The Power of Story

Interesting isn't it, how Jesus used stories when speaking to the various gatherings and crowds. Mark 4:33-34 records the fact that Jesus used parables all the time, though it seems he did later unpack things for his closer followers in due course.

So that leads to a question: why didn't the gospel writers include more of the explanations? Only a few of the parables are expanded out for us to benefit, for the rest we have to go figure!

It seems the gospel writers adopted the same approach as Jesus. Perhaps they too realised the power of story, that such a technique could work far more effectively than trying to lay down cold facts or propositions. Maybe they reckoned that their readers needed to be subject to the same 'filter' that they and the crowds had been (the kind alluded to in 4:10-13).