Do All Parables Need Retelling?
Can we understand a parable – or at least, can people start to puzzle out its meaning – without any interpretation or ‘translation’ by a preacher? Even if they’ve never read the Bible in their lives, and may have no concept of ‘God’?
In this blog I’ve asked the question ‘Does this parable need retelling?’ a few times. But there are two parables where I’d give an answer of ‘Almost certainly not’.
The first one is the parable of the fig tree:
Then he told them a parable: ‘Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.’
Luke 21: 29-31
And the second is the light of a lamp:
No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.
Matthew 5:15
The Fig Tree
It’s true that fig trees don’t grow everywhere, but if you look at Luke’s version of this parable, a bit of retelling has already taken place. Matthew and Mark just have ‘fig trees’; by the time Luke recorded this parable, ‘all the trees’ had been added.
I don’t know of a country that doesn’t have trees. There are countries listed on the Internet as being treeless, but that’s a confusion between ‘completely treeless’ and ‘forestless’. Not every country has deciduous trees, true. But – for example – an evergreen palm will still show summer is coming. It’ll come into bloom. Fir trees are a bit more secretive about their spring-time growth; it still happens.
So, when would this parable need retelling? In a treeless area, perhaps, or where the only trees were conifers with no apparent new growth. In those cases, the parable could be ‘retold’ with ‘look at the plants’.
The Lamp
The meaning of this parable shifts from Gospel to Gospel. Luke uses it twice, suggesting that this was a saying Jesus repeated in different contexts. In Matthew, above, the disciples (and us) are the light that’s supposed to shine in the darkness. In Mark and Luke, it’s Jesus’ teachings that are the light.
Matthew also adds later that you can’t hide the city on a hill: the picture for this post shows exactly why that is. Darkness cannot hide a city ablaze with light – quite the opposite, in fact.
We may now use rechargeable electric lamps rather than small clay oil lamps, but the need for light has remained constant. And we still wouldn’t put our lamp inside a basket!
Previous Parable: The Lost Sons: Luke 15: 11-32
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