The good Samaritan. The pearl of great price. Counting the cost. The good shepherd. New wine in old wineskins. The prodigal son. Sheep and goats. Who hasn’t heard of at least a couple of these? Jesus’ New Testament parables are among the most powerful ideas in Western civilization!

These lessons are at the core of Christ’s teaching. Nearly 2,000 years after Jesus gave them, his parables still sparkle with simple yet sublime insights about life—and startling yet comforting revelations about God’s kingdom. But what, exactly, are parables? And what did Jesus intend that we learn from his parables?

First, let’s understand that the Bible consists of different types of writing. As we read and study the Bible, we should recognize each type of genre, or in other words, literary style. You wouldn’t read a recipe for lasagna as you would a suicide note. A court summons is no comic strip. Subway graffiti does not a thank-you card make. A love letter is not an encyclopedia article. They are different types of writing, produced by different authors for different audiences. They also invite different responses.

Many types of writing make up the Bible. Parables, or parabolic passages, concentrated in the Gospels, are one of those genres. The Bible also contains legal codes, such as those you can read in the books of Moses. You will find poetry in the psalms and elsewhere. There are also prophecies, histories, hymns, letters and speeches in the Bible. There are allegories, metaphors, similes, epics, riddles and wise sayings. Bible students call yet other sections didactic, apocalyptic and eschatological. They are all inspired by God. They are "God-breathed" and "useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that those who belong to God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

But we need to see these different literary genres—parables included—for what they are, in their contexts. We need to learn as much as we can about who wrote them, and why, and to whom. Legal codes and delicate poetry are different. Sweeping epics are not science texts. Letters may whisper personal details about their writers even as they defy being used to nail down historical or prophetic dates. Metaphors aren’t meant literally. Failure to understand the literary style can lead to misunderstanding and misinterpretation. How, then, should we look at Jesus’ parables?

Jesus’ parables have been called "heavenly stories with earthly meanings," or "earthly stories with heavenly meanings." But there is more to them than that. Both the Hebrew word masal and the Greek parabole are broadly used of proverbs, allegories, riddles, illustrations and stories. They can refer to any striking speech formulated to stimulate thought.

Interpreter C.H. Dodd, in his 1935 classic Parables of the Kingdom, defined a parable as "a metaphor or simile drawn from nature or common life, arresting the hearer by its vividness or strangeness, and leaving the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application to tease it into active thought" (page 16). The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia states that parables are "almost always formulated to reveal and illustrate the kingdom of God" (vol. 3, page 656).

Parables are present, but not common, in the Old Testament. Perhaps the parable that most closely resembles Jesus’ parables is Nathan’s story of the pet lamb, which moved King David to repent (2 Samuel 12:1-13). Judges 9:8-15 and 2 Kings 14:9 symbolize kings and nations as talking plants and a wild beast; these passages are more like fables.

Was Jesus thinking of Ezekiel 17:22-24 when he told the parable of the mustard seed (Mark 4:30-32 and parallel passages)? His parable of the wicked tenants (Mark 12:1-9) echoes Isaiah 5:1-7 (the song of the vineyard). Jesus’ parables often referred to nature to picture the spectacular growth of God’s kingdom from a small beginning.

Outside the Gospels, the Greek parabole appears in the New Testament only in Hebrews 9:9, where the New King James Version says the tabernacle (verse 8) and sacrifices were "symbolic" for the present time, and in Hebrews 11:19, which says that Abraham, "figuratively speaking,’’ received Isaac back from death after proving he was willing to sacrifice his son.

Jesus described the kingdom of heaven "like treasure hidden in a field" or "like a merchant looking for fine pearls" (Matthew 13:44-45).

Jesus’ teaching was unique

Early rabbis included parables in their writings. These parables began or ended with, and explained, Old Testament texts. Jesus’ use of parables differed markedly. "The NT parables," notes The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, "almost never function in this way [to explain Old Testament passages]: Jesus came not to exegete Scripture, but to reveal the new age of God’s kingdom" (ibid.).

Thus, as we saw above, Jesus Christ’s "nature parables" (for example, the mustard seed) showed how God’s kingdom would start small but become all-encompassing. The kingdom’s present aspects would seem unspectacular, its ultimate realization amazing.

His ‘‘discovery parables" (the hidden treasure, Matthew 13:44; or the pearl of great price, verses 45-46) show that God’s kingdom is so valuable we can happily abandon all else for it. His "contrast parables’’ (the rich man and Lazarus, Luke 16:19-31; or the Pharisee and the tax collector, Luke 18:9-14) illuminate how much God loves even the lost and dispossessed and welcomes them into fellowship with him.

The "a fortiori parables"—those that ask "How much more..." (the friend at midnight, Luke 11:5-8; or the persistent widow, Luke 18:1-8)—show how much God can be trusted to act righteously. If even humans won’t act in certain evil ways, Jesus asked, "How much more will your Father in heaven give...?" (Luke 11:13).

"The parables focus on God and his kingdom and in doing so reveal what kind of God he is, by what principles he works, and what he expects of humanity," comments the Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (vol. 2, page 1609).

Jesus’ use of parables was so masterful, and the kingdom-centered message of his parables so revolutionary, that no other New Testament personality tried to copy this aspect of his teaching. The uniqueness of Jesus’ parables bolsters their place at the core of our Savior’s message for humanity.

Even critics as extreme as those who make up the Jesus Seminar, who discard much of the Gospels as fabrications by early Christians, believe that in the simple, moving and transcendently beautiful messages of the parables we come as close to the historical Jesus as we are likely to get.

Jesus contrasted the beggar lying at the gate with the rich man who lived in luxury, to make a spiritual point (Luke 16:19-31).

Hearing Jesus’ message

Jesus was a master storyteller. His parables contain striking images, dramatic action and bold character development, all built around universal themes that have touched people for two millennia. Yet the parables offer minimal detail. Often Jesus provided no clear explanations for the stories, leaving them open to multiple interpretations through the ages. So how can we know what the parables of Jesus mean? Some interpreters make the mistake of reading more into some parables than Jesus ever intended. In the other ditch are those who fail to catch what some parables clearly emphasize.

Until this century, most interpreters allegorized the parables. This means they looked for symbolic significance in as many details in the stories as possible. Augustine (A.D. 354-430), an early church father, explained the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) in this way:

The man going down from Jerusalem pictured Adam leaving the peaceful place that was Eden. The robbers who beat him were the devil and his demons, who persuaded Adam to sin. The priest and the Levite (the Law and the Prophets) offered the victim no help, but the Samaritan (Christ) rescued him, pouring oil and wine (comfort and exhortation) onto the man’s wounds. The donkey on which the Samaritan, or Christ, placed the man symbolized the church: the apostle Paul was the innkeeper. This is going too far, reading into the parable far more detail than Jesus intended (Paul was not even a Christian yet!)