“SALT” Exercise – The Parables of Jesus Assignment
Jason A. Parrish
NBST 515: New Testament Orientation
April 10, 2023
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Table of Contents
Summary 3
Application 4
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Summary
We hear in this week’s presentation that Dr. Robert Wayne Stacy covers the topic of the
Parables of Jesus. There is a lot of information given, but the central theme seems to be
surrounding the question of “What is a Parable truly?” Dr. Stacy reveals that parables are
analogies when looking at them simply, meaning that it’s just a statement that is comparable to
something else. He then states that when looking at parables on a deeper level, one will see they
are more than just analogies and realistically are stories with a hook in them. Jesus explained that
parables were used for two reasons: to reveal the truth to people that wanted to know it and to
hide the truth from those who didn’t. The parables were profound and intelligent displays of
teaching that revealed transcendent and everlasting truths. Our Lord was brilliant and understood
that the truth was not sought after by all people. So in very few words, Jesus spoke the truth in
such deep capacities.
Dr. Stacy then furthers his discussion of what a parable is by providing an example
through a telling of The Eye of the Beholder. The story is told in great detail, explaining how a
young woman was in the hospital with her head wrapped in bandages. This woman had visited
the hospital several times, seeking to look like everyone else. It was referenced that some of her
early childhood memories were of everyone looking away. Her bandages were removed, and
eventually, the face of the woman is revealed, and as Dr. Stacy says, she’s not an unpleasant-
looking woman. The faces of the doctors and nurses are revealed to be disfigured, and the ending
line is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Dr. Stacy states that this is what a parable is.
What is ugly? What is beautiful? Parables make you question more than the surface-level story
being told.
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It is then told what to do when reading parables. Dr. Stacy says that one must look for the
hook and what is out of place. This can be seen more accurately when he describes the Parable of
the Sower. The subject is listed as the Kingdom of God, but the parable obviously goes much
deeper than that. In this parable, it is mentioned that it was intended to be an encouragement, but
as said by Dr. Stacy, anyone with a basic understanding of the passage will notice it’s not very
encouraging. In this parable, three of the four plantings failed, and to the disciples, this might
seem like a failure, but what they failed to realize is that one of the plantings succeeded. The
planting that made it was not only successful but held a bountiful harvest. So despite the subject
of this parable being the Kingdom of God, another way of seeing it is that some people have
strong faith and remain dedicated through difficult times, and those people are rewarded, as
mentioned in Matthew 6:31-33.
Finally, the presentation concluded with Dr. Stacy giving a simple but powerful quote. He
says, “he who has ears to hear, let him hear.” What this means is that those who have willing ears
will find the parable a blessing, but for those who have hardened hearts and ears not willing to
listen, the parable will be no deeper than some words. So being willing to dive deeper than the
surface and search for the treasures of the parables that Jesus taught.
Application
For the application section of this paper, we are given the task of interpreting a parable
for both the original audience and the contemporary audience. So we will be looking at the
Parable of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10:25-37. This parable has always been one of my
favorites, and it’s very convicting to push me to love and care for all people. It’s more than a
message Jesus taught, but a calling for all people that call Him Lord and follow His teachings.
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Looking at the historical background of this parable, the original audience was the Jewish
people. To them, the Samaritans were viewed as enemies considering they didn’t follow God’s
law and were mostly associated with pagan traditions. The emergence of the Samaritans was
likely from the intermarriage between Jews and pagans, which for traditional Jews, was even
more threatening to them. This is what makes this parable all the more brilliant because Jesus
took who was a direct enemy of His audience and made it that much more convicting to the
people in the crowd. Then Jesus took it a step further and spoke of the priest and the Levite
critically, which was bound to cause someone to be offended. It seems like Jesus did this to go
against the audience’s prejudices and get a response out of them. The Samaritan in this parable
passed by the man that was attacked just like the priest and the Levite did, but their response was
much different. They helped despite knowing it could be dangerous to them or cause them
trouble. This is why the answer to the lawyer’s question is… everyone! This is why this was
radical at the time because Jesus was telling them that everyone was their neighbor, including the
Samaritans. Jesus uses the Samaritan in this context for that audience because He knew their
view towards them and wanted to teach the crowd that this is the expectation of everyone who
follows God and that all people can inherit eternal life.
When looking at this parable and its message, as a contemporary audience, it would be
difficult to understand why a Samaritan hero would be so controversial to Jesus’ audience. The
teaching of this parable has made the title a Samaritan a good thing to be. It’s a compliment from
all aspects, but this was not the case for the original audience, as mentioned before. Place
yourself in the shoes of the lawyer asking the question. When he asks, “And who is my
neighbor?” he is essentially asking who is it that I’m supposed to love and who am I supposed to
not. When it comes to our human nature, we attempt to do as little as we have to do, and that
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extends to those whom we love. What this means is that most of the time, we only desire to love
those that are similar to us in some fashion. In the same way, the question the lawyer asks is very
similar to the question we ask. We want to try to avoid as many people as possible and only care
for the people that are convenient to us. Everyone is our neighbor, and this is what Jesus is
speaking clearly. The love that Jesus describes is boundary-breaking and shows us that in the
parable, the Samaritan accepted the cost of loving the person that was attacked. As followers of
Christ, we must love all people despite the prejudices that people surrounding us might have.
