Illustrations From Familiar Situations

IT IS important, of course, that whatever illustrations you use fit the material you are discussing. For them to be most effective, however, it is equally important that they fit your audience.

How might the type of audience influence your selection of illustrations for speaking to a group? What did Jesus Christ do? Whether he was speaking to the crowds or to his disciples, Jesus did not take his examples from ways of life unique to lands outside of Israel. Such examples would have been unfamiliar to his audience. For instance, Jesus made no mention of the court life of Egypt or the religious practices of India. Still, his illustrations did draw on activities common to people in all lands. He spoke of mending clothes, carrying on business, losing something precious, and attending marriage feasts. He understood how people react under various circumstances, and he made use of this. (Mark 2:21; Luke 14:7-11; 15:8, 9; 19:15-23) Since his public preaching was directed particularly to the people of Israel, Jesus’ illustrations most frequently alluded to objects and activities that were part of their daily lives. Thus, he referred to such things as farming, the way sheep respond to their shepherd, and the use of animal skins to store wine. (Mark 2:22; 4:2-9; John 10:1-5) He also pointed to familiar historical examples​—the creation of the first human couple, the Flood of Noah’s day, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the death of Lot’s wife, to mention a few. (Matt. 10:15; 19:4-6; 24:37-39; Luke 17:32) Do you similarly consider carefully the activities common to your audience and their cultural background when selecting illustrations?

What if you are speaking, not to a large group, but to one person or perhaps to just a few? Endeavor to select an illustration that is especially appropriate for that small audience. When Jesus witnessed to a Samaritan woman at a well near Sychar, he spoke of “living water,” ‘never getting thirsty again,’ and “a spring of water bubbling up to impart everlasting life”​—all of which were figures of speech directly connected to that woman’s work. (John 4:7-15) And when he spoke to men who had been washing their fishing nets, the figure of speech that he chose involved the fishing business. (Luke 5:2-11) In either instance, he might have made reference to farming, since they lived in an agricultural area, but how much more effective it was to allude to their personal activity as he painted a mental picture! Do you endeavor to do that?

Whereas Jesus directed attention to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” the apostle Paul was sent not only to Israel but also to the Gentile nations. (Matt. 15:24; Acts 9:15) Did this make a difference in the way Paul spoke? Yes. When writing to Christians in Corinth, he referred to foot races, mentioned the practice of eating meals in idol temples, and alluded to the triumphal processions, things with which those Gentiles would be acquainted.​—1 Cor. 8:1-10; 9:24, 25; 2 Cor. 2:14-16.

Are you as careful as Jesus and Paul were in selecting illustrations and examples to use in your teaching? Do you consider the background and the daily activity of your listeners? Of course, there have been changes in the world since the first century. Many people have access to world news by means of television. Situations in foreign lands are often familiar to them. Where that is the case, it certainly is not amiss to draw on such news items for illustrations. Nevertheless, the things that touch people most deeply usually involve their personal lives​—their home, their family, their work, the food they eat, the weather in their area. Can you make use of everyday things that a deaf person might see or use? For example, many deaf people are familiar with video phones, relay interpreters, or lights being turned on and off to draw attention. Or you might draw on the fact that deaf people tend to have sharp eyes.

If your illustration requires a lot of explanation, you may be talking about something that is not familiar to your audience. As a result, the audience may remember your illustration but not the Scriptural truth that you were endeavoring to convey. In addition, be careful about highlighting things that do not apply to a deaf person, such as sound or music. Such illustrations can make a deaf person feel uncomfortable and can overshadow the point of the instruction.

Instead of making complicated comparisons, Jesus used simple, everyday matters. He made use of little things to explain big things and easy things to make hard things plain. By making connections between everyday events and spiritual truths, Jesus helped people to grasp more readily the spiritual truths he was teaching and to remember these. What a fine example to follow!