Category Archives: Parables of Jesus

Tonight we’re going to start to study the Parables of Jesus. Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 14:15-24. While you’re turning there, I want to explain parables. A “parable” (Greek parabolē) is a teaching tool that Jesus often used. A parable will compare a spiritual truth by aligning it with a familiar physical event. The Bible says “Jesus spoke MANY THINGS to them in parables” (Matthew 13:3). Jesus’ disciples asked Him:

“Why do You speak to the crowd with parables?”
Matthew 13:10
Jesus told them:

Matthew 13:11-14 (LSB) {Jesus} said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 “For whoever has, to him [more] shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. 13 “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 “And in them the prophecy of Isaiah (Isaiah 6:9-10) is being fulfilled, which says, ‘YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE;

Jesus spoke in parables for two reasons:

1 To teach Kingdom principles to those who were His followers, and
2 To hide Kingdom principles from those who lost, who were against the Kingdom

A parable was never given to help a lost person become saved. It was given to teach a saved person the things of God. It was given to perhaps chastise those who rejected what Jesus said. One pastor I heard explained it this way:… Continue reading →