Block 4 - Ehrman, Pages 179-181

Ehrman's discussion of the parables is a rather brief affair. Outside of these three pages, there are a few passing references are made to the parables. One place where the parables of Jesus are mentioned in any detail is on page 151 with the discussion of "salvation for sinners". The other place worth noting, is on page 145 where the parable of the wheat and weeds is mentioned in the context of Jesus' apocalyptic sayings. Ehrman seems to think Jesus may have spoken this parable. Scholars like Borg and Crossan would disagree simply on the grounds that they do not believe that Jesus taught anything strictly apocalyptic.

Most Jesus scholars spend much time discussing Jesus' parables, as it is believed that the parables represent a certifiable historical core to Jesus' teachings. Ehrman spends very little time on the parables of Jesus. I suspect one reason for this short section on the parables is that Ehrman is most interested in the apocalyptic Jesus, and not many parables lend themselves to an apocalyptic interpretation.

On page 179, Ehrman attacks Crossan's rather novel interpretation of the parable of the mustard seed (see middle of the page). It is pretty difficult to avoid the fact the this analogy of the mustard seed or the yeast in the dough, with its contrast of small beginnings but grand endings, lends itself to the expectation that the kingdom will be dramatically obvious to all in sometime in the future. On page 180, Ehrman interprets the parable of the Sower as an example of Jesus' call to action on the part of the hearers so that they are prepared for the arrival of the kingdom, by giving up everything they have in order to prepare, and thereby will be prepared to "bear fruit worthy of the coming harvest" (page 180). This may be stretching the interpretation of the parable quite a bit. Ehrman's interpretation of this parable is certainly not the standard interpretation of the parable of the Sower, that focuses on it as speaking to how people react and respond to Jesus' ministry; sometimes it produces fruit, sometimes not. Thus, regarding the note of urgency that Ehrman detects here, I cannot see it myself.

Ehrman has chosen to take Jesus' urgent call to be ready for the coming of the kingdom (mentioned numerous other places in the gospels and which we will examined in later Blog entries) as the interpretive key to understand the totality of Jesus' teaching on the kingdom. That means Ehrman does not see nuances in Jesus' teaching on the kingdom that other scholars do. For Ehrman these other scholars have introduced ambiguity into Jesus' teaching on the kingdom simply because that do not want to accept that Jesus had an unwavering apocalyptic message about the kingdom of God.