similitude
RESEMBLANCE, similarity, likeness, sameness, similar nature, comparability, correspondence, comparison, analogy, parallel, parallelism, equivalence; interchangeability, closeness, nearness, affinity, homogeneity, agreement, indistinguishability, uniformity; community, kinship, relatedness, archaic semblance.
Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus
par-a-ble
1. narrative of imagined events used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson. 2. allegory. -a fable, lesson, morality tale.
Oxford American Desk Dictionary & Thesaurus
dra-mat-ics
performance of plays by amateurs, the technique of acting as a branch of study
New Webster's Dictionary & Thesaurus
Drama is God's Method of Teaching
The drama is God's preferred method of teaching, both in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. In the Old Testament, God presented dramas through His prophets, in the cases of Ezekiel and Jeremiah, the prophets acted out their messages. They actually became actors, going through dramatic motions, miming God's message to the people through drama in motion.
God uses actual events in the lives of real people to teach others His Gospel truths, such as Abraham's offering of Isaac, which illustrates John 3:16, as well as the life of Joseph (he was sent out into the world to find his lost brothers, they rejected and "killed" him, yet he eventually proved their very salvation). The whole Sanctuary Service with its apartments, furniture and rituals, was an illustration of the entire Plan of Salvation, fulfilled at the cross, and all the Biblical Feasts were "plays" which taught of the future, including many things that have not happened as yet.
In the New Testament Jesus taught with parables and dynamic life lessons such as the withering of the fig tree -- we are told He never spoke without using parables. Is it true? Did He always employ parables? We are told that He never spoke without employing parables. In other words, Always a Parable. Do you believe the Bible? Did Jesus ALWAYS teach by comparing the greater thing, the reality, to this lesser thing, the shadow? The Bible tells us that the whole Law of God is a shadow that teaches us of the greater reality (see Hebrews 10:1), God's perfection, what we are headed toward and have certainly not achieved as yet.
Some Christians today despise the drama, considering it a base and worldly method of teaching; however, it is better to follow God's plan than man's glib appetites and shallow prejudices (what makes sense to God doesn't always make sense to us, e.g., the Disciples themselves did not even understand the Parables of Jesus, and you can only imagine them telling Him that He should try something different, not something so "theatrical" as parables, so it's safer, much safer to follow His way). A parable is a "mental movie" wherein scenes and stories play out, and then the mind draws a parallel to a greater truth, thus illumination, understanding, the great moment of "Ah HA!"
All the objections to dramatic plays which teach Christian truths, are in fact based on traditions of men, and are not Biblical. From Genesis to Revelation, drama is employed throughout the Bible, in every facet, every respect. Drama is good, and it is God's method (all the prophetic dreams, visions and images from Daniel and Revelation are highly symbolic, and must be interpreted; they are, simply put, dramatic plays which teach truth).
In fact, the early Christian Church employed drama to pass on the story of Jesus, a method that transcends the barriers of language and social class standings. Handled in a Godly manner, with proper inspiration and a heart set for God, the drama is an excellent way to supplement a sermon, or illustrate complicated Bible passages. Granted, church dramas can prove amateur, poorly crafted, badly written and doctrinally unsound, but all the same inherent dangers apply to preaching sermons and giving Bible studies as well. The Christian play or skit is a tool, and as is the case with any tool, from hammer to forklift to television set or radio, a tool can be used for good or bad, and it can be used expertly, or with dangerous ineptitude.
Please feel free to use these Gospel dramas and plays, sketches and scripts, for teaching and worship purposes, FREE of charge, but please do not include them in any compilation books for resale. In other words, use these dramas to spread the Good News, not to profit. No credit need be given, give all the glory to God. If you have any comments or questions please feel free to e-mail me. And if you DO put on a drama and would like to share the experience, PLEASE, feel free to e-mail me and tell me all about it (be it positive or be it negative!).
Free Gospel Dramas for illuminating, teaching, illustrating the Word of God, and worshipping God in spirit and in truth. To employ God's method of teaching, in dramatic parables!
If you have employed any of these dramas, please feel free to contact me by e-mail, DCLWolf@gmail.com and let me know how it worked out! Also, please sign the guestbook on the Drama Index page.
