Whether one is a Christian or otherwise, the parables of the Bibles, especially the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, are well-known and good moral lessons are gleaned from believers and non-believers alike.
However, Jesus' parabolic teaching began on a less than warm-fuzzy origin. The original genesis for the parables was a response to the rejection of the Jewish leadership of Jesus' claim to be the Messiah. Confronted with evidence of miracles performed by Jesus that the Pharisees claimed could only be performed by the Messiah, they chose to attributed it to Satan's influence. As a result, Jesus pronounced His judgment over that generation of Jews and the sacking of the 2nd Temple in A.D. 70 by the Romans ensued. (Read it here)
Immediately after that, Jesus began teaching the multitudes in parables but explained these parables to the 12 disciples in private. The disciples' question of the purpose of these parables served to indicate that this was the beginning of a new methodology since prior to this, Jesus spoke in plain language that people could understand (e.g., the Sermon on the Mount). One of the reasons was to hide the truths from the masses of the day, including the Jewish leadership would continued to follow him over the course of Jesus' ministry. Since they have rejected Jesus as the Messiah, no more light will be given. Hence, in a counter-intuitive sort of way, these parables that Christians have grown to love and treasure grew out of a dark origin.
I am embarking on a parable journey over the next couple of weeks and will be posting some of the insights here. Some of the ideas that I will be sharing are inspired by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, a Messianic Jew based in the United States. You can find his Ariel ministry website link here.
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