Chapter 1. Parables of Jesus and their understanding / Parables of Jesus: ways of interpretation

All Gospel parables are surprisingly short. There is no writer or philosopher who would leave behind such a meager legacy. However, we re-read the words spoken by Jesus Christ and transmitted in the Gospels many times throughout our lives. They do not become obsolete and remain relevant for more than two thousand years. During this time, entire volumes of research and interpretation were written.

Simple stories that open the way to salvation

Maybe the parables of Jesus Christ are so ornate that not everyone who reads them is able to understand the meaning of what the Lord said? Not at all. They are extremely simple and logical, and the parables of Jesus Christ for children were completely rewritten by various writers in such a language that against their background, folk tales for the little ones look much more mysterious. Jesus Christ was the first who began to address people without dividing them by religion, nationality or social status. The parables of the Lord Jesus Christ in simple words reveal to people what the meaning of life is. Christ, with his parables, showed us the shortest path to the salvation of the soul. And the salvation of the soul is peace, tranquility, happiness, prosperity and harmony. He also showed that this path is not at all easy, but by sacrificing Himself to all humanity, He ensured that the Lord Himself takes care of the salvation of everyone who turns their heart to Him.

Why did Jesus Christ speak parables?

There are two opposing opinions on this matter:

1. Christ spoke in parables so that not everyone would understand what He wanted to say. A parable is a form of veiled knowledge so that not everyone understands what Jesus means.
2. Christ spoke in parables in order to express even more clearly what He wanted to say.

This is what the Lord Himself says:

“...And the disciples came and said to Him: Why do you speak to them in parables? He answered them: because it has been given to you to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it has not been given to them, for whoever has, more will be given to him and he will have an increase, and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him; Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, and they do not understand...”

Christians perceive this phrase in two ways.

John Chrysostom believes that Jesus Christ used parables to:

“to make Your words more expressive, to clothe the truth in a living image, to imprint it more deeply in the memory and, as it were, to present it to the eyes.”

In his understanding, parables are a picture, that is, a living image.

The famous Orthodox priest Alexander Men expressed his opinion on this matter:

“Parables involuntarily capture the listener and reader, forcing them to become involved in the experiences of the characters. The laconic and vivid imagery of the Proverbs, their poetic structure and visual means (*hyperbole, metaphors, contrasts, unexpected endings) helped them to be quickly memorized.”

The Savior characterized His listeners this way:

“For the heart of this people is hardened, and their ears are hard of hearing.”

But when they heard the parable, they at least remembered something, and the truth did not come to them immediately, but gradually.

So, why did Christ speak parables:

1. These are imaginative, vivid stories that help to better understand. When we try to explain something to children, “look at the sparrow,” “look at the leaf,” and so on, we also use one or another type of parable.
2. A person who may not even want to listen to Christ’s sermons, because he internally disagrees with Him, will still remember the parable. The time will come, and this parable will begin to act in his life and heart.

INTERESTING: Prayers to Jesus Christ for children.

All the Savior’s speeches are imbued with love for everyone

The parables of Jesus Christ cover all aspects of human life. They can be studied from a variety of perspectives, for example, considering the relationship between God and man or between man and other people. Each of them can be projected onto individual everyday situations, or can be considered as the entire life path of a person. For comparison, you can take the parables of Jesus Christ and the parables written by famous writers. One famous Russian writer, who left behind wonderful novels in which he preserved for us the details of the War of 1812, and also revealed the traditions, morals, customs and life of our ancestors who lived in the 19th century, at some point in his life turned to the genre of moralizing novels. parables Reading the parables of Jesus Christ and this writer, you involuntarily pay attention to the fact that in the stories of Christ there is not a shadow of annoyance at unreasonable people.

Christian thinkers who have taken the liberty to interpret the short parables of Jesus Christ unanimously agree that the Lord loves each of us and understands to the very deepest corners of the soul that He exists only to save and give happiness to each of His creations, then there is for you and me, no matter how different we may be and no matter what temptations torment our souls.

The meaning of the parable

The main purpose of the parable was considered to be to reveal religious or everyday meaning in a short story. The heroes of the parables had a certain social status (rich man, king, traveler, winegrower, father and son) and did not have deep descriptions of appearance or character.

Biblical parables explained how to behave in order to live well before people and God. They had a stronger impact on consciousness than just accusatory or edifying words, because they showed the rules of behavior using the example of specific people. When a person saw the pattern of actions in the parables, he thought that he was leading a wrong life, or he remembered the lesson embedded in the little story and tried to avoid bitterness in his life.

