Short Stories | Part 1 | Courtney Clark
Transcript: Short Stories Part 1
Jesus taught in parables. Which is something we know if you’ve been around the church for much time at all. But even scripture tells us this was his primary form of teaching in Mark 4:33-34. He helped his disciples parce out his intention but that is not information we are given. We are kind of left on our own to figure out the intention and meaning of these messages. Which has gotten us into the weeds quite often. I know personally a lot of my own religious trauma stems from Jesus’s parables and how they were used against me. I often grew up thinking this form of teaching was exclusive to Jesus. Something he made up so he could tell everybody he was God without telling everybody he was god because that was on his list of things to not do while on earth, but Jesus did not invent the parable. He was actually using a traditional jewish teaching method
The modern church has turned parables into allegories meaning each character represents something else in a broader sense. These representations are determined to be what gives the story meaning. Often one or more of the characters (in today’s interpretations) are believed to represent Jesus or God. Think of the parable of the prodigal son we went through with Chris recently. The Father is often spoken of as a representation of God, Chris helped us to see that that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case for the story to hold meaning. In fact I think the story means more when we can see ourselves in the position of the father rather than immediately placing God there as we’ve often been taught.
Jesus’s listener would have seen a parable not as an allegory of how God interacts with us or as a fun children’s story but rather as a story of human experience to explain a spiritual reality.
Jesus like other rabbi’s at this time is using stories to paint a picture of who God is. Stories the listener would have been able to understand and place themselves in. These are big concepts and rabbi’s are trying to make them relatable by telling stories. Not only is it entertaining, but it’s a well thought out well practiced teaching method. One we still use today. Particularly with kids. Every parenting book I’ve read urges you to tell stories of your own life to explain big arching concepts that kids can’t yet understand. Classes I’ve taken on preaching urge you to include stories in your sermons to help things be more relatable. Jesus is a well rounded teacher and is using stories to his advantages much like every other Rabbi for generations did before him and will go on to do after.
What I want to do with this series is leave out Interpretations we’ve heard before and instead invite us to engage with the text in a new way.
“Reducing parables to a single meaning destroys their aesthetic as well as ethical potential. This surplus of meaning is how poetry and storytelling work, and it is all to the good.” Amy Jill-Levine
Each parable can leave multiple impressions with the listener. We will all see something different based on our own experiences
They should provoke us and make us uncomfortable. If you hear a parable and think wow I really like that, you’re missing the point.
With the idea in mind that Parables are to do more than ‘mean’ they are to; remind, provoke, refine, confront, and disturb let’s take a look at: The Mustard Seed
He said therefore, “what is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.” Luke 13:18-19 ESV (Matthew 13:31-32) (Mark 4:30-32)
A lot of Evangelical interpretations of this text (and as we’ll find out interpretations of most parables) are unintentionally anti-Judaism. Jesus is Jewish and is teaching in a way that poses challenges to a JEWISH audience while still maintaining respect for Jewish practice.
A couple of things I want to get out of the way first. Again, most interpretations of this parable have an allegorical meaning. But there is no reason to presume that the seed must represent faith, the gospel, or the Christ; there is no necessary reason for seeing the tree as the church or the birds as the nations of the world. Perhaps the seed, the plant, and the birds are exactly that.
First of all Jesus’s audience wouldn’t have known him as we do. They would have seen him as a valuable teacher, and many of his followers hoped he would start a revolution, but none of them knew he would be crucified and 3 days later rise from the dead. So putting that blanket idea over the top of this text means it wouldn’t have meant anything to the original audience. Which obviously it meant enough it was worthy of being recorded.
Some scholars talk about the mustard seed being unclean. Claiming that it’s more like a weed causing problems. Or that two plants aren’t supposed to be planted together according to jewish law making both plants unclean or untouchable. Most of the scholars writing these interpretations don’t practice jewish ritual, so these ideas should be taken with a grain of salt. There are no rules against planting different vegetables in a garden according to jewish scholar Amy-Jill Levine who I referenced earlier. She also says that mustard is indeed kosher and not considered unclean.
First let’s look at a mustard seed. What have you heard about mustard seeds?
It is in fact not the smallest seed. Orchid seeds and cypress seeds are actually smaller.
Mustard seed does not grow into a large tree. It grows into a medium sized bush.
It is not a weed. Mustard and mustard seed are used still to this day for its large medicinal and herbal properties. They also taste delicious and are used to add flavor to a variety of dishes. In other words mustard seeds (and thus the plant they grow into) are valuable because they can do a lot.
But no one said the Bible was botanical text book. So Jesus doesn’t have to be talking about exactly how things play out. He just has to make reference to something the audience would have recognized.
