|
1. Teaching by the Lake (13:1–3a)
¹That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. ²Large crowds
gathered around him, so that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole
crowd stood on the shore. ³And he said many things to them in parables:
By specifying the same day and mentioning the house (which Jesus is presumed
to have been in for the scene in 12:46–50, leaving his family “outside”) Matthew
creates a closer link with the preceding narrative than the other synoptists. Jesus
has just spoken of the special privilege of his disciples, to be regarded as his true
family, and this discourse will underline that privilege. It is they, and not the
crowds “outside,” who have been given the ability to perceive the hidden truths
of the kingdom of heaven (v. 11) and their privilege will be underlined in vv. 16–
17. To them private explanations of the parables will be given, but not to the
crowds, and the narrative shifts within this discourse will underline this
distinction (vv. 10, 36). In this introductory scene-setting the boat already serves
that purpose: Matthew does not mention here that the disciples were in the boat
with Jesus, but their private approach to him in v. 10 indicates that they were—
though the introduction of a “house” in v. 36 complicates the scenario, and
indicates the composite origin of the discourse. The boat forms a convenient
pulpit in view of the pressing crowd, but it also serves symbolically to distance
Jesus (and his disciples) from the crowd (who, like Jesus’ family in 12:46, are
“standing” separate from the disciple group), and thus to underline the editorial
distinction between public and private teaching. As in 5:1–2 (see comments
there) and 24:3, Jesus the teacher adopts the traditional seated posture, while the
audience stand. The setting is probably intended to be the shore at Capernaum,
where Jesus’ home now was.
That Jesus “said many things in parables” might remind the reader of Solomon,
who was compared with Jesus as recently as 12:42, who spoke “three thousand
proverbs (LXX parabolai),” 1 Kgs 4:32. We have already seen a number of
parables in Jesus’ teaching in Matthew (5:25–26; 9:12, 15–17; 11:16–19; 12:29,
43–45), but this is Matthew’s first use of the term parabolē, whereas Mark uses it
earlier also to describe the form of Jesus’ response to the Beelzebul charge
(Mark 3:23). It occurs throughout this chapter, where the reference is to story-
parables of the type normally associated with the English word “parable,” and
this is the predominant use elsewhere in Matthew (21:33, 45; 22:1), though it is
also used for a simple comparison (24:32) and for a striking aphorism which
involves no comparative element (15:15). That last use indicates that for
Matthew, as for Mark (cf. also Mark’s inclusion of a series of aphorisms in his
“parable” chapter, 4:21–25), parabolē is wider than the English “parable,” and
includes also cryptic sayings or epigrams, so that it is closer to the Hebrew māšāl
(which it regularly translates in LXX), which covers proverbs (like those of
Solomon), fables, prophetic utterances and even riddles as well as allegorical
parables like those of Ezekiel. So understood, a parabolē is an utterance which
does not carry its meaning on the surface, and which thus demands thought and
perception if the hearer is to benefit from it. Learning from and responding to a
parabolē is not a matter of simply reading off the meaning from the words, but of
entering into an interactive process to which the hearer must contribute if true
understanding is to result. That is why the same parable which enlightens one
may puzzle or even repel another. A parable is not an easy option for
understanding, but a challenge to which not everyone will be able to rise.
Parables without interpretation, which is all that are offered to the crowds in this
discourse, will thus result in a divided response, depending on what degree of
understanding and of openness each hearer brings to them. See further on vv.
11–13 for this understanding of parable.
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
