Parables of Jesus

The **parables of Jesus** can be found in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and in some of the gospels not in the Bible. They are found mostly in the three synoptic gospels. They are a key part of the teaching of Jesus: they form about one third of his recorded teachings. Christians place emphasis on these parables, since they are believed to be the words of Jesus.

Jesus' parables are seemingly simple and memorable stories, often with imagery, and each conveys a message. Scholars have commented that although these parables seem simple, the messages they convey are deep, and central to the teachings of Jesus.

Many of Jesus' parables refer to simple everyday things, such as a woman baking bread (parable of the Leaven), a man knocking on his neighbor's door at night (parable of the Friend at Night), or the aftermath of a roadside mugging (parable of the Good Samaritan); yet they deal with major religious themes, such as the growth of the Kingdom of God, the importance of prayer, and the meaning of love.

In Western civilization, these parables formed the prototype for the term _parable_ and in the modern age, even among those who know little of the Bible, the parables of Jesus remain some of the best known stories in the world.

## Roots and sources

As a translation of the Hebrew word מָשָׁל _mashal_ the word parable can also refer to a riddle. In all times in their history the Jews were familiar with teaching by means of parables and a number of parables also exist in the Old Testament. The use of parables by Jesus was hence a natural teaching method that fit into the tradition of his time. The parables of Jesus have been quoted, taught, and discussed since the very beginnings of Christianity.

### Canonical gospels

The three synoptic gospels contain the parables of Jesus.  The Gospel of John contains only the stories of the Vine and Good Shepherd, which some consider to be parables, else it includes allegories but no parables. Several authors such as Barbara Reid, Arland Hultgren or Donald Griggs comment that "parables are noticeably absent from the Gospel of John".

The Catholic Encyclopedia states: "There are no parables in St. John's Gospel. In the Synoptics ... we reckon thirty-three in all; but some have raised the number even to sixty, by including proverbial expressions." The Gospel of Luke contains both the largest total number of parables (24) and eighteen unique parables; the Gospel of Matthew contains 23 parables of which eleven are unique; and the Gospel of Mark contains eight parables of which two are unique.

In _Harmony of the Gospels_, Cox and Easley provide a Gospel harmony for the parables based on the following counts: Only in Matthew: 11, only in Mark: 2, only in Luke: 18, Matthew and Luke: 4, Matthew, Mark and Luke: 6. They list no parables for the Gospel of John.

### Other documents

Parables attributed to Jesus are also found in other documents apart from the Bible. Some of these overlap those in the canonical gospels and some are not part of the Bible. The non-canonical Gospel of Thomas contains up to fifteen parables, eleven of which have parallels in the four canonical Gospels. The unknown author of the Gospel of Thomas did not have a special word for "parable," making it difficult to know what he considered a parable. Those unique to Thomas include the Parable of the Assassin and the Parable of the Empty Jar.

The noncanonical Apocryphon of James also contains three unique parables attributed to Jesus. They are known as "The Parable of the Ear of Grain", "The Parable of the Grain of Wheat", and "The Parable of the Date-Palm Shoot".

The hypothetical Q document is seen as a source for some of the parables in Matthew, Luke, and Thomas.

## Purpose and motive

In the Gospel of Matthew (13:10-17) Jesus provides an answer when asked about his use of parables:

> The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?" He replied,
> <DD>"The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them in parables:</dd>
> <DD>Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand."</dd>

While  and  may suggest that Jesus would only speak to the "crowds" in parables, while in private explaining everything to his disciples, modern scholars do not support the private explanations argument and surmise  that Jesus used parables as a teaching method. Dwight Pentecost suggests that given that Jesus often preached to a mixed audience of believers and non-believers, he used parables to reveal the truth to some, but hide it from others.

Christian author Ashton Axenden suggests that Jesus constructed his parables based on his divine knowledge of how man can be taught:

> This was a mode of teaching, which our blessed Lord seemed to take special delight in employing. And we may be quite sure, that as "He knew what was in man" better than we know, He would not have taught by Parables, if He had not felt that this was the kind of teaching best suited to our wants.

