The parables of Jesus
Why he taught in stories, in his own words.
The usual explanation is that stories are memorable, which is true and is not what he said. Asked directly why he taught this way, his answer was considerably harder.
Here are the best known of them, and his own reason, opened properly.
The best known, and where to find them
- Luke 10:30–37The good Samaritan
- Luke 15:11–32The prodigal son
- Luke 15:4–7The lost sheep
- Matthew 13:3–9The sower
- Matthew 18:23–35The unforgiving servant
- Matthew 25:14–30The talents
- Luke 12:16–21The rich fool
- Matthew 20:1–16The workers in the vineyard
- Matthew 25:1–13The ten virgins
- Luke 18:9–14The Pharisee and the tax collector
His own reason, with the room around it
Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don't see, and hearing, they don't hear, neither do they understand.
The disciples had asked him why, and this is the answer. It is not the comfortable one. He is saying the stories both reveal and conceal — that a parable hands itself over to anyone willing to be inside it, and closes to anyone listening for something to agree with.
How a parable works on you
A parable does not explain. It puts you in a situation, lets you take a side, and then turns. The listener who was nodding at the older brother is the one the story was about.
That is why they survive being retold and why they resist being summarised. The moral of the good Samaritan is not the point of the good Samaritan; the question he was answering — "and who is my neighbour?" — is answered by making the hated foreigner the hero, which a summary cannot do to you.
The whole collection, one day at a time
Walking with Jesus: Devotional has a collection called The Parables of Jesus that takes them one a day, each with the question he was answering, a reflection, a prayer and one thing to carry into the day.
A one-time purchase, about five minutes a morning.
Questions people ask
- How many parables did Jesus tell?
- Counts differ, because there is no agreed line between a parable, a simile and a figure of speech. Commonly cited figures run from roughly thirty to around forty, depending on what the counter includes.
- Why did Jesus teach in parables?
- Asked directly by his disciples, he answered that he spoke in parables because "seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear" (Matthew 13:13) — that the form both reveals and conceals, depending on the listener.
- What is the most famous parable of Jesus?
- The good Samaritan (Luke 10:30–37) and the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32) are the two best known, and both are told in Luke. Each answers a question that had been put to him rather than standing alone.