Performative Utterances or Language Events Provoking an Existential Response
According to C. H. Dodd, in his seminal work, The Parables of the Kingdom, at its simplest, the parable is a metaphor or simile drawn from nature or common life, arresting the hearer by its vividness or strangeness and leaving the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application in order to tease passive thinking into active thought. Part of this week’s Gospel is the parable of the weeds in the field (Mt 13:24-30, 36-43). It serves as an example of Jesus interpreting His own parable.
The English word “parable” comes from the Greek word παραβολη (para, “alongside of” and ballein “to cast, place or throw”). A parable can be described as one illustration being understood in juxtaposition or in comparison with another. New Testament scholars use the word parable to translate the Hebrew mashal, which is much broader than mere comparisons, and includes proverbs, allegories and sayings such as “Physician Heal Thyself”.
A parable usually has three parts: (1) the unknown (e.g., the Kingdom of heaven); (2) the known that is used for comparison (e.g. the Sower, mustard seed, or yeast); and (3) the point of comparison between the known and the unknown. This point of comparison can be expressed as a simile using the word like or as: e.g. The disciples are ”as lambs in the midst of wolves”. A parable is often considered to be an extended simile with one point of comparison, usually at the beginning. Or a parable is like a metaphor – e.g. “You are the salt of the earth”. Here only one thing is named and the proper contextual information is needed to fill in the full meaning. Finally, an allegory is an extended metaphor with several points of comparison, which needs to be decoded in order to be fully understood.
The Lord Jesus was a Master of the parable, and often used parables to point out people’s sins. You could say that He was an artist in the telling of parables. Jesus painted vivid word pictures to dramatize His teaching and told His parables in such a way that they were easy to visualize and, so, quite memorable. It is important to understand that in a parable there are certain features that carry the moral message or its principal point. Other details are there simply to make the account more vivid, memorable, and complete in the mind’s eye of the hearer. We should interpret the parables according to those simple principles they are meant to teach. Jesus Himself sets us a pattern for interpretation, when he interprets certain of his parables in this simple manner. Thus, this week’s Gospel, being Christ’s own interpretation of one of His parables, should constitute a paradigm or pattern for interpreting His other parables.
Nature and dignity 