Interpretations of the story of the sheep that strayed from the flock

The lost animal in Jesus Christ's parable about the sheep that strayed from the flock shows how important every person is to the Lord. At least, many theologians believe that this parable is about the righteous and one sinner. In their opinion, the Lord rejoices at every sinner who repents of his sins and joins the host of the righteous. However, Theophylact of Bulgaria sees another meaning in this story. The lost sheep is people, and the flock is all other intelligent creatures. In other words, he believes that the Lord, of all living beings on earth and in the universe, considers only man to be a lost sheep. He considers the return of people under His roof to be His greatest joy.

Another theologian, Archbishop Averky (Taushev), by the flock means hosts of angels, and by the lost sheep - a sinful person.

The parable says that God allows for the possibility that a person, like a lamb, sooner or later, for one reason or another, will stray from the flock. However, He will not abandon him, but will make every effort to bring him back. The words of Christ, conveyed by His disciples, about the Master’s joy from the return of a lost sheep are not the joy from replenishing lost property. This is completely different.

All the parables of Jesus Christ from the Bible

Throughout his preaching career, Jesus Christ gave many parables. All of them are recorded in the Gospel. We will look at each of them.

Parables about the Kingdom of God

The main content of the parables of Jesus Christ is parables about the Kingdom of God. Sometimes parables begin like this: “The kingdom of God is like this...”. Sometimes there is no such beginning, but from the context we understand that we are talking about the Kingdom of Heaven. If we take these parables and draw demarcation lines between them, we will see that they are divided into 3 groups:

1. Parables about the seed. When the Kingdom of God is associated with some kind of sower and seed, with something sown, with something thrown into the ground from which something good comes out. This also includes the “Parable of the Vine” and “Parable of the Leaven.” Because essentially it's the same thing.
2. Parables and the wedding feast. They are called “The Kingdom of God is like...”, as a certain king called all the people to a wedding feast, but one of them came in an unworthy attire.
3. Parables about workers. For example, vineyard workers, when they all received the same pay, although they were hired at different times.

RECOMMENDED: Why Jesus Christ was crucified.

Parables on the topic (interpretation via link):

Parables about Divine Mercy and Repentance

To become merciful and compassionate, it is enough to do good deeds and pray to the Lord. But we must not forget in whose name the person is doing this. All kinds of merciful deeds, if they are not in Christ, then they are all harmful.

Parables about Good Deeds and Virtues

Many people misinterpret the concepts of “sin” and “good.” We view sin as a violation of some law brought down from heaven by God. But this is a deep misconception. There are spiritual laws. Everything we do, good or evil, is ultimately repaid not by the actions of the Lord, but everything is done according to the spiritual laws by which our world lives.

Sin is a violation of these spiritual laws. By violating them, you torment the integrity of your soul. You will inevitably be punished.

Good is life in accordance with spiritual laws. In other words, this is a righteous life. She brings him health, both physically and spiritually (peace of soul, joy, happiness).

About forgiveness of grievances

Forgiveness does not mean admitting that actions against you are acceptable. This does not mean to undo the pain, and the suffering and damage that was caused to me. This also does not mean that you need to make peace with your offender and restore your relationship with him. There is no need to agree with his actions and allow him to further destroy your life. Forgiveness does not mean achieving justice and getting satisfaction. To forgive is to let go of guilt, release from punishment and stop participating in what happened. Forgiveness means taking care of your own wounds and agreeing to live with your own scars. Leave the past in the past, no matter how much it hurts you, and leave the responsibility for what happened to the person who did it.

About good deeds

True good is the Lord himself. Doing the will of God is good for a Christian. We all understand that it is good to do good, but when we try to do it, we encounter unexpected difficulties. It turns out that the more we try to do good, the more evil we end up with. This is the paradox. This happens not only in the life of every person, but also in the life of entire states, when revolutions, bloodshed, and so on are carried out under good slogans with the ideas of general welfare.

The good we try to do often turns into evil. The paradox is that no matter how much a person himself wants to do good, nothing will work out without God. Because only the Lord can give the opportunity to do real good.

It is necessary to prepare yourself for an act of good, so that it really is good and does not become evil. All Christian asceticism, all the experience of the holy ascetic fathers, is precisely an example of how to prepare oneself to do good.

What prevents us from doing good? External signs such as not enough money or time? No. The internal state of a person. These are the passions that are inside our hearts. A person must purify himself in order to become a creator of real good.

About virtues

Every act and every gift comes from above from the Creator. All religions have virtues. But it may be that for some it is a virtue, and for others it is a sin. In Christian terms, “virtue” is a free, sincere and constant desire to fulfill the moral law, based on the Gospel truth under the influence of thank the Lord.

The cause of all virtues is God himself. The holy fathers divide virtues into two types: human and divine.

Divine is faith, hope and love. We believe in God. By His grace, God created and saved us. We are waiting for God's mercy, which He promised us, because He is merciful. And we love Him because He is only good, and in His name we love our neighbor and His image.

