Do the Parables Tell Us Something about the Mission of Jesus?

Do the Parables Tell Us Something about the Mission of Jesus? The parables of Jesus are generally considered as some of the most authentic sayings of Jesus. It seems therefore logical to turn to the parables in quests concerning the historical Jesus Using parables as sources does however constitute a special challenge. Parables are figurative texts. They convey their messages not by telling them directly, but via an image-text. The messages of the parables can therefore not be accessed directly by understanding the words of their texts in their literal meaning. An interpretation is always required. And where there is an interpretation, there is always an interpreter. Using the parables as sources within a quest for the historical Jesus means that we are interested in the messages Jesus himself wanted to communicate through his parables. Our answers should therefore be based on the interpretations given by Jesus himself. The problem is however, that the interpretations, which in the Gospels are presented as Jesus’ own explanations to his parables, generally are considered to be secondary. Consequently, if the parables are to be used as sources, one has to rely on interpretations done by others than Jesus himself. The present study focuses on interpretations done by a number of key New Testament scholars through the history of parable research. It concentrates on the following parables: The Sower (Mark 4:3-8//Matt 13:3-8//Luke 8:5-8), The Seed Growing Secretly (Mark 4:26-29), The Weeds in the Wheat (Matt 13:24-30) and The Lost Sheep (Matt 18:12-14//Luke 15:4-7). These are parables, in which the interpreters find some information about what Jesus considered to be his mission. In the present study a series of interpretations of each of the four parables are analysed, as to which information about the mission of Jesus they find in the messages of the parables and what their findings are based on.