He Spoke to Them in Parables

There are few parts of the Bible so familiar to Bible readers as the parables of Jesus. Idioms derived from the parable stories of the Gospels have penetrated the English language. Even non- Christians, who do not read the New Testament parables, speak of being a good Samaritan, of passing by on the other side, of using or burying our talents, of counting the cost, of riotous living, of hiding one's lamp under a bushel, and so forth. All these and many other figures of speech have their origin in the parables of Jesus. Although the parables are well known to Bible readers, it is hard to give a simple definition of a parable. They are, in one sense, extended similes. Many of them begin with the introductory formula: "The kingdom of heaven is like." When a younger child of Christian parents was asked on one occasion, which parts of the Bible she like most, she responded: "the like stories." Parables have sometimes been defined simply as "earthly stories with a heavenly meaning." A. M. Hunter in his book on parables (The Parables Then and Now) characterizes the parables in this rather interesting way: "A parable is one of those stories in the Bible which sounds at first like a pleasant yarn, but keeps something up its sleeve which suddenly pops up and leaves you flat." To be sure, Jesus' parables carry a powerful punch, but we must say a few more things about the meaning of "parable."