Richard Trench called the parable, “A wonderful instrument.” It is a necessary vehicle for knowing God. To explain Truth without the parables in theological jargon (maybe gibberish), it would mean, as Trench pointed out, “… for the worst; giving up of living realities which truly stir the heart, and getting of dead metaphysical abstractions in their room.” Perhaps, I went too far in quoting the Bishop, but what is clear is that a glimpse of heaven cannot be understood in technical terms but only through the analogies of this life that give us that glimpse. We are Moses, asking of God, “shew me thy glory” [Exodus 33:18]. If, for example, a married couple, as believers, have come to—even in a small way—experience the “oneness” God spoke of to Adam they have caught a glimpse of, what Paul called, “the great mystery” concerning Christ and the Church. [Ephesians 5:32].
There is another benefit to Jesus’ parables. Learning is cumulative, that is, we build the present understanding of life on what we have understood to be true in our past. But what ever does someone do when they learn that in Christ life begins over [John 3:3]! How does one look at the habits and principles by which they governed themselves, the moral code by which society formed their conscience, the lifestyle they have grown comfortable with, and relegate it all to the ash heap of what is no longer who they are or who they want to be? Is life before Christ wasted? Not at all. No past experience is to be dismissed as meaningless while parables are now a real part of learning. Whatever our experience, it has become a real part of our testimony, our witness, not just to others but—most of all—to ourselves of the miraculous love of God.
But there is yet a third benefit. Parables are truth easily recalled. Abstract theology is soon forgotten, or worse, irrelevant bits and pieces of a dead doctrine that is never argued anymore. As our relationship with Christ deepens and our faith becomes stronger we discover how much we have grown in the Truth [1 Peter 2:2]. The parable of life, the story that is us and the stories Jesus shared are readily recallable as reminders of the living hope that embraces the heart, especially in the hard times. Parables become the memorable garb of God’s Word—”no skeletons of truth,” says Dr. Trench, “but all clothed, as it were, with flesh and blood.” The academic ramblings once the entertainment of young minds and collegiate life, we can no longer adequately explain—nor do we want to—to the discouraged or weak in faith. But when I read in Hebrews 12:7 “God deals with us as with sons and daughters,” this is life and, in some comforting way, I get it!
