Parable: Between Simile and Metaphor

Part of understanding God’s Word in the scriptures is to participate in various modes of communication and discourse. Often enough, I suspect that people think my sense of grammar and syntax is a bit overdeveloped. From my days in elementary school, I have been fascinated by language. I have found my life enriched and excited in diagramming sentences, parsing verbs, and otherwise being thrilled by the use of words and modes of expression.

An example of the joining of this fascination and scriptural understanding has been Jesus’ use of parables in Matthew’s gospel which we have heard for three weeks. The parables, as we experience them in the gospels, are a typical mode of teaching among the rabbis. Jesus use of this form of discourse is familiar to us: “The kingdom of God is like…”

The parable is, thinks this grammarian, something of a cross between a simile and a metaphor. The use of “like” is the give-away of the simile, which in a comparison expresses either an actual likeness or difference. This Jesus’ teaching begins with “The Kingdom of heaven is like….” Yet in another sense, the parable is more on the order of a metaphor, which is an extended simile. The challenge to understanding the parable is to extend the simile and discover the likeness and the differences in the story. As in normal discourse and expression scriptural understanding has to note the comparison and explore the various possible extended dimensions of the realities compared.

An Invitation
As we have heard this collection of parables, we have experienced Jesus’ teachings on the Kingdom of God. Jesus combines not only understanding and discernment of the Kingdom, but invites his disciples and us to actually come and join the Kingdom described. This Kingdom is variously understood as the time of God’s action among us, the hearers of the gospel. The Kingdom is heard in the words of Jesus and seen in his actions as we read in other gospel accounts. The multiple healings of those who suffer, the giving of sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, the straightening of crippled limbs, the feeding of the poor, the liberation of the captive, and, not least, the raising of the dead to life, all are the realities of God among us in Christ. Jesus’ teachings and actions invite us to this new age and new way of living. Such is the Kingdom of God.

The second part is the comparison reality to be explored. One can list the unexplored part of the Kingdom. It is like the sower and the seed of a few weeks ago. Or last week we read about three possible metaphors of understanding: the mixing of the weeds and wheat, the mustard seed, and the yeast in the flour to produce bread. This week adds to the enrichment of our coming to know the Kingdom: the treasure buried in the

field, the pearl of great price, and the casting of a great net into the sea. Each literary comparison provides multiple dimensions for exploration and entrance into the Kingdom. The thematic may open to the hearer/student various ways into the mystery of God with us.

Our response to the Kingdom is conditioned by how we explore the richness of Jesus’ invitation of relationship with God, with our world, and with one another. A first response, which the teaching rabbi would expect of his students, would be to consider the story, to reflect and study the story, to talk and discuss among them what the meaning could be. Such study and consideration would lead the inquiring student or disciple to thoughtful prayer and contemplation within the mind and heart. All the parables bring us to yet a third realization. The reality of the Kingdom and God is beyond our understanding and our accomplishment. Real learning comes when the disciple surrenders to the mystery of the Kingdom.

Sitting with the Mystery
In the language of prayer and contemplation, the disciple comes to know the mystery of the Kingdom by sitting in silence and allowing the Kingdom to happen. The community, as searchers for the Kingdom, sits with the mystery in celebration, song, and contemplation. God is the bringer of the Kingdom. We like the earth receive the Kingdom. Its fruition and coming to be is in God’s good time and in his good way. There’s lots of waiting and need for patience. While study and thought may move us forward to the Kingdom, prayer and contemplation is the experience of the Kingdom itself, where God shows himself to us and we are transformed in the encounter.

Witness the wisdom of the parables. The Kingdom is primarily the work of God. Its accomplishment is hidden and, in many ways unexplainable. It is the center and focus of our human longing and desire. Good and evil continue in the lives of believers. Judgment should not be premature about the who, how, and what of God’s Kingdom. The Kingdom will be judged only in its fruits and in the end times.

Summer time is a quieter time, when the living is easy. The parables of the liturgy come at a graced time for sitting with the mysteries of God. Take some time with the metaphors of the Kingdom. There is no need to rush, nor the possibility of rushing, the coming of the Kingdom. Sit and remember the symbols of the Kingdom. Think of them. Enjoy them. They speak of God and invite us to the Kingdom. The actions of sowing and harvesting, of planting and waiting, of expectation and patient waiting, and of taking time and moving forward invite us to the reality of God present in his Words and deeds. Thus is the Kingdom for those with ears to hear. We do well to remember Matthew and his admonition: “Those with ears ought to hear.”

CDH