Hidden Meanings
Luke 8:1-15
Who are the others for whom Jesus spoke in parables?
Photo by Vlad Savan on Unsplash
Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources. When a great crowd gathered and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: "A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold." As he said this, he called out, "Let anyone with ears to hear listen!" Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that 'looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand.' "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones on the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe only for a while and in a time of testing fall away. As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance. - Luke 8:1-15
Like me, I am sure many of you grew up reciting or singing nursery rhymes.
I never realized then that many of those songs and poems were disguised messages.
It is believed that the song Hickory Dickory Dock refers to the brief reign of Oliver Cromwell's son Richard as Lord Protector.
Jack and Jill are about a king and queen who lost their heads, first the king, and then the queen, a year later.
The song, London Bridge is falling down may refer to an attack on England by Vikings in the eleventh century.
Mary, Mary, quite contrary could refer to Bloody Mary, with the garden being the graveyard of the protestants she had executed.
Ring Around The Rosy is attributed to the Great Plague of London where people died covered in a red rash, the rosy reference here.
And in our country, songs sung by slaves working in the fields had hidden means as well, with Follow the Drinking Gourd referring to the Big Dipper and the North Star, the destination toward freedom.
So, the tradition of telling tales that had hidden meanings goes way back, and it is safe to assume Jesus wasn't the first to use this approach.
Hiding the meaning from the enemy or people in power was a way to spread a message without getting in trouble.
It is clear why Jesus would want to disguise the message from those who wanted him killed. It would have been hard to convince anyone in authority that a tale about a sower of seeds was heretical.
The technique has never gone out of style, though. C.S. Lewis used it to create fantastical books, like "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," published in 1950.
Hidden meanings and puzzles can be fun to decipher, which is one of the reasons the stories are told over and over and have survived through time.
They have special significance when they spread a message against the tyrannical regime in power, like during World War II. Songs in cabarets are a good example of this.
Perhaps we should all study the parables of Jesus and see if we can use them to share the Gospel to those who have a problem with religion.
If they don't get the meaning, at least they will enjoy the story. But we might just sow some seeds that take root.
More to come...