Human virtues are prudence, courage, chastity and justice. Because they heal the powers of the human soul. With prudence we heal the rational part of the soul. Irritable with courage. Desired by chastity. But truthfulness heals the whole soul.

But no matter how beautiful all the virtues were, the holy fathers believe that patience is greater than all of them. Where there is no patience, there are no virtues. This is the throne and support of all virtues.

About prudence and prayer

When three elders came to Anthony the Great and began to talk about what was most important in monastic life, one said: “I think it’s fasting.” Everyone agreed with him. The second one said: “I think it’s prayer.” Everyone also agreed. The third said: “Obedience.” Yes, without this there can be no monasticism either. Then they turned to Anthony: “What do you say?” To which he replied: “All these virtues can turn into terrible ulcers for a person if we treat them without reasoning.”

The person who tries to live a real Christian life, to fight his passions, will experience the grace of God. Then the Lord can give some the gift of reasoning. The Holy Spirit is one, but the gifts are different.

Parables about Responsibility and Grace

It is important to be yourself and take responsibility for yourself and your life, to be an artist of its picture of the world. But to do this, we need to realize that responsibility is an important skill, thanks to which we can improve the quality of our lives. Each of us can learn this skill. You just need to believe in it, get excited about it, want to nurture and develop this feeling.

USEFUL TO KNOW: Icon of the Resurrection of Christ.

About human responsibility

Anyone can learn responsibility. You just need to take the job and bring it to the end. At the same time, it is important to have fear, not internal, of some responsible affairs, but fear of people, that we will do the wrong thing, not honestly. Because very often responsibility born in the soul is a complex process. Often we shift the blame onto others so that they can do everything for us. This is not true. The essence of what happens on earth is to understand that you are responsible for everything. A person is free and can decide everything himself. It's his right.

Developing responsibility in ourselves is our sacred right, because we will stand before God and be responsible for what we did here. What will we tell him? There are different situations. We express ourselves differently in them. And only you are responsible for your actions.

About the grace of God

The Holy Spirit is the source of all goodness: grace, spiritual peace, love, righteousness, true repentance and thirst for salvation. The source is God himself. It is He who erects these desires, impulses and actions in our soul. In Orthodox books, “grace” is interpreted as “the actions of the Holy Spirit” or “the fruits of the action of the Holy Spirit.”

There are also the following parables in the Gospel (we missed them):

The story of the lost sheep, projected onto the family relationship between a parent and his child

Imagine yourself in the place of this Master. The sheep is your little child who has gone to explore the neighboring yard. It is extremely difficult to draw such a parallel - after all, you do not have the opportunity, like the Master from the parable, that is, God, to see how a baby fearlessly walks past a sandbox with scattered garbage or past a large dog, and in time to avert serious dangers from him. You cannot read in a child’s soul how at some point he remembered you and how passionately he wanted to be next to you, how he felt great love for you and longing, how he was afraid of life without you, and how he decided to return. The Lord saw all this and accepted his child with open arms. However, the parable does not say how many times a person can leave and return like this. This means that God does not limit us. We ourselves make the decision whether to go with the herd or deviate from it. He will always rejoice at our return and will not punish us. How to live according to this parable, you ask? After all, we are sheep who make mistakes from time to time, repent of them, and then receive grace from the Lord. This parable is as multidimensional as all the parables about Jesus Christ. If your sheep has strayed from the flock, that is, your child has taken a dangerous path, turn to the Lord so that He will protect him and save him from death. Think and pray about your loved one constantly, and then you, as well as the lost child, will experience the same joy that is spoken of in the parable.

The difference between a parable and an allegory

What is the difference between a parable and an allegory? A parable is a story or example that was given by Jesus Christ or someone else to illustrate a point.

For example, “children, you need to be careful, attentive and obey your parents.” How can I explain this to them with an example? For example, a sparrow sits in a nest and looks out, because he is interested in what is happening there. His parents tell him not to look out, as it is dangerous. But he still does it his way. As a result, he fell and was eaten by a cat.

This story is an illustration of the thought “be obedient and don’t be nosy.” Such a story does not need to be interpreted in detail (for example, a nest is a house; why doesn’t the sparrow listen, and so on). The narrator does not go into detail, and the parable was told in order to show what disobedience leads to.

An allegory differs from a parable in that it goes into detail. Every detail of the story has some analogy with life. For example, John Bunyan's book "The Pilgrim's Progress to the Heavenly Land" is filled with allegories, each of which has a specific meaning. Every detail of the book reflects our life. Therefore, there were more comments on the book than its volume itself.

So, there are two types of illustrated stories: the first, which allows you to see only one idea, and the second - allegories, when there are many details and they all carry a certain meaning.

