Progressive paper

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The Art of Storytelling from Jesus

Zhenxuan Gao

Professor Matthew Whitlock

UCOR 2100 09

September 25, 2020

The art of storytelling from Jesus

Jesus is God who assumed the form of a man who came to earth to save mankind from sin. Different people have different understandings about who Jesus is. Jesus is love and that love came from God when He sent him to earth to save man. Jesus is obedient to his father as he accepted to come down and take the form of man and later die for our sins. He was humble in his relationship with fellow men. He never used his powers to take advantage of the people but instead used it to help them. In his mission, Jesus used so many ways to teach the people. He was particularly very good at storytelling. What inspired the art of storytelling in the teachings of Jesus? How did he formulate his teachings through parables and teachings so well? How did these stories help him attract thousands of people in the crowd? This paper aims at showing the inspiration behind the application of storytelling by Jesus, how he formulated his teachings, and how the stories helped him attract many people.

Section 1: The Gospel of Mark

The use of parables by Jesus in his teachings was a fulfillment of the prophecy that is mentioned in the book of Psalms. Jesus also taught in parables because of the opposition that he faced from the covenant people. At some point, the disciples of Jesus asked him why he taught them using parables and Jesus answered them, 'the mystery of the kingdom of God has been granted to you. But to those outside, everything comes in parables (Mark 4:11).' This means that those outside had to deduce the mystery of the kingdom of God for themselves. Jesus used parables in almost all his teachings. Some of these include the parable of the Lamp (Mark 4: 21), the parable of the sower (Mark 4:3), and the parable of the mustard seed (Mark 4:30) among others. Jesus indirectly communicated the lesson that he wanted to teach the people in these parables. Whenever he noticed something among the crowd, he would tell a parable so that the people would know what lesson he was trying to give. In the parable of the sower, Jesus tells the story of a sower who went out to sow and the seeds fell in different types of soils and the results were different. Here, Jesus had noticed that among the crowd that came to him for teachings, some were serious and those who were not. The seeds represent the word of God and the different types of soils represent different types of Christians to whom the word has different impacts. This art enabled Jesus to attract many people because people love stories. Also, the people would marvel at the way Jesus knew some of these things. It was easy for Jesus to point out the evil in the crowd and the people would be surprised at his intelligence that exceeded human understanding.

Section 2: Powell on the Gospel of Mark

Powell on the Gospel of Mark also holds the same view that the art of storytelling by Jesus helped him to attract and reach many people. People would come to listen to the teachings of Jesus just to hear his stories. The inspiration behind the art of storytelling according to Powell (1) is because Jesus was not supposed to teach people openly. It was also a way of saving time because Jesus had limited time to teach a lot of things. Jesus wanted to use live examples that people would relate with, for example, the parable of the lamp. A lamp is something that many can relate with and they knew that if it was placed under the shade, it would not give light. This, therefore, made it easier for people to understand his teachings. According to Powell (2), Jesus in the gospel of mark did not want to directly counter the evils in the society or tell people that doing this and this was doing bad. He wanted the people to find this out for themselves. He did not want to be regarded as authoritative. The art of storytelling and incorporating his teachings in the parables would therefore enable Jesus to teach while at the same time helping him to avoid troubles with the authorities.

Footnotes

1. Powell, Mark Allan. Fortress introduction to the Gospels

2. Allan, The Gospels.

Bibliography

OFFICIAL KING JAMES BIBLE ONLINE. (2020). Retrieved 20 September 2020, from https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/

Powell, Mark Allan. Fortress introduction to the Gospels. Fortress Press, 2019. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=7MSHDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=Fortress+Introduction+to+the+Gospels&ots=nShiqWbz6u&sig=akyGHFS_oAXirX9l3en73jFQ-vw