Monday, Oct. 21

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I have always liked fairy tales and myths that have riddles in them.  You know, the kind of stories where a prince will have to answer a clever riddle to marry the princess, or a knight must solve a riddle to cross a dangerous bridge and slay the dragon...that kind of thing.  

One of my favorite such stories comes from J.R.R. Tolkein’s book “The Hobbit”.  In this story, the hero is a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins and at one crucial point in the story, he must win a game of riddles in order to escape from the creature Gollum.  

As a matter of fact, there are even riddles in the Bible.  In the Old Testament book of Judges, Samson asks 30 of his wedding guests to solve a riddle before the seven days of his wedding feast end.

However, when we come to the parables of Jesus, it would be a huge mistake for us to think of them as riddles that we must solve.  Although some of Jesus’ parables were not immediately easy for everyone to understand, and the disciples even had to ask Him to explain what He was talking about at times, Jesus was not giving them riddles to solve, but stories with divine purpose and meaning.

Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand...But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.   - Matthew 13:10-13, 16-17

It is very interesting that the the disciples come and ask Jesus why He tells these parables so often.  They are wondering why He doesn’t just come right out and say exactly what He means?  “Instead of a parable, why not use a simple outline, or even a power point presentation Jesus, so that everyone can understand what you are talking about?”

Jesus’ answer is telling...

From this point on in Jesus’ ministry, when He spoke in parables, He explained them only to His disciples. But those who had continually rejected His message were left in their spiritual blindness to wonder as to His meaning. Simply put, Jesus knew that there are those who have neither interest nor regard in the deep things of God. He made a clear distinction between those who had been given “ears to hear” and those who persisted in unbelief—ever hearing, but never actually perceiving and “always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). The disciples had been given the gift of spiritual discernment by which things of the spirit were made clear to them. Because they accepted truth from Jesus, they were given more and more truth. The same is true today of believers who have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth (John 16:13). He has opened our eyes to the light of truth and our ears to the sweet words of eternal life!

Jeff Frazier