Here are the main differences in table form:

How to recognize: where is the allegory, and where is the parable? In most cases, the stories that Christ told are parables. But it won’t be difficult to recognize if you adhere to the following rule:

“If Christ Himself did not explain the details of the parable, then we should not look for images and analogues in every part of the parable.”

We are all prodigal sons

The same theme is touched upon by Jesus Christ's parable about the prodigal son. However, these two stories cannot be considered completely analogous, for the Holy Scripture does not contain a single superfluous or random word. The story about the youngest son, who left home and squandered his father’s inheritance, about his older brother, who remained in the house and worked conscientiously in his father’s fields all these years, and also about how he met his completely impoverished prodigal child who returned from wanderings - this is also parable about Jesus Christ. Short stories told by the Savior to His disciples always imply the participation of the Lord in them. In the story of the prodigal son, the father is a type of the Lord, and his sons are us humans.

How to Study Parables

Parables are wonderful teaching tools, but being figurative narratives, they are subject to misinterpretation.

The following rules will help make the study of parables a useful activity that brings good results.

1. It is necessary to carefully study the contextual (historical) background of the parable. This will help you figure out its correct meaning. The three parables in the fifteenth chapter of Luke's Gospel - the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son - arose from the fact that the Pharisees condemned Christ for His generous attitude towards sinners.
2. It is necessary to examine the grammatical and lexical forms of the parable, because they contain important aspects of truth. In the parable of the wicked husbandmen (Mark 12:1-9), the son (Christ) is presented as the Father's “last” offering (v. 6, PC). This is important because there will be no other means of salvation.
3. It is necessary to highlight the main truth of the parable, for example, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29), and then look at any other valid additional points that can be drawn from the narrative. However, it should be borne in mind that one cannot build a teaching only on the basis of single mentions of any issues in parables.

The Lord calls us to learn to forgive

This parable teaches us to forgive without a second thought, to accept repentance without edifying suggestions, without reasoning and moralizing. The Lord is trying to inspire us so that we are not afraid that a repentant loved one, having received absolution, will again indulge in all kinds of serious crimes. This shouldn't concern us. The ability to forgive is no less important than the ability to ask for forgiveness. It's no secret that the father is also to blame for the fact that a son abandons his family and wastes his father's property to satisfy his own whims. In ordinary human life this happens quite often. Within the family, throughout our entire existence together, we from time to time remind each other of past grievances. This forms hostile relationships from which we want to break out, and from time to time we leave our family and begin to live only in our own personal interests, convincing ourselves that we have suffered enough - we can live for ourselves. The consequence of this is spiritual devastation.

The same situation, only slightly changed, is repeated again and again. Different peoples have even developed proverbs: “There is no black dog, which speaks of the meaninglessness of forgiveness. These proverbs, although they are folk wisdom dating back many hundreds of years, are still imbued with hostility and contempt for man. They feel a partial attitude towards the sinner, an elevation of one’s own personality over the personality of a person who was called a black dog or a wolf. In none of His parables does the Lord appear to despise people.

The offended person is just as created in the image and likeness of God as the one who offended him

Man is created in the image and likeness of God. How easy it is to relate this truth to oneself and how difficult it is to perceive the Image of God in a person who has caused trouble! Jesus Christ, talking with his disciples, did not put himself above them, for better than anyone else he understood that all people together and each person individually are the Image and Likeness of the Creator Himself. For the sake of saving each of us, He offered Himself on the sacrificial altar, fulfilling the will of the Father. The duty of every Christian is to make his sacrifice in the name of the Lord. Is any of us capable of committing such an act for the sake of saving humanity?

Famous theologians and interpreters of Holy Scripture

Almost all the parables of Jesus Christ with interpretation by domestic and foreign priests and theologians are in such a book as “The Lord Speech...”. From ancient times, the Holy Fathers of the Church attached great importance to the interpretation of the words of the Savior preserved in the Gospel. It contains almost all the parables of Jesus Christ with the interpretation of such theologians revered by the Christian world as Meister Eckhart, St. John Chrysostom, Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria, Archbishop Athanasius of Alexandria, St. Luke of Voino-Yasenetsky, Gregory the Great of Dvoeslov, Hieromartyr Gregory of Shlisselburg, St. Basil of Kineshem, Archbishop of Tavrominsk Feofan Keramevs, Archimandrite John (Krestyankin), Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov), Saint Philaret (Drozdov) of Moscow and Kolomna, Archbishop Averky (Taushev), Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt, Archpriest Vsevolod Shpiller, Archpriest Alexander Shargunov, Saint Kirill of Alexandria, Saint Theophan the Recluse, Rev. John of Damascus, Archpriest Viktor Potapov, Blessed Jerome of Stridon, Bishop Methodius (Kulman), Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov, monk Evfimy Zigaben, as well as Bible interpreters Gladkov B.I. and Lopukhin A.P.

