many begin, “The kingdom of heaven is like”—six times in Matthew 13, which, quoting Psalm 78:2 in verses 34-35, alarmingly qualifies:  All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.

Similarly, in Mark 4:11-12 quoting Isaiah 6:9-10, Jesus warns:…Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.

Herbert Lockyer discerns, “The parables…both attracted and sifted the crowd.”^[3]  Craig Blomberg concurs: “Jesus’ stories are…‘weapons of warfare’…They draw people into a seemingly innocuous story only to confront them with the demands of discipleship in ways that subvert conventional religious tradition and expectation.”^[4]

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