The Prestige: The Stories Jesus Told

Copyright © 2013 C. Paul Willis.

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-9756-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-9757-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-9755-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013910611

WestBow Press rev. date: 6/12/2013

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

CONTENTS

Dedication

Preface: The Stories Jesus Told

1.   A Demonstrated Parable

2.   The Sower and the Seeds

3.   The Grain of Wheat

4.   The Tares

5.   The Growing Seed

6.   The Mustard Seed

7.   The Tree and Its Fruits

8.   The Budding Fig Tree

9.   The Birds of the Air and Flowers of the Field

10.   Leaven in the Meal

11.   The Fish Net

12.   Masters and Servants

13.   Faithful and Unfaithful Servants

14.   The Gracious Employer

15.   The Money in Trust

16.   The City Set upon a Hill

17.   The Lamp

18.   The Salt

19.   The Patch and Wineskins

20.   The Scribe’s Treasure

21.   Friends with Sinners

22.   The Unmerciful Servant

23.   The Rich Fool

24.   The Wicked Vinedressers

25.   The Two Builders

26.   The Two Debtors

27.   The Hidden Treasure

28.   The Pearl of Great Price

29.   The Closed Door

30.   The Doorkeeper

31.   The Thief in the Night

32.   The Children

33.   The Importunate Neighbor

34.   The Divided Kingdom

35.   Parables to the Arrogant Host

36.   The Importunate Woman

37.   The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

38.   Friends of the Bridegroom

39.   The Ten Virgins

40.   Parables of Honor and Shame

41.   The Unwilling Guests

42.   The Rich Man and Lazarus

43.   The Good Samaritan

44.   The Prodigal Son

45.   The Two Sons

46.   The Lost Sheep

47.   The Lost Coin

48.   The Sheep and the Goats

Conclusion

About the Author

Also by C. Paul Willis

Bells and Pomegranates: Balancing the Gifts and Fruit of the Spirit

Christ of the Apocalypse

Study in Daniel

Born to Triumph

Faith Is Keeping Your Sails Up when the Wind Ain’t Blowing

Christmas Pudding

A Place in Time

Deseret

Books may be ordered from www.cohglory.org.

Dedication

To my daughters,

Mrs. Deborah Causey - business executive

Dr. Tamara L. Willis, PhD - associate professor and EBL coordinator

Rev. Lona B. Willis - teacher of the Bible and the Holy Spirit.

As a father, I am proud of each of them.

Preface: The Stories Jesus Told

Jesus was the storyteller master. The parables were not written down and then read to an audience. The process was reversed. Jesus told the stories in one setting to a unique audience. Afterward the evangelists wrote the stories as part of the Gospels. This is important to understand because some of the same stories were written down by more than one apostle. When the stories were not written in the same way, it gave rise as to which apostle was the basis for the other’s writings. Was the story added to or taken away from the original source? Countless theories have been presented. Why were there variations in the stories?

I believe the simple answer is in the fact that Jesus was a storyteller. He told the same parable more than one time, adapting the story to His audience and to their response. Written material is crafted. It is developed from outlines, edits, and rewrites. Oral material is not from the head but from the heart. Oral storytelling is fluid. It moves. It flows to the response and mood of the audience. Oral storytelling uses gestures and pauses and tells the story with the eyes as well as with the lips. These things cannot be captured on paper. They are impossible to analyze, scrutinize, and repeat.

A speaker may be deficient in homiletics but hold an audience enraptured by his oratory, while the greatest of writers may not be able to hold the attention of any listeners. Jesus did not write a single sentence. Yet John tells us, And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen (John 21:25).

It is difficult to put on paper any interpretation of Jesus Christ and the stories Jesus told. I do not claim any originality in this work, which was originally prepared as a background study for a series of messages. I hope the major source is the Holy Spirit, for I surely believe that the evangelists were directed by Him to write the original. The rest is based upon fifty years of study academically and privately. The reader will find no footnotes as it would be impossible for me to codify sources, though I am extremely grateful for the many instructors I have had and the many commentaries I have read. I do not expect agreement on all of my presentation. I do hope to spark some interest in the greatest stories ever told by the greatest storyteller, who is after all the only original source, Jesus of Nazareth.

The Background

Jesus of Nazareth was not an illiterate boy raised in an obscure village. As a young child, he traveled to Egypt, visited the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, and even discussed doctrine and theology with the temple doctors. He attended a synagogue school where He learned not only the history of His people but also their forms of literature. He was well versed in the use of mashal (parable).

A parable is a short religious allegory that has levels of meaning. The meaning may be obvious or hidden. The Old Testament contains five stories matching the definition. Jewish rabbis use the parable as a method of teaching and have ever since the time of Jesus. Parables are found in the Talmud and Midrash. A method of teaching called pedagogy emphasizes the use of the parable as a way of understanding the true meaning of the law. Jesus draws upon Old Testament parables for some of His imagery (Isaiah 5:1–6). Some pre-New Testament parables ring of familiarity with His.

Old Testament Mashal

Isaiah 5:1–10

Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth! In mine ears said the Lord of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant. Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.

Isaiah, the prophet, has a song. It is a song about his Lord God, whom Isaiah calls my Beloved. God is not the Beloved to Israel because they have not shown Him love in their actions. God has planted a vineyard. One does not have to search to find the meaning of the vineyard in the parable. The prophet tells us, For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel (Isaiah 5:7).

It is a good vineyard; the Lord has provided good cleared soil, the best of vines, a hedge, a wall for protection, and a tower from which enemies could be spotted. Yet the Lord’s vineyard (Israel) has produced wild grapes. The men of Judah were the good plants, Isaiah declares, but they are producing only oppression, unrighteousness, and fear. The parable explains why judgment and famine is coming on Israel.

Now let us compare the parable of Isaiah with the parable of Jesus.

Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet." (Matthew 21:33–46 )

We will explore this parable more fully when we analyze the parables of Jesus. In this section we need to see the similarities to show that Jesus did indeed know and draw from parable writings. Note the resemblance that the owner of the land produces a vineyard for which he provides good vines and protection. He expects a good harvest but receives none. The workers are wicked. The owner would exact justice and punishment. The likeness falls apart only with the sending of the Son, Jesus, which of course the song of Isaiah could not expect. We have enough evidence, however, to show that Jesus was well versed in the use of parables as a method of revealing what was secret while keeping secret what He did not wish to reveal.

The Parable of the Poor Man’s Lamb

There was a poor man who had bought a tiny ewe lamb as a family pet. It grew up with his children, ate his food, and drank from his cup. He treated the lamb as one of his daughters and loved it as such. A rich man in the village received a very prominent guest. Now the rich man had many flocks, and he used them as such, gathering wool from them and killing the lambs for food. However, the rich man was selfish and did not want to share. He commanded hospitability with his guest, so he had his servants steal the poor man’s pet, kill it, cook it, and feed it to his guest. What should be done to the man who would do such a thing?

Nathan, the prophet, tells King David this parable in 2 Samuel 12:1–19. David, not knowing that the prophet is using a parabolic story, flushes in anger. As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity(2 Samuel 12:5, 6).

Now comes the hook, the barb, in the story as Nathan looks into the eyes of the king and says,

Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hitite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. (2 Samuel 12:7–9)

The allegory falls apart in its interpretation because the lamb David took was Bathsheba, not Uriah. Yet that is the wonder of a parable. The interpretation does not have to be exact; it just needs to get the point across. The parable needs no other explanation for David or for