Jesus often taught with parables. These parables sometimes use violent imagery. Does this suggest that God is also violent?
No, I don’t believe so.
A parable is an earthly story containing Heavenly truth. Sometimes, the parables reveal the positive dynamics of walking in the Kingdom of God. But at other times, the parables are used to expose the negative dynamics which HINDER us from walking with God.
Jesus usually affixed the term “certain” to these stories, which indicates that these events were probably factual rather than fictional. Jesus then adapted the heart of these true stories to make a broader spiritual point about Heavenly dynamics. The modern equivalent of this technique would be us taking newspaper headlines, stories which most all were familiar with, and then using them to make spiritual analogies of Heavenly dynamics.
The teaching concept here is simple. By using comparison to that which is familiar, a conceptual bridge is built which allows us to cross over into the unfamiliar. And while these stories might useful in a general way as a teaching tool, nobody would claim that EVERY facet of the story would have to have a precise Heavenly corollary.
The parables are often “rough-edged” and full of flawed humanity such as “wicked kings” (Luke 18) and “vengeful vineyard owners” (Luke 20) and “evil fathers” (Luke 11). To think that Jesus was trying to attribute these flaws to the Heavenly Father is unthinkable and unwarranted.
Because of their “rough-edges,” scholars have long warned us to only glean broad points from the parables. In other words, we shouldn’t get “hyper-literal” in thinking EVERY detail of the story lines up perfectly with Heaven. Parables are there, rather, to just get us thinking about Heavenly dynamics in new ways. They don’t fill in ALL the revelatory gaps on a one-to-one ratio. We have to let the Holy Spirit do that.
We must let the Spirit translate the parable for us, helping us know which perfect facts to focus on and which flawed facts to leave behind. Like we crack the shell off of a nut before eating it, or remove the skin off an orange before consuming it, so too do we need to remove the “human husks” off the parables before we use them to define the character of God.
The fact that many parables contain violent, petty, unjust and wrathful rulers does NOT mean that God is likewise violent, petty, violent and wrathful. Jesus used flawed humanity, warts and all, to make heavenly points. Like with many Old Testament passages, we must let Jesus alone excavate, elevate and illuminate the character of God.
Jesus acknowledged that parables do NOT speak clearly to the human mind (Mark 4:10-12). So, why would we PRIORITIZE less-clear parabolic statements by Jesus over the more numerous and perfectly clear statements He makes concerning His Father’s nature. The most compelling statement by Jesus regarding His Father’s nature occurs in Matthew 5:38-48. In verse 48, Jesus exhorts us to, “THEREFORE be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect.” And to what does the “THEREFORE” refer?
Clearly, to the previous ten verses which explain the Father’s perfection. This passage paints the Father as a God who always: “turns the other other cheek” when attacked, “walks the extra mile” when “asked,” gives the “extra coat” to help the needy, endlessly “lends” to those who “ask,” generously “blesses” all those who “curse Him,” fervently “loves” all His enemies, does “good” to His “haters,” and passionately “prays” for those who “despitefully use and persecute” Him.
The Father generously sends His healing “sunlight” on “both the good and the evil,” and He sends His replenishing “rain” on “the just and the unjust.” This Sermon on the Mount passage is the Father’s perfection CLEARLY stated by Jesus. We shouldn’t ever use a less-clear parabolic passage to trump a more-clear expository passage, particularly when it comes to defining the character of God.
Moreover, cross referencing the same parables in different Gospels often show surprisingly different recollections of what Jesus said. For instance, in the parable of the dinner feast in Matthew 22:1-14, wrathful violence by the king is mentioned, whereas in the same parable in Luke 14:16-24 all violence has been excised out of the story.
If Luke was able, by the Holy Spirit, to convey the same parable without using violent images that distorted the character of God with human flaws, then shouldn’t we too follow his lead?
Moreover, in other passages, such as Matthew 21:33-41 and 25:24, the violence of the king/ruler is PRESUMED by the audience but NEVER approved or endorsed by Jesus as accurate. So too today, many likewise wrongly presume a violent and vengeful image of God without actually EVER hearing from the Holy Spirit about it.
Lastly, to whatever extent Jesus did recite violence in these parables, He was using it solely for dramatic effect. Regardless of whether they were fictional or factual, the violence is just used as a dramatic device to make the story more riveting to the listener. In any dramatic narrative, violence is used by the author as a plot device to further the reader’s emotional investment while still furthering the overall theme of the story.
Christian authors C.S. Lewis and J.R. Tolkien certainly used dramatic violence this way in their stories, despite the fact that their overall themes were emphatically non-violent. To read their classic Christian-themed stories as painting a violent view of God just because violence is occasionally used is both unfair and incorrect.
So too with the parables. Don’t stretch the parables where they weren’t meant to go. Take all the human and fleshly “shells” off these stories as far as they pertain to dishonoring the nature of God. De-husk all the flawed human violence, wrath, cruelty, pettiness and revenge BOTH out and away from your image of the Heavenly Father.
Take away the dross from the parables and you will be left with the gold, silver and precious goodness of God. “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5.
Richard Murray, November 5, 2018
At Rest In Him 