Parable of the Good Samaritan

Jesus taught the masses through parables. His many parables have many different interpretations and themes. Three major themes that I notice in Jesus' parables throughout The Bible include judgment, God's grace, and the unfruitful people.

Judgment is probably one of the more prominent themes in Jesus' parables. The parables of the door keeper, the weeds, and the net all share the same main theme. In the parable of the door keeper Jesus proclaims that no one knows the day or hour when judgment will come (Mark 13:33). Jesus places emphasis on being prepared for when “the owner of the house will come back” and he states to not “let him find you sleeping” (Mark 13:35-37).

Jesus focusing on being ready for when God returns implies that God will judge according to your actions, beliefs and faith. McClymond states that “the God of Jesus' parables and saying exercises judgment and does so decisively” (McClymond, p. 106). McClymond's point on God's judgment of his people is also shown in the parable of the weeds. In the parable of the weeds Jesus describes a man who sowed good seeds, but while he was sleeping his enemy went and sowed bad seeds in his fields (Matthew 13:24-25). When the wheat came up in the farmers field weeds came up too, the owner's servants asked where the weeds came from, he told them his enemy planted them (Matthew 13:26-28). When the servants asked if they should go pull up the weeds the owner said no because when the servants pull the weeds they might also uproot the wheat, instead he said to let both grow together then at harvest time the harvesters would first collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then they would gather the wheat and bring it into the barn (Matthew 13:28-30). In this parable the owner of the land sowing the seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed is the sons of the kingdom, while the weeds are the sons of the evil one, the enemy who sows the weeds is the devil, the harvest is the end of time, and the harvesters are the angels (Matthew 13: 37-38). Jesus explains that this parable shows that the angels will weed out everything that causes sin and all those who do evil, these people will be thrown into the fiery furnace of Hell, while the righteous will shine in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:40-43). The parable of the net also has the main theme of judgment day, which McClymond stresses. In this parable Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a fishing net that was laid down in a lake and brought up many kinds of fish, the fisherman pulled it up on the shore and sat down and collected the good fish; in the end of age Jesus declared that the angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous (Matthew 13:47-49). As McClymond points out, ...