Klyne Snodgrass - Stories With Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus

Table of Contents

2008 Klyne Snodgrass

All rights reserved

Published 2008 by
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
2140 Oak Industrial Drive N.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505 /
P.O. Box 163, Cambridge CB3 9PU U.K.
www.eerdmans.com

Printed in the United States of America

12 11 10 09 08 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN 978-0-8028-4241-1

Quotations from The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, by Florentino Garca Martnez and Eibert Tigchelaar are copyright 1997-98 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, the Netherlands, and used by permission.

Quotations from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible are copyright 1946, 1952, 1971, 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America and used by permission.

Quotations from the New Revised Standard Version Bible are copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America and are used by permission.

Quotations from the Holy Bible, New International Version, are copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society and used by permission of Zondervan.

To my students
at North Park Theological Seminary

Past, Present, and Future
and

To Gabriel and Caeden
who are wonders to behold

Preface

This is unapologetically and quite consciously a selfishly motivated book. This is what I want when preparing to teach or preach on the parables. Hopefully others will find useful what I have collected. This is not a devotional book or a book to be read through at one sitting. It is a resource book for the parables.

Are parables so complex that they require a comprehensive guide? I do believe that Jesus parables can be understood by average readers and without special helps and instructions. They are not jigsaw puzzles. Some are enigmatic like the Unjust Steward but many are clear and compelling or they would not have been loved as much as they are. At the same time, the parables were told in a complex context, one enlightened by numerous parallel texts, and they assume familiarity with an ancient culture. They involve questions dealing with a variety of subjects: ancient agricultural assumptions, wedding customs, relations of slaves and masters, and Judaism and its history, to name only the most obvious. The parables have been placed in a context of scrutiny by scholarship, again involving an array of subjects. Anyone who desires to understand the light offered by the first-century context and to follow the scholarly discussions needs a guidebook like this. Anyone who is going to preach or teach the parables should be fully informed about the world of the parables, the intent of their teller, and the discussions about them in modern literature. I have tried to convey the complexity of discussions by NT scholars because I feel people should be as fully informed as possible and because such discussions become a platform for reflection. I am well aware how easy it is to misrepresent someone, and if I have done so, I apologize in advance.

We live in a day when bibliographies can be electronically produced and updated easily, so I have chosen to list resources in the notes and to include a complete bibliography for the book, rather than a full bibliography for each parable. In the further reading section for each parable, I have not included obvious works on parables or commentaries except where they were especially helpful. I have not chosen contributions that I think are most correct but those that are most helpful in understanding the issues and discussion of each parable.

The gestation period for this book has been quite lengthy, and I have had marvelous support. Thanks is expressed for a grant from the Pew Evangelical Scholars program. I am extremely grateful for unparalleled support from the institution I serve, North Park Theological Seminary. The president, Jay Phelan, and the dean of faculty, Stephen Graham, and my faculty colleagues have backed my work at every point. Their conversations have been helpful and enjoyable. I have had a number of teaching assistants, most for more than one year, who have not only been a great help but who have become good friends: Nathan Pawl, Cindy Reinhart, John Madvig, Sarah Frisk Eix, Rebekah Ecklund, James Amadon, Lars Stromberg, Chris Nelson, and Nathanael Putnam all salt of the earth people. Chris Nelson has also made the substantial contribution of preparing the indexes. The library staff at North Park University has been very accommodating and helpful. Several good friends have read and commented on one or more chapters: Bruce Chilton, Jan DuRand, John Painter, Roger Aus, Stephen Chester, Glenn Palmberg, and Mike Fitzgerald. I appreciate their contribution, but any shortcomings in the work are, of course, my own.

Sofija Burton, a good friend, assisted significantly with reading German. Bernice Brandel has been a support and friend for many years; her inquisitive mind and her commitment to the life of the church are always encouraging. The people at Eerdmans have been extremely patient and helpful, and special thanks are expressed to Jon Pott, John Simpson, and Reinder Van Til. It has been a pleasure to work with friends in the preparation of this book. Most significant of all has been the support of my wife Phyllis, whose patience, tolerance, and assistance are a gift.

Holy Week, 2007

Abbreviations

Introduction to the Parables of Jesus

Jesus parables are among the best known and most influential stories in the world. Even if people know nothing of Jesus, they either know about his stories or have encountered their impact in expressions like prodigal or good Samaritan. The importance of the parables of Jesus can hardly be overestimated. At no point are the vitality, relevance, and usefulness of the teaching of Jesus so clear as in his parables. Jesus was the master creator of story, and nothing is so attractive or so compelling as a good story. Children (and adults) do not say, Tell me some facts; they want a story. Stories are inherently interesting. Discourse we tolerate; to story we attend. Story entertains, informs, involves, motivates, authenticates, and mirrors existence. By creating a narrative world, stories establish an unreal, controlled universe. The author abducts us and almost god-like tells us what reality exists in this narrative world, what happens, and why.

Stories are one of the few places that allow us to see reality, at least the reality the author creates. There, to a degree we cannot do in real life, we can discern motives, keep score, know who won, and what success and failure look like. Life on the outside virtually stops; we are taken up in the story. The storyteller is in control so that we are forced to see from new angles and so that the message cannot be easily evaded. Hearers become willing accomplices, even if the message is hostile. From this other world we are invited to understand, evaluate, and, hopefully, redirect our lives. Apart from personal experience, stories are the quickest way to learning. We learn most easily in the concrete, but, because we cannot easily remember hundreds of concrete accounts, our brains store most easily in the abstract. In teaching and preaching the shortcut is to repeat the abstract idea we already know, forgetting that others still need to learn in the concrete. We would do better, at least frequently, to clothe the abstract in concrete experience and story, just as Jesus did.