In the 19th century, Lisco and Fairbairn stated that in the parables of Jesus, "the image borrowed from the visible world is accompanied by a truth from the invisible (spiritual) world" and that the parables of Jesus are not "mere similitudes which serve the purpose of illustration, but are internal analogies where nature becomes a witness for the spiritual world".

Similarly, in the 20th century, calling a parable "an earthly story with a heavenly meaning", William Barclay states that the parables of Jesus use familiar examples to lead men's minds towards heavenly concepts. He suggests that Jesus did not form his parables merely as analogies but based on an "inward affinity between the natural and the spiritual order."

## Themes

A number of parables which are adjacent in one or more gospels have similar themes. The parable of the Leaven follows the parable of the Mustard Seed in  Matthew and Luke, and shares the theme of the Kingdom of Heaven growing from small beginnings. The parable of the Hidden Treasure and parable of the Pearl form a pair illustrating the great value of the Kingdom of Heaven, and the need for action in attaining it.

The parables of the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, and Lost (Prodigal) Son form a trio in Luke dealing with loss and redemption.

The parable of the Faithful Servant and parable of the Ten Virgins, adjacent in Matthew, involve waiting for a bridegroom, and have an eschatological theme: be prepared for the day of reckoning. The parable of the Tares the parable of the Rich Fool, the parable of the budding fig tree, and the parable of the barren fig tree also have eschatological themes.

Other parables stand alone, such as the parable of the unforgiving servant, dealing with forgiveness; the parable of the Good Samaritan, dealing with practical love; and the parable of the Friend at Night, dealing with persistence in prayer.

### Parables of the Kingdom of Heaven: hearing, seeking and growing

||style="padding-left:1em;"||style="padding-left:1em;"||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Sower|Hidden Treasure|Pearl|||
||style="padding-left:1em;"||style="padding-left:1em;"||
|Growing Seed|Mustard Seed|Leaven|||

### Parables of loss and redemption

||style="padding-left:1em;"||style="padding-left:1em;"||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Lost Sheep|Lost Coin|Prodigal (Lost) Son|||

### Parables about love and forgiveness

|||style="padding-left:1em;"||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Good Samaritan|Two Debtors|Unforgiving Servant||

### Parables about prayer

||style="padding-left:1em;"|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Friend at Night|Unjust Judge||Pharisee & Publican|

### Eschatological parables

||style="padding-left:1em;"||style="padding-left:1em;"||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Faithful Servant|Ten Virgins|Great Banquet|||
||style="padding-left:1em;"||style="padding-left:1em;"||
|Rich Fool|Wicked Husbandmen|Tares|||
||style="padding-left:1em;"||style="padding-left:1em;"||
|The Net|Budding Fig Tree|Barren Fig Tree|||

### Other parables

||||
| --- | --- | --- |
|Wise & Foolish Builders|Lamp under a Bushel|Unjust Steward|
|Rich Man and Lazarus|Talents (Minas)|Workers in the Vineyard|

## Art

Of the thirty or so parables in the canonical Gospels, four were shown in medieval art almost to the exclusion of the others, but not mixed in with the narrative scenes of the _Life of Christ_.  These were: the Ten Virgins, the Rich man and Lazarus, the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan.  Artists famous for depicting parables include Martin Schongauer, Pieter the Elder Bruegal and Albrecht Dürer.  The Workers in the Vineyard also appears in Early Medieval works.  From the Renaissance the numbers shown widened slightly, and the various scenes of the Prodigal Son became the clear favorite, with the Good Samaritan also popular.  Albrecht Dürer made a famous engraving of the _Prodigal Son_ amongst the pigs (1496), a popular subject in the Northern Renaissance, and Rembrandt depicted the story several times, although at least one of his works, _The Prodigal Son in the Tavern_, a portrait of himself as the Son, revelling with his wife, is like many artists' depictions, a way of dignifying a genre tavern scene.  His late _Return of the Prodigal Son_ (Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg) is one of his most popular works.