The Biblical Parables of Jesus
When it comes to Jesus and the parables He told, there is a whole lot of intentional confusion being sown today, like the tares distributed through the wheat (to borrow imagery from one of the Master's parables). It is often said: "Jesus always announced that He was going to tell a parable before He began it! But if you take the time to read the Bible, especially the parables in the New Testament, it is quite easy to discern the Truth.
But do people actually read the Bible? Or do they just claim to read it?
The very first point, we need to establish the context of how Jesus told this story, to whom did He tell it, and under what circumstances did He feel compelled to teach these truths. Why did Jesus open His mouth and convey this strange story?
The second point, we need to establish the "moral" (the point) to the story, in other words, what was Jesus intending to convey -- the WHY of the telling. What does it all mean?
No servant can serve two masters: for either he will
hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold
to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve
God and mammon.
Luke 16:13
This whole controversy opens with Jesus talking to both His Disciples and the people who wished to hear Him (see Luke 14:25-26, thus begins a long rolling dialogue where Jesus teaches, employing all manner of examples, telling some of His most famous and endearing parables, His discussion opens with the WHO and the HOW: it is WHAT people are His disciples). Jesus intially imparts the knowledge that to be His follower, you have to set Him first in your life, that God must come before any family or person, even the disciple's own life (Luke 14:26).
In Verse 27 the Lord offers a mini parable, that His disciple must pick up and carry his own cross (note, Jesus did not literally intend for each his followers through the centuries to carry around two big wooden beams, it was commonly understood that Jesus was speaking figuratively, not literally, and yet Jesus certainly does not announce that He is speaking a parable, a similitude, a word-play, a metaphor) then in Verses 28-30 Jesus launches into an extended parable, which is not verbally broadcast as a figurative life-learning parable, that when you start something you must see it through to the end, or else suffer ridicule (the parable of someone who begins to build a foundation for a house then runs out of money).
Verses 31-32 yet another unanounnced parable, this one about a king with a small army being threatened by a large army, before the lopsided battle ensues the underdog had better open up a line of communication to settle the dispute before the war is ever started.
Verse 33 Jesus sums up the past 3 unannounced parables:
So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh
not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:33
But continuing in Verses 34-35 Jesus follows up His explanation with two more similitudes: His disciples should be salt, a seasoning for the world, and if that seasoning loses its purpose (being a seasoning) then it is worthless, it is only worthy of the sewer.
It should be obvious, to anyone with an IQ above 75, that Jesus isn't telling anyone to become salt, to literally be dried out and ground into powder to be used for seasoning (or to look back at Sodom and Gomorrah and be changed into a pillar of salt), He is using similitudes, verbal dramas that illustrate a point. God always speaks in similitudes; similarly (identically, actually) Jesus ALWAYS spoke in parables. A parable is a drama, a word-play that is visualized in the mind.
I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have
multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the
ministry of the prophets.
Hosea 12:10
All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude
in parables ; and without a parable spake He not
unto them:
Matthew 13:34
The danger is when well-intentioned people take a parable and attempt to twist it into a direct literal meaning, then when Jesus asks rhetorically: "Who when asked for a fish gives a scorpion," decides based on their misinterpretation, that it is appropriate to distribute deadly scorpions to hungry people, rationalizing that God will sort it out, who gets stung and who gets food. This is the kind of gross twisting of scripture when the Bible says:
As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard,
so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
Proverbs 26:9
A good example of this phenomenon is when Jesus says that you will speak and the mountain will move over here, "fools" then run with this metaphor and say you are supposed to talk to illnesses and maladies and they will listen to you, all the while acknowledging that they cannot speak to a mountain and move it (taking Christ's words literally) they yet try and force a literal meaning into those words so that they can teach their "new and improved revelation!" It's kinda-sorta literal, you know, it's what they teach, and it's not really "teaching" is it?
Starting in Chapter 15 we are told that in this same vein, all the sinners and publicans drew close to hear more of what Jesus said, and immediately the scribes and Pharisees (Verse 2) begin to mutter about how dispicable it is, the company Jesus keeps. So though Jesus is speaking for all to hear, even us today, his next parables are aimed directly at the murmuring "religious experts," and for the first time the Bible announces "and he spake this parable unto them." And you will note, those of you with red-letter Bibles that highlight the words of Jesus in red type, that the "announcement" is not issued by Jesus, rather it is Luke, in recounting the historical occurence that casually mentions that Jesus spoke to them (directly, the "them" being the Pharisees and scribes) and then proceeds to detail SEVERAL parables, none of which are individually delienated as "parables."
