Daily Devotions
Luke
Luke 5:17-39 "A POWERFUL TEACHING TECHNIQUE"
Day 65 – Luke 5
Text: Luke 5:17-39
A POWERFUL TEACHING TECHNIQUE
The Pharisees resorted to every means to try and fault the Lord Jesus. They were experts at twisting words. They could turn any situation around and make use of a given situation to hurl an insult or an accusation. They tried to do this to Jesus as He sought to minister to the multitudes.
If Jesus spent time with the “tax collectors and sinners”, they found fault. If He ate and drank with them, they found fault again. Since He ate and drank with them, they accused Him of not fasting as they did.
How did Jesus attempt to minister to such people? How could He at the same time be true to His life’s mission – reaching the multitudes with the Gospel of the Kingdom of God?
Jesus used a powerful teaching technique. There hasn’t been anyone as skilled as Jesus in using the technique of telling a parable to teach a deep spiritual truth. The use of a parable is more profound than meets the eye! Let’s look at this technique of teaching by parables and marvel at the wisdom of Jesus!
A PARABLE AS A MASTERFUL”OPEN ENDED” TEACHING
A parable can do more things than the Pharisees desired to see.
1. On the one hand, it is a simple story. A good story well told can bless the hearts of the simple. The humble can hear a good parable and derive personal meaning from it.
2. On the other hand, the Pharisees would know that a parable has another meaning. However, that meaning is purposely veiled! They would have to ask Jesus what His intended meaning was. Otherwise, they would never be able to fully comprehend the intended meaning of the parable. The last thing the Pharisees wanted to do would be to consult with Jesus. That would make them look as if they did not have depth of understanding at all. Worse, they could appear to be His disciples!
3. There were many reasons why Jesus used the parable to teach. This special reason had the Pharisees stumped! They could not come back with a reply to His parables! They would really appear stupid to the multitudes if they could not grasp the intended meaning. On the other hand if they did comprehend the intended meaning, they were also stuck! What would they do with the intended meaning, since they had already rejected Jesus as the Messiah-Teacher!
4. Jesus could not be accused of not answering the questions or accusations of the Pharisees. He did give them an answer. The problem was that they could not find fault with an answer given in parabolic form. What part of the parable do they attack? The parable was too open-ended! If they attacked one part and that turned out to be a wrong move, then again they could be publicly embarrassed. That would be disastrous! The Pharisees realized that they had come across a Person who was more than their match!
THE PARABLE OF THE CLOTH AND WINESKINS
In the parables of Jesus, we also catch a glimpse of the lifestyle of the people who lived in the first century. We live in a day and age where people discard things without very much thought. Replacement rather than repair is the modern day mentality, and it would appear that this is a widespread practice in more affluent societies. Thus this parable needs a bit of explanation.
In those days, if a garment is torn, attempts are first made to patch the garment up. A piece of cloth is used to patch that part that is torn. A poor person cannot afford to discard a slightly torn garment. He would do his best to find a suitable piece of cloth to patch the garment.
He would not, however choose a new piece of cloth to do the patch up work. New cloths were not “sanforized” in those days. They were not pre-shrunk. Natural shrinking takes place whenever a new piece of cloth is washed.
If a new piece of cloth was used to repair an old garment, the problem of creating a bigger tear was very real! The new cloth will shrink, and the shrinkage can be quite severe too. The old garment would be in a worse condition because it attempted to patch the new cloth to it. An added problem is that of “mismatch” (Luke 5:36).
Jesus went on to give another illustration, and that’s what a parable does – it illustrates! It was common knowledge that new wine cannot be put into old wineskins. Once again, we catch another glimpse of how wine was fermented. Animal skins were used because they were fairly elastic (They did not have glass bottles in those days!). The fermentation process actually creates pressure on the animal skins. If the skin is already very old, then the new wine could actually rupture and destroy the old wineskin. The wine would be ruined, together with the old wineskin.
Those who have acquired a taste for old wine preferred that taste. Some are so used to old wine, that they reject new wine entirely. Jesus showed that He understood the Pharisees and their struggles with His teaching.
WAS NOT THE TRUTH OBVIOUS?
Jesus ended the telling of His parable(s) without further explanations! What would His hearers make out of His parables? What could He mean? How were they to interpret His parables? His observations were faultless. Jesus had observed things correctly. He made use of common knowledge in such a profound way that the Pharisees just could not find a way to debate His parables.
There was actually only ONE way to be certain that they had the right answer! They would have to ask Jesus for the intended meaning of the parable! However, the Pharisees would never do that!
Was not the truth obvious? Jesus was telling the Pharisees that their understanding and approach would never match His. They would inevitably clash. One can guess that the Pharisees probably understood the parables told by Jesus. However, they were so blinded by their prejudices they were never able to see Jesus in the right light!