Floodgates 101_Issue2_2019_FINAL

Features
Parables give us “imaginary gardens with real toads in them”.
While myths give us imaginary gardens with imaginary toads
in them, a parable tells a story which, on the surface level,
is absolutely possible or even factual within the normalcy of
life. A myth tells one which is neither of these on its surface
level.
Parables give us
“imaginary gardens
with real toads
in them”.
THE MOST IMPORTANT OF JESUS’ PARABLES
Of Jesus’ many parables, the Parable of the Sower has been
acknowledged as His most important. According to Lim Kar
Yong in his Jesus the Storyteller: Hearing the Parables Afresh
Today, there are three reasons for this.
Firstly, the Parable of the Sower provides the most amount
of explanation and guidance on how it should be interpreted.
In most of Jesus’ other parables, Jesus leaves a great deal of
homework for His audience to mull on; His audience is meant to
come to its own conclusions. But with the Parable of the Sower,
Jesus provides His own interpretation of the parable’s meaning
to remove most of the ambiguity.
Secondly, the Parable of the Sower is one of the few parables
that appear in all three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Luke and
Mark). For example, the very familiar Parable of the Talents
appears only in Matthew (25:14-30) and Luke (19:12-27) and is
absent in Mark, while another familiar parable, the Parable of the
Pharisee and the Tax Collector, is found only in Luke (19:9-14)
and is absent in Matthew and Mark. More on this below.
Thirdly, at the core of the Parable of the Sower (i.e. after He
had told the parable narrative but before He provided His
explanation thereof), Jesus quoted from Isaiah 6:9-10. The
significance of this reference to Old Testament scripture,
especially at this point of Jesus’ ministry, cannot be overstated.
This will be discussed in greater detail below.
MATTHEW AND LUKE, VERSUS MARK
This is how the Parable of the Sower appears in the three
Synoptic Gospels:
Matthew 13:1-23 (NIV) Luke 8:4-18 (NIV) Mark 4:1-20 (NIV)
Background Matthew 13:1-2 Luke 8:4 Mark 4:1-2
Parable Narrative Matthew 13:3-8 Luke 8:5-8a Mark 4:3-8
Reference to Isaiah 6 Matthew 13:9-17 Luke 8:8b-10 Mark 4:9-12
Explanation Thereof Matthew 13:18-23 Luke 8:11-18 Mark 4:13-20
On the surface, it seems that all three Synoptic Gospels
recorded this parable with a high degree of consistency. Even
the structure of the parable is consistent across all three books
– they all begin with a brief introduction of the setting in which
Jesus spoke this parable, followed by the parable narrative itself,
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