The demons immediately recognized the Lord incarnate

During the period of His incarnation, the Lord walked through the land of Israel, healed the sick and told people what they should do in order to inherit eternal life and be worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven. Communicating with people of different upbringing, education and faith, in order for them all to understand Him correctly, He used simple examples from ordinary, everyday life that was well known to them. The disciples wrote down His words. Left alone with them, the Lord explained what he meant. Thus, the stories that Jesus of Nazareth told are the secret parables of the Living Jesus Christ. After all, it is unthinkable for a simple person to recognize in a preacher, of whom there were a great many at that time, the incarnation of God Himself. Everything that a person is capable of perceiving has already existed. Everything new is, as we know, a well-forgotten old. But the Lord has never appeared to people before. But he was immediately recognized by the servants of Satan. There is a place in the Gospel of Mark where a man possessed by a demon recognized God in Him and shouted to everyone about it. The Lord cast out this demon from the man, and forbade the man himself to talk about Himself and about the healing that had occurred.

Read the parables of Solomon.

The Book of Proverbs of Solomon has 31 chapters.

In the form of presentation, Proverbs are a work of poetry. The book of Proverbs was written by Solomon. And this is the only Old Testament book whose authorship is not practically disputed. Solomon's parables are mainly of a moral and religious nature.

The Book of Proverbs of Solomon represents fragmentary or connected expositions of a philosophical and aphoristic nature. This is a list of speculative truths about God and life, rules of prudence, observations of everyday life.

The meaning and confirmation of the phrase: “There is nothing secret that would not become apparent”

Theophylact of Bulgaria explains it this way. You should never notify anyone about a good deed you have done. Done in secret from people, it is revealed to God. An unpublicized good deed is considered dedicated to God, so the Lord will look upon it with His mercy. A good deed that becomes known to people receives reward from them, and therefore is considered to be done not for God, but for people. “There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed,” says Jesus. This is confirmed by the fact that the Lord Himself, the Mystery of Mysteries, became a reality for people, incarnate in the Son.

True Mercy

One man was walking from Jerusalem to Jericho, and on the way he was attacked by robbers. They robbed him, beat him and left him to his fate. The priest and the Levite, who were of the same religion and nationality as him, passed by without providing help, and a certain Samaritan, who happened to be passing through this area, picked up the poor man and took him to the nearest hotel. There he asked to take care of the victim, left money and said that on the way back he would come again and if the owner spent more than the money he left, he would pay for these expenses too. This parable of Jesus Christ about mercy says that a person who is merciful in the name of God does not distinguish people by categories. He always shows it when help is needed.

Way home. Issue DD-21.3 [22nbr05a] PARABLES OF THE LORD JESUS ​​CHRIST
RUS-ENG ENG

The basis of Christian teaching is found in the life, miracles, parables and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. All prayers, services throughout the whole year, holidays, the history of the Church, moral teaching, teaching about life, everything, everything in Christianity comes from there. To make it easier to understand and remember His teaching, Jesus spoke in parables. A parable is an instructive story in an allegorical form. Contents: (1) About the sower, (2) About the rich man and Lazarus, (3) About the merciful Samaritan, (4) About the merciful king and the merciless lender, (5) The publican and the Pharisee, (6) About the prodigal son, (7) About ten virgins, (8) About talents, (9) About evil winegrowers, (10) About a prudent steward. Based on the textbook of Archpriest Apollonius Temnomerov, The Sacred History of the New Testament, Petrograd, 1915.

1. About the sower.

(Matthew 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:4-15). (04Nbr05) On the shore of the Sea of ​​Galilee, many people gathered to Jesus Christ. He got into the boat, sailed a little from the shore and taught the people in parables. The sower went to sow. When he was sowing, one seed fell near the road and was trampled, and the birds pecked it; another fell on a rocky place where there was little earth; it sprouted, but soon withered because it had no moisture for the root; another seed fell into a weed, and the weed choked it; the other fell into good soil and bore abundant fruit. Then Jesus Christ explained the parable to his disciples this way: the seed is the word of God, the sower is the one who preaches this word, and the earth is the human heart. A seed that fell near the road means scattered people, from whom the devil easily takes away what they sow. The rocky ground is fickle people who joyfully listen to the word of God, but it does not take root in their soul, and at the first temptation or persecution they fall away from the faith. Weed means everyday worries and human vices, which drown out the word of God in the soul. The good land in the parable refers to people who eagerly accept the word of God and try to fulfill it.

