Miracles and Parables

The Gospel writers refer to the miracles of our Lord by a variety of terms. The most common are dunamis, "power" and semeion. The Lord did not perform miracles for amusement and amazement: He was not flexing His divine muscles. Each miracle had a purpose. For example, in Luke 5:1-11, The Great Catch (of fishes) Miracle, the miracle wasn't some magic feat. Rather, the purpose of the miracle was to win Peter, Andrew, James, and John to permanent discipleship and make them fishers of men. In a similar vein, The Lord did not utter parables just to hear Himself speak. The English word "parable" is from the Greek parabole, "a juxtaposition," "a comparison," "an illustration," "a parable," "a proverb," from a verb meaning "to put one thing by the side of another [for comparison]," "to throw beside." The Greek parabole and its Hebrew equivalent are broader in meaning than our word "parable.In the Gospels a parable is a narrative "placed alongside" a certain spiritual truth for purposes of "comparison." The parables of our Lord were usually based on common experiences of everyday life familiar to His hearers.