Verses 3 through 6 of Chapter 15 employs the parable of a shepherd with 100 sheep who leaves the 99 behind to find the 1 lost sheep, and when he finds that lost sheep, he calls together his friends and throws a party, so delighted is he at the return of the lost one -- in Verse 7 Jesus explains this small parable, that when a sinner returns to God, all of heaven celebrates, that it is a far bigger deal in heaven than the 99 righteous ones who don't sin! This is a direct answer to the religious experts who criticized Jesus for hanging with lowlifes, scolding them with the admonition that all of heaven will be celebrating if Jesus can liberate even one of these sinners from their sin. Out of quite a few parables, this is the first one that He turns around and immediately decodes, so that the religious experts cannot mistake his point.
Verses 7 and 8 detail another parable, a woman with 10 coins and who loses one, is overjoyed when she finds the lost piece. Verse 9 finds Jesus giving the exact same explanation of this second parable (which is not specifically highlighted in the text as a parable), that heaven rejoices at the repentance of a single sinner.
Directly, without apparent pause, Jesus launches yet ANOTHER parable, this perhaps His most famous, that of the prodigal son, and yet Jesus does not preface the parable by declaring: "Here's another parable for you, this one I call The Prodigal Son!"
This parable of the Prodigal Son, is not only one of the most dear told by Jesus, universally the most beloved, but it is also a comparatively LONG parable, running from Verse 11 to the very end of the chapter, Verse 32 -- Jesus doesn't announce this most famous parable as a parable, He just tells it, to make the same point, in a dear and loving way that almost anyone can understand, whether they be a parent, or a child, or even a sibling, anyone can see the point that a father will be ecstatic, when a beloved child that is considered "dead" comes walking home to seek the warmth and sustenance of home sweet home (in this regard, it might be easier to envision the party thrown in joy at the arrival of the lost son, and again, Jesus is telling this pointed parable for the specific benefit of the religious "Scripture Answermen" who are represented by the "older brother," the one that stays safely in the household instead of wandering deep into the far country of sin.
Jesus is telling verbal dramas, symbolic stories that people can listen to and envision in their imagination, relate to, and finally understand the deeper meaning behind the story. THIS is what a parable IS, it is what a drama is all about. Symbolism at its working best, the very way that God has always worked through His prophets, whether it is Nathan the Prophet telling King David the story of a greedy rich man who steals his poor neighbor's sheep -- a very cunning way to bring home David's filthy sin to his own doorstep, with David even passing judgment on himself, that he should be put to death, and Nathan popping the punchline: "YOU ARE THAT MAN!"
To the very end, in the Book of Revelation of Jesus Christ, presented to the Apostle/Disciple John, on the Isle of Patmos -- this is the way God works. Encoded dramas. Mysterious parables that must be interpreted.
It is the way Jesus operated throughout His ministry, it is the way God operates through the whole Bible, and how He expects us to operate TODAY.
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Please Note: These dramas and scripts are completely FREE, but for use in illuminating Scripture, teaching the Gospel, for church, ministry and school presentations. The scripts are not for inclusion under any other byline, or for sale in any compilation. All U.S. copyright laws apply and permission should be requested from the author before using these scripts in film or video or for any commercial purpose. The author grants permission for complete ministerial use, or Vacation Bible School, or for church or school settings. Please use these scripts for good intentions, with a good heart, with a clean spirit, and may God bless you in your endeavors!
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While these scripts are completely FREE, a provision has been made for anyone wishing to donate a gift to further this Gospel Drama Ministry.
Other ways to aid this ministry include praying for this site www.DramaticParables.com, and especially www.TruthSeek.net, using the Prayer Request page to submit prayer requests, and praying for the prayer requests of others, as well as exploring the various advertisements and links (regrettably, the advertising is necessary to recompense the many costs of keeping a website running, so exploration of the advertisers, which are not connected to any of these dramas, is greatly appreciated). Any aid is joyously accepted, even if that means a smile and a well-wish. Thank you so much!
Art et Amour Toujours
Douglas Christian Larsen
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Completely free Christian scripts, sketches, and mimes.
Always a parable. Storytelling making the difference.
Soldier On. You were created on purpose.
You were created with a purpose, a True mission.
The Power of Words combined with
all the Amazing Colors of the Rainbow.