2. About the rich man and Lazarus.

(Luke 16:19-31). One man was rich, dressed in purple and fine linen, and feasted every day. There was also one beggar named Lazarus; he lay at the gate of the rich man's house, covered with scabs, and wanted to be nourished by the crumbs falling from his table, and the dogs came and licked Lazarus's scabs. The beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; the rich man also died and was buried. Tormented in hell, the rich man raised his eyes, saw Abraham and Lazarus with him and cried out: “Father Abraham! have mercy on me and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am tormented in the fire.” But Abraham said: “Son, remember that you have already received good things in your life, and Lazarus received evil things; now he is consoled here, and you suffer. Moreover, there is a great gulf between us and you, so that those who want to cross from here to you cannot; they don’t come to us from there either.” Then the rich man began to ask Abraham to send Lazarus to earth and warn his brothers so that they would not end up in a place of torment. Abraham replied: “They have Moses and the prophets, let them listen to them.” “No, Father Abraham”! the rich man objected, “but if someone from the dead comes to them, they will repent.” To this Abraham replied: “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, then if someone were to rise from the dead, they would not believe.”

3. About the Good Samaritan.

(Luke 10:25-37). One lawyer, wanting to test Jesus Christ, asked Him: “Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law”? Jesus Christ answered him: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is similar to it: love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets rest on these two commandments.” Another lawyer asked Him about the second commandment: “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus Christ in response told him the following parable: One Jew was walking from Jerusalem and was caught by robbers, who took off his clothes, wounded him and left, leaving him barely alive. By chance, a priest was walking that way, looked at him and passed by. Likewise, the Levite was in that place, he came up, looked and passed by. A Samaritan was driving behind them along the same route. Seeing the wounded Jew, he took pity on him, bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them, put him on his donkey, brought him to the inn and took care of him there. And the next day, as he was leaving, he gave the innkeeper two denarii and said: “Take care of him, and if you spend anything more, when I return, I will give it to you.” After this, Jesus Christ asked the lawyer: “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the one who fell among the robbers?” “Who showed him mercy,” answered the lawyer. Then Jesus Christ said to him: “Go and do the same.”

4. About a merciful king and a ruthless lender.

(Matthew 18:21-35; Luke 17:3-4). (22Nbr05) One man owed the Tsar ten thousand talents (more than 20 million rubles). Since he had nothing to pay, the king ordered his wife and children and all his estates to be sold. But the debtor fell to his knees before the king and began to ask him: have patience with me, I will pay you everything.” The king took pity on him and forgave him the debt. The debtor, leaving the king, met his friend, who owed him only one hundred denarii (a little more than 20 rubles), grabbed him and began to strangle him, saying: “Give me what you owe.” The friend fell to his knees and began to ask: “Be patient a little and I will give everything to you.” But he did not want to wait and put him in prison. When the king found out about this, he called the cruel slave to him and said to him: “wicked slave, I forgave you because you begged me. Wouldn’t you also need to forgive your friend? The king became angry and ordered the evil slave to be put in prison until he paid off all his debt. Having told this parable, Jesus Christ added: “So will My Heavenly Father do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother his sins from his heart.”

5. The publican and the Pharisee.

(Luke 18:9-14). Warning us not to be proud and not to praise ourselves, but to humbly admit that we are sinners, the Lord spoke the following parable. Two people came to the temple to pray, one of them was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee stood in front of the temple and prayed like this: “God! I thank You that I am not like other people: robbers, offenders, or like this publican - I fast twice a week and give a tenth of everything I acquire.” The publican stood at a distance and did not even dare to raise his eyes to heaven, but only repeated, striking himself on the chest: “God be merciful to me, a sinner!” “I tell you,” the Lord added, that the publican went to his house more justified than the Pharisee, because everyone who exalts himself will be humiliated, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” In the Church, this parable is read on the third Sunday before Great Lent and therefore it is called the Week of the Publican and the Pharisee. This parable teaches us not to be proud and not to boast, but to be humble and admit our sins.

6. About the prodigal son.

(Luke 15:11-32). (31Oct05) One man had two sons. The youngest of them said to his father: “Give me my part of the estate.” When the father fulfilled his wish, the son went to a distant country and there, living in a wicked way, spent all his property. Soon there was a severe famine in this country, and he hired one of the inhabitants to herd pigs, and would have been glad to be satisfied with their food, but they did not give it to him. Then he remembered his father and thought: “How many of my father’s servants eat bread, and I am dying of hunger. I will get up and go to my father and say: “Father, I have sinned before God and before you and am no longer worthy to be called your son, accept me as one of your servants.” He got up and went. And when he was still far away, his father saw him and took pity on him. He himself ran to meet his son, hugged him and kissed him. The son began to say: “Father, I have sinned before God and before you and am not worthy to be called your son.” And the father said to the servants: “Bring the best clothes and dress him, put a ring on his hand and boots on his feet, and prepare food and let us have fun, because my son was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found.” In the Church, this parable is read on the second Sunday of Great Lent and therefore this week is called “The Week of the Prodigal Son.” This parable teaches us not to leave God, and if we have left, then to return to Him.

