1. Kenyan culture is different from that of 1st Century Palestine e.g. Kenyans are not familiar with grape growing, use of wineskins and the four seasons.
2. The original setting or meaning has not been preserved and thus Christians lack clues to their meaning.
Support Rev. Fr. CK Evangelism via MPESA Paybill:
762 763 | Acc #: Support
3. The parables often have to be explained and thus they loose their directness and immediate meaning.
4. The circumstances in which these parables were told are different.
5. The Kingdom of God to which many of them relate is difficult and a controversial subject.
6. Many different meanings have been suggested; often these are allegorical and the alternatives are at times confusing.
7. Not all situations Chritians we do know about the parables help them to understand and apply them e.g. the parable of the Patch and Wineskins designed to show that Judaism and Christianity could not be patched together. The connection is hard to see and one has to search for a compparable case in the Kenyan stuation.
8. African story telling has social interpretation while parables of Jesus have spiritual truth.
9. The parables often take up Jewish ideas, concepts and traditions which are not familiar to Chistians today e.g. the idea of Israel as a vineyard.
10. Christians do not know what to do with the parables; should they just try to understand what they signified in the time of Jesus or in the early Church or try to see a message for themselves. The interpretation of the parables will depend on the individual understanding and position.
11. Vernacular translations of the Bible such as vineyard to “shamba” or garden may help in understanding the parable but distorts the original meaning of the parable.
