A careful look at the life of Jesus shows someone who had a purpose for living. Although the Bible summarises all that Jesus taught and did, I wouldn’t be surprised if every millisecond of his life had been led with utmost intentionality. Every activity he engaged in was well-crafted to be an example to us all by precept or practice. It is no wonder then that all his teachings, including his parables, had an end despite the length of the story.
Although one can extract several lessons from almost every parable that Jesus told, the theme of each however is not hidden. Sometimes, the lessons are in the first words that exit his mouth, but at other times he allows them to shine through the entire story. Oh, at some other times, he leaves the lessons for the concluding words. Even the parables that his audience in the day didn’t understand, he would spend time explaining the same to his disciples when they retired.
Reading the first verse of Luke 18 tells me almost everything I need to know about the illustration I am about to read. The choice of words used by Apostle Luke in that verse shows that Luke himself a disciple perfectly understood the point of Jesus’ parable.
There are a few lessons I wish to extract from this passage of scriptures for teachers and speakers like me. Here they are:
1. Jesus used parables in his teachings – Use compelling stories.
Jesus employed various tools to explain to his audience, things that would have been otherwise difficult to comprehend. Parables were a part of such instruments he employed to illustrate deep spiritual truths.
How would you tell me that I need to pray always? Always signifies that it is a necessity, and my life depends on it. Just like telling me that I need to breathe always if I want to live. You don’t even need to tell me because if I hold my breath for a minute, I will feel the effect.
Does my life truly depend on prayer to the point where I need to pray always? To answer this question, Jesus delved into a parable, putting us as a desperate widow in battle with an unknown enemy crying to an unjust judge because not all judges live true to their titles just as not everyone lives true to their profession.
In that parable, the desperation of the widow was spelt out. Widowhood signifies that she had no other alternative. Understanding that her only option at salvation was the judge, she refused to let go of the court of justice.
Still in that parable is a judge who Jesus qualified as being unjust – a judge of injustice. But his history of upholding injustice didn’t deter the widow.
As a teacher, learn to tell compelling stories. I’m not talking about exaggeration and lies. I’m talking about knowing how to use appropriate illustrations that best capture your message. Remember how your grannies told you stories that had deep life lessons to pass? Yes, they work for both children and adults.
People may forget the topic of the sermon but not the stories. Sometimes they may forget the details of the stories, but the lessons they learnt from those stories remain.
2. There was an end to the parable of Jesus – Have a purpose for an illustration before using it.
As a teacher, you need to learn that there must be a point of arrival for your discourse or illustration. Whether it is humorous or serious; whether people cry or show no visible emotion, your illustrations aren’t freelanced to see which would stick. They all are tied to the objective of helping the audience understand the point because although many lessons can be learnt from the parable in Luke 18, the main point remains that all men ought always to pray. Let that point be driven home by all you said.
3. There is a consequence for neglecting to pray – Consequences can drive action.
From the first verse, we learn that fainting (losing heart and giving up) is the opposite of prayer and a consequence of its lack. That is, when one fails to pray, he faints. And when one is not praying, he is fainting. We function optimally when we pray and malfunction when we don’t.
Learn to show the effects of the lack/absence of the virtue that you want your audience to have. Sometimes, it is not the benefits that drive people’s actions, but what they stand to lose. When the listener knows the negative consequences of inaction, he may be more prone to act on the instructions you are giving.
4. The parable tells you the things involved in a persevering prayer – Capture the relevant variables.
You had a few important elements in that parable – the unjust judge, the woman, both living in the same city, she is widowed, she was deprived of her right and sort redress.
The persistence of the widow was illustrated by showing her as one who never gave the unjust judge any rest. She was there as the judge left in the morning. She returned when the judge returned in the evening and when he was asleep at night, she was by his window. It was a full-blown disturbance to get justice and not even the unjustness of the judge would stop her from coming.
Your illustration needs to be pertinent and as well fully capture the relevant elements of the scenario you are trying to paint.
5. God is not an unjust judge – Tie loose ends.
The main point as we said is the necessity of persevering prayers. However, a mention was made of an unjust judge who doesn’t fear God nor regard man. If we are represented as the widow, then God is the judge. But God is the God of justice; so, Jesus had to make it clear that God is just. Therefore, if a widow, through perseverance, can get redress from a callous, selfish judge, how much more can we get our needs met by a caring Father?
As a teacher, learn to tie loose ends in your illustrations. Let your examples not leave more questions than they answered.
6. Be concise.
That parable lasted for a few verses, about eight verses. Granted that the original Bible manuscript wasn’t divided into verses, but conciseness is one of the highlights of almost all the parables of Jesus. They were usually short and profound.
It allowed him to pass his message without anyone being lost in the length of the stories. Conciseness also made the parables thought-provoking. We still study and re-study these parables today for deeper understanding.
Jesus didn’t tell us what the name of the city was, who was the offender, how many times the woman came, if the judge lived close to the woman or not etc. Those are left to our imagination, but his point was well captured.
As a teacher or speaker, less is more and more is less. More details only dilute your point. Cut to the chase and see how your audience will understand better and appreciate that you value their time.
The wisdom of Jesus Christ is far beyond ours. However, we can always learn and improve ourselves by looking at Him. He is the greatest teacher of all time, and learning from him will help us teach better.