7. About ten virgins.

(Matthew 25:1-13). The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who, taking their lamps, went out to meet the groom. But five of them were wise, and the other five were foolish. The foolish ones took their lamps and took no oil with them. The wise took oil in the vessels with their lamps. And as the groom slowed down, everyone dozed off and fell asleep. But at midnight a cry was heard: “Behold the bridegroom is coming, go out to meet him!” “Then all those virgins arose and prepared their lamps. The foolish said to the wise: “Give us our oil, for our lamps are going out.” But the wise answered them: “See that there is no shortage among us and you; better go to those who sell and buy for yourself.” When they went to buy, the groom came, those who were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the doors were shut. After a while, other virgins come and say: “Lord! God! open to us! He answered and said to them, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” "So. Watch, because you do not know either the day or the hour in which the Son of Man will come.”

8. About talents.

(Matthew 25:13-30; Luke 19:11-28). (Oct 3105) And the Lord spoke another parable against laziness and negligence. The Lord gives each of us gifts, like a master who, leaving for a long time, gave to his servants: one five talents, another two talents, a third one talent, ordering each to acquire with them as much as he can. When he returned, he demanded from everyone an account of who had done what. And the first one came and said: “Sir, you gave me five talents, and here are the other five that I purchased with them.” Also, the one who received two brought two more purchased with them. Their master said to both of them: “Well, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful to me in small things, I will put you in charge of many things. You made me happy." Then he came up and received one talent, but due to his laziness did not acquire anything with it, and, trying to justify himself, said: “Sir, I knew that you were a cruel man. That’s why I ran away and buried your talent in the ground. Here's yours." The owner got angry and said to him in response: “You crafty and lazy servant! Since you knew me, you should have given my silver to the merchants so that I could receive mine at a profit. Give his talent to the one who has 10 talents, and punish this bad servant.”

9. About evil winegrowers.

(Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-20). Once, while talking in the temple, the Lord, denouncing his enemies - the high priests and elders of the people - told them the following parable: “There was a certain owner of a house who planted a vineyard, surrounded it with a fence, dug a winepress in it, built a tower and, having handed it over to winegrowers, went away. When the time for fruit approached, He sent His servants to the vineyard workers to receive its fruit. But the winegrowers, seizing His servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. He also sent other servants, more than the first; and they did the same to them. Finally, He sent His Son to them, saying: “They will be ashamed of My Son.” However, the vinedressers, seeing the Son, began to say among themselves: “This is the heir, let us kill Him and take possession of His inheritance.” And they took Him, and brought Him out of the vineyard, and killed Him.” Having told this parable, the Savior asked them: “When the Master of the vineyard returns, what will He do with these workers?” They answered Him, “He will put these evildoers to an evil death, and he will give the vineyard to other vinedressers, who will give Him the fruit in their seasons.” The Lord confirmed this to them, saying: “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and it will be given to a people who bear its fruits. This parable is explained as follows. The Vineyard is the Church of God on earth. Before Christ the Savior, it was entrusted to the Old Testament winegrowers - the Jewish high priests and other leaders. The fence of the vineyard is the law of Moses; tower - Temple of Jerusalem; the winepress into which the red juice of the grapes flowed was the Old Testament altar, which prefigured the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. All those who stood at the head of the Jewish church and people turned out to be prophet-killers, and then murderers of the apostles. They rejected their Savior and, taking him out of their city, crucified him. And therefore the Church of God was taken away from them and given to another people, made up of pagans.

10. About the prudent steward.

(Matthew 7:24-27; Luke 6:47-49). At the end of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-7:29), Jesus Christ spoke a parable that is, as it were, the conclusion of this sermon. One prudent man built a house on a rock, but a foolish man built a house on sand. In good weather, both houses stood well. But when a storm came and a strong wind blew, the house that was built on the sand fell. The other house, which stood on a rock, on a solid foundation, withstood the storm and the wind and did not fall. This parable says that we need to build our lives on the solid foundation of God’s Law and then no matter what happens, we will endure.

Literature on our emails. p.

The Life of the Lord Jesus Christ (DD-21.1) Miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ (DD-21.2) Parables of the Lord Jesus Christ (DD-21.3) The Teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ (DD-21.4) Easter and the Twelve Feasts (DD-12) Study Prayer Book (TsGP- 1)

