The meaning of the Parables

We have been looking at three different parables:

 

 The Good Samaritan
Jesus tells the story because someone asks him what he can do to inherit eternal life. In the story a Jewish man is journeying when he is attacked by robbers. A Levite and a Priest go past but they ignore the body. We would expect them to help him. The man is helped by a Samaritan who tends his wounds and anoints him with oil, he puts him on his donkey and takes him to an inn. He pays the innkeeper money to look after him.

 

The main message: Everyone is your neighbour, and you must love them as much as you love yourself.

• I think the meaning of this parable is to look out and after your neighbours like you would yourself. If you hurt yourself you would look after yourself and clean your wounds so why not do it for your neighbour.
• I think that the message that Jesus was passing across is that to go to heaven you need to do what is right and look after your neighbour even if they are hated from your religion country etc, because the good Samaritan saved a Jew which is surprising because Jews hated Samaritans. So Jesus is saying to go to heaven you must look out for your neighbours no matter the situation or the type of person.
• I think that the meaning of the parable the Good Samaritan is that you must love everyone as your self and even if they are the complete opposite to you then you must still care and have love for them no matter what country they are from.

The Sower

In this story a farmer sows seed in different places; rocks, path, thorns and in good soil. Each seed grows differently. Those on the soil grow up and produce a crop 100x bigger. In every other place there is partial growth and then something happens which stops the growth. For example on the path the birds come and peck the seed, the seed in the thorns grows a little and then gets choked and the seeds in the rocks grow a little but there is no moisture to ensure continued growth.

Jesus does explain the meaning of this parable in v.11-15.

• I think that the parable of the sower means that each seed represents a different way of hearing about God and how you understand it and the people who don’t understand will have that taken away from them. In conclusion I think that each seed represents an understanding of God and I know this because in the parable Jesus explains the meaning of each seed landing where it did, and why this was significant.
  
• I think the message Jesus was trying to pass across was that people are going to hear about God but the way you chose to perceive it will depend because the people who understand will be fruitful in life but the people who don’t understand will not know how to worship God.

I hope this helps you to understand the passages.