I do want to note that all of the presentations of this parable are a little different. And scholars have used the difference in language to debate the ‘meaning’ of this text. It’s almost impossible to determine if these tiny details are crucial to the interpretation of the parable or not. Though many have tried.
There are a lot of reasons for the minor differences. One being that each book was written at a different time period. Luke wrote his book using investigative journalism and did not have eye witness account to the life of Jesus. So he’s going off of what has been written down and shared through oral tradition. Secondly it’s possible that Jesus used this story in several different sermons and said it differently each time. Good story tellers, which Jesus was, curate their stories to fit the audience they’re speaking to. So the writers Matthew and Mark could have been writing down the versions they thought most important or liked best. We could go on there are many reasons the gospels are all different. But these are the two that stand out today.
So what if instead of digging into this story with our ideas of microscopic seeds turning into massive trees. We strip away all of that and just read it for the words on the page. What do you see? What do the words say? In your own words.
Remember to keep in mind parables are to provoke.
Yes a seed turns into something much larger. Which is beautiful, but it doesn’t provoke. So what is the intention here? What is Jesus trying to provoke?
The story doesn’t stop with just seeds and trees. It mentions something about birds. Let’s look at the Old Testament and what it has to say about birds in trees.
Look at Ezekiel 31 and Daniel 4. They associate birds and trees with fallen empires (31:3, 6, 13). Both are telling stories of the fallen Assyrian empire over to Babylon. In which the temple was destroyed and Judeans were held captive and enslaved by Babylon. This is a significant part of history that everyone would have known in great detail and lived their lives around the consequences of.
Daniel 4: 11-12 discusses Nebuchanzer’s dream. Neb was the second Babylonian king. Daniel’s interpretation of that dream is in 4:20-22.
One can make the assumption that if Jesus is referencing these passages by speaking of birds in trees he’s claiming the mustard ‘tree’ is to represent the kingdom of heaven. This is a particularly appealing interpretation especially today in the 21st century with our knowledge of the ebb and flow of empires throughout history.
With these texts as background it seems as Jesus is possibly saying the mustard tree is the kingdom of God welcoming to all nations and comes about naturally through growth rather than annihilation.
But birds nesting in a tree would not have been a conventional image for empires for the first century Jewish audience. And the focus of the parable is not necessarily on the growth of the tree but rather on the seed. He says the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. Not the bush that it grows into.
Look at Psalms 104: 12, 16-17. With this text as the background the parable hints of divine greatness and humanity’s participation in that greatness.
Mustard seed is a curative available to anyone. And a mustard seed plant produces more than one single person can use. So rather than seeing the mustard seed as a weed that gets in the way, or as a great empire what if we saw it as a plant that provides infinite value and use in abundance to anyone who may encounter it. What if we see it as a gift, something small that does what it was designed to do grow and provide basic needs like medicine and spice.
That’s not all, the story goes on and this tree not only produces mustard seeds in abundance but also provides shelter to the birds. Birds find shelter wherever it is available. Be it in a mighty tree, your back porch, or even a medium sized bush. Shelter is readily available nature, the birds, are cared for in this kingdom of God.
All seeds no matter the size contain life. The seed holds potential for what is to come. Something small turns to something great. Yes, but there’s more. That potential has to be tapped into, the seed can’t grow unless it’s planted and given space to do so.
That takes involvement on the part of the gardener, or whoever, does the planting. But more is required, the Gardner must give the seed time to produce. Getting overly involved will prevent anything from happening, sometimes we just need to get out of the way and let growth happen naturally. Not everything needs our constant attention.
But the focus here isn’t on the person doing the planting but rather the results of their actions. The tree or bush that grows.
Mustard seeds would have been common to the audience that Jesus was speaking too. They used them often for many different things. Seeing a mustard plant would have been a common occurrence. By equating the kingdom of God to a mustard seed here, Jesus is saying the kingdom of god is right in your backyard. In the generosity of nature and in the daily workings of humanity as we participate with it. As nature serves us so must we serve it. The plant can’t grow without being planted, and once it is planted produces something of infinite worth not only for us but for all of nature. We must work together in caring for it. That is where we find the kingdom of God. Working together with nature to provide for others and for ourselves.
So the reader here is being provoked and challenged to find the kingdom in nature. Not to take advantage of all that nature has to offer us and abuse it until we have nothing left. But to cultivate it, care for it, and spread the wealth of it with all that we might encounter. The crop produces more than one person can use, it’s important to remember we can’t hone it all for ourselves. Nature is good and provides for us so we may provide for others.
May we go into this week and find the kingdom in the nature all around us. May we care for it as it cares for us.