True, but even in a parable a mustard seed is still a mustard seed and a fatted calf is still a fatted calf.
>>True, but even in a parable a mustard seed is still a mustard seed and a fatted calf is still a fatted calf.<<
But mustard seeds and calfs are things with which we are all familiar. In this case he was discussing with them based on their understanding of something only written of, in a literal “pre-christian” world.
So what was the actual intent of the parable? What was the message?
I propose that the hypothetical (and it was, as I see it) was to set up for the final point: 31”He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ “
The whole purpose of the parable was to set up his answer for not offering “proof” to unbelievers. And that whole concept is discussed quite a bit in the NT.