Nothing helps drive a point home better than good illustration. Public speakers (and this certainly includes preachers) are well aware of the value of a good story or personal anecdote to help lock an idea into someone’s head. While the majority of my time sermon-prepping is taken up with biblical exegesis—making sure I understand correctly the scriptural text—a good part of my time is spent trying to find the best way to communicate the main points of a passage; and good communication frequently involves finding good examples to illustrate the text.
Of course, there are dangers, many dangers, in using an illustration to supplement a biblical text. All too often, people remember the cute story and forget the point. Or, they identify with the illustration so strongly that they reject the application. Or, they get lost in the story, forgetting that it ties to a biblical principle. It is not unusual for someone to come up to me following a sermon and identify with a minor illustration or example I used and clearly miss the point.
After all, a good illustration is one in which everyone can identify, hence, everyone brings their own background to the story. If I use my dog as an example to illustrate a biblical point, people can easily get distracted by the dog itself. What kind of dog? Did you like the dog? How much is your dog like my dog?
Sometimes illustrations can be distractions.
But, used well, a good story not only emphasizes a previous point, but it can teach us as well. This seems to be the root of Jesus’ use of parables. In the Gospels, Jesus illustrates His teaching with 30-40 parables (depending on how you count them). Like a great illustrator, Jesus uses short, pithy stories to drive home His Gospel message; and, like a great communicator, His parables both illustrate and teach us about the Kingdom of God. The parables challenge us, teach us, and engage us.
However, the negative is possible as well. The parables are often misunderstood. Sometimes we can’t get past the “homey” nature of a parable. Sometimes we wonder who people in the parable represent. Sometimes we get the point but fail to extend it to the Kingdom teaching Jesus has in mind.
With some intentional care, these challenges can often be overcome. Remembering that the parables reflect Jesus’ own culture, that they are not analogies where everything parallels something else, that there is usually just one main point being illustrated, that Jesus’ interest is in the Gospel and the Kingdom of God… keeping these in mind will usually help us not miss the point of the parable, the goal of the illustration. This doesn’t demand hard work, but it does mean that we need to read the parables carefully, as we should all Scripture.
I encourage you to join us this week in worship as we explore “The Parable of the Soils” together!
Read Mark 4:1-20.
1. How does the setting of this parable by the sea, with Jesus on a boat, the crowd on the shore, give insight into Jesus’ teaching?
2. Who is the “sower” in Jesus’ illustration? What are the options, and how does the parable shift depending on who you think the sower might be?
3. In verse 14, the seed is identified with “the Word.” How does this describe Jesus’ ministry? If the seed was linked with Jesus’ healings or actions, how would that change the point of the parable?
4. All four types of “soils” or places where the seed falls can be pictured as the willingness of the heart of a hearer to respond to God’s Word. How might you “nick-name” the different soils? What adjectives might you apply to the word “heart” to describe them?
5. The section in the middle, verses 10-13, describes why Jesus teaches in parables. This is easily considered one of the “hard sayings” of Jesus. What questions do these verses evoke? How would you explain this to a young Christian?