Bibliography

1. Holy Scripture - the Bible. Contains the "Old Testament" and the "New Testament". The “Old Testament” was written at the birth of Jesus Christ, and the “New Testament” after. There are many books (now sections) in the “Old Testament”, and the most famous in the Orthodox Church is the “Psalter”. The "New Testament" consists of the "Gospel" and the "Apostle". There are four Gospels in the “Gospel”: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They describe incidents during the life of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth. The Apostle contains the epistles and other works of the apostles. They describe events after the ascension of Jesus Christ and the beginning of Christ's Church. Since the Bible is the basis for our civilization, for better orientation it is divided into books (now these are departments) and these into chapters. Every few lines are called a “verse” and are designated by a number. This way you can easily and quickly find any place in the book. For example “Matt. 5:3-14" means: "Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5, verse 13 and up to 14." The Holy Scriptures have been translated into all languages ​​of the world. There is Holy Scripture in the “Church Slavonic language” and in “Russian”. The first is considered more accurate than the second. The Russian translation is considered worse, since it was made under the influence of Western theological thought. The Western Church separated from the Orthodox Church in 1054. Every Orthodox Christian should have the “Holy Scripture” and “Prayer Book”. Available on the Internet: Bible: https://www.days.ru/ Prayer book: https://www.molitvoslov.ru/

2. Archpriest Seraphim Slobodskoy. God's law for family and school. 2nd edition. 1967 Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, New York. Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, NY. Reprinted many times in the Russian Federation and translated into English. 723 pp., hard. lane, according to old orf. An excellent elementary textbook for children and adults. Preliminary concepts, Prayer, Sacred History of the Old Testament and New Testament, The beginning of the Christian Church, About faith and Christian life, About Divine services. It would be good for every Orthodox Christian to purchase this textbook. Available on the Internet: https://www.magister.msk.ru/library/bible/zb/zb.htm

Spiritual leaflet “The Road Home.
Issue DD-21.3 - Parables of the Lord Jesus Christ " Church of all Russian Saints (ANM), 744 El Camino Real, Burlingame, California 94010-5005 email. pp.: d213pih.html, (24Sep89), (1st issue: 16Nbr99), 22Nbr05a • TO MAIN PAGE • CONTENTS • TOP

Why didn't the Lord reveal when the Day of Judgment would come?

Our whole life is a preparation for God’s Judgment, when He will exact from everyone according to their deeds. The disciples asked Him when this Judgment would take place. The parable of Jesus Christ about the Last Judgment does not answer this question. If we knew that the end of times would not come in our lifetime, then we would not begin to prepare for it, we would probably go to great lengths, because anyway, we will not see it during our lifetime. In this way, we would also harm our descendants, since we would not be able to teach them Christian life by our example. And if we knew that it would come in the coming years, during our lifetime, we would also do a lot of harm to ourselves, because we would decide that nothing could be changed anyway. The Lord does not reveal the fatal year; He says in the parable of the called and the chosen, as well as in the parable of the ten virgins, that we must always be in anticipation of the coming of the Judge, for when He comes, woe will be to those who did not prepare for this Day.

Greek meaning of parables

Even skeptics agree that our blessed Lord Jesus was a great teacher. People who do not believe in the Bible as the word of God admit that Jesus was the greatest teacher.

Indeed, Jesus was the best teacher who ever lived on earth. He talked about things that people understood and used it to teach people what they didn't know. Jesus often used parables to do this.

"Parable" in most cases is a translation of the Greek word parabole , in which para means "near, about"; "along"; “close”, etc., and ballo – “throw; throw"; "strike". Over time, it acquired the meaning of “to liken; compare".

Jesus often made comparisons and comparisons in His teaching. By modern standards, Jesus did not follow formalized teaching methods.

While delivering the Sermon on the Mount, He sat on a mountain (Matthew 5:1). While telling the parable of the sower and many others, He sat in a boat while His many listeners stood on the shore (Matthew 13:1-3).

Jesus spoke about the kingdom of heaven, or the church that He would create. He compared this kingdom with the following life situations.

• The sower threw seeds onto different types of soil.
• One man sowed good seed in his field, where tares also grew.
• A mustard seed turning into a tree.
• A woman leavening three measures of flour.
• A man who sells all his property to buy a field where he has found a treasure.
• A merchant looking for large and valuable pearls.
• A net that brought fish of all kinds.

Our Lord's teaching was simple, but at the same time clear and convincing!

In conclusion, it is only necessary to note that the parables of Jesus are masterpieces of instruction and encouragement. Studying them carefully will reward you with blessings.

Book of Books – Eternal Wisdom

The Lord brought people the Good News of future happiness for all who believed in Him and followed His path. In order to receive the honor of becoming a participant in the wedding feast, that is, to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, we must constantly remember and honor the Savior’s covenant “Love one another.” For this reason, responsible and loving mothers and fathers, as well as grandparents, have been retelling the parables of Jesus Christ for children and grandchildren for two thousand years. And God grant that this tradition never stops.

Simple gospel parables reveal their new facets to us with each reading. Being recorded in the Holy Scriptures, they all relate to the life of each individual person in different guises. Each parable requires regular rethinking and projection onto everyday circumstances. It is no coincidence that wise people say that in order for life to turn out well, it is enough to study, comprehend and master only one book - the Bible.