If you are truly a Bible student you would know Jesus spoke in parables and without a parable did He not speak (Mark 4:34).
Reasons He spoke in parables?…
Mark 4:10-12
10 And when He was alone, they that wwere about Him with the twelve asked of Him the parable.
11 And He said unto them, unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:
12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
And…
1 Corinthians 2:14
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Try the above sometime and see how the scriptures open up your understand.
The whole Bible is a historical as well as a spiritual book which makes the Bible a historical parable. Why? Because the Gospel message should be seen in every page of of the whole Bible! If we don’t see the Gospel message it is not because it is not there, it is because God has not opened our spiritual eyes to it.
Never, never tell another Christian his interpretation is wrong (this is what many in these forums do) without examining if your interpretation is more faithful than his.
To God Be The Glory
Let's read the context of Mark 4:30-34 (NIV):
30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”
33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
Jesus was talking about the flow on from the mustard seed parable. Please note ALL of v. 34, 'He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything'. He spoke the mustard seed parable to the disciples but then 'he explained everything' to them and that was not a parable.
Please tell me: Are these words from Jesus a parable?
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Matt 25:31-46 NIV).
Yes, Jesus spoke some parables, but there is much that he said that was narrative and not parable, like this: “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Matt 25:46 NIV).
Please try making that into a parable.
Oz