## Poetry and hymns

As well as being depicted in art and discussed in prose, a number of parables form the inspiration for religious poetry and hymns. For example, the hymn "The Ninety and Nine" by Elizabeth C. Clephane (1868) is inspired by the parable of the Lost Sheep:

> <poem>
> There were ninety and nine that safely lay
> In the shelter of the fold.
> But one was out on the hills away,
> Far off from the gates of gold.
> Away on the mountains wild and bare.
> Away from the tender Shepherd’s care.
> Away from the tender Shepherd’s care.</poem>

Similarly, "My Hope Is Built" (Edward Mote, c. 1834) is inspired by the parable of the Wise and the Foolish Builders, and "How Kind the Good Samaritan" (John Newton, c. 1779) is inspired by the parable of the Good Samaritan.

## Harmony of parables

A sample Gospel harmony for the parables based on the list of key episodes in the Canonical Gospels is presented in the table below. For the sake of consistency, this table is automatically sub-selected from the main harmony table in the Gospel harmony article, based on the list of key episodes in the Canonical Gospels. Usually, no parables are associated with the Gospel of John, just allegories.

|style="width:40px;"|Number|style="width:200px;"|Event|style="width:100px;"|Matthew|style="width:100px;"|Mark|style="width:100px;"|Luke|style="width:100px;"|John|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|The Growing Seed|||||||||||
|2|The Two Debtors|||||||||||
|3|The Lamp under a Bushel|||||||||||
|4|Parable of the Good Samaritan|||||||||||
|5|The Friend at Night|||||||||||
|6|The Rich Fool|||||||||||
|7|The Wise and the Foolish Builders|||||||||||
|8|New Wine into Old Wineskins|||||||||||
|9|Parable of the strong man|||||||||||
|10|Parable of the Sower|||||||||||
|11|The Tares|||||||||||
|12|The Barren Fig Tree|||||||||||
|13|Parable of the Mustard Seed|||||||||||
|14|The Leaven|||||||||||
|15|Parable of the Pearl|||||||||||
|16|Drawing in the Net|||||||||||
|17|The Hidden Treasure|||||||||||
|18|Counting the Cost|||||||||||
|19|The Lost Sheep|||||||||||
|20|The Unforgiving Servant|||||||||||
|21|The Lost Coin|||||||||||
|22|Parable of the Prodigal Son|||||||||||
|23|The Unjust Steward|||||||||||
|24|Rich man and Lazarus|||||||||||
|25|The Master and Servant|||||||||||
|26|The Unjust Judge|||||||||||
|27|Pharisees and the Publican|||||||||||
|28|The Workers in the Vineyard|||||||||||
|29|The Two Sons|||||||||||
|30|The Wicked Husbandmen|||||||||||
|31|The Great Banquet|||||||||||
|32|The Budding Fig Tree|||||||||||
|33|The Faithful Servant|||||||||||
|34|The Ten Virgins|||||||||||
|35|The Talents or Minas|||||||||||
|36|The Sheep and the Goats|||||||||||

### Parallels outside the canonical gospels

A number of parables have parallels in non-canonical gospels, the Didache, and the letters of Apostolic Fathers . However, given that the non-canonical gospels generally have no time sequence, this table is not a Gospel harmony.

|style="width:40px;"|Number|style="width:300px;"|Parable|style="width:120px;"|Matthew|style="width:100px;"|Mark|style="width:100px;"|Luke|style="width:90px;"|Other parallels|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|Parable of the Sower||||Thomas 9 1 Clement 24:5|||||||
|2|Parable of the Tares||||Thomas 57|||||||
|3|Parable of the Growing Seed||||Thomas 57|||||||
|4|Parable of the Hidden Treasure||||Thomas 109|||||||
|5|Parable of the Pearl||||Thomas 76|||||||
|6|Parable of Drawing in the Net||||Thomas 8:1|||||||
|7|The Rich Fool||||Thomas 63|||||||
|8|Parable of the Faithful Servant||||Thomas 103 Didache 16:1a|||||||
|9|Parable of the Mustard Seed||||Thomas 20:2|||||||
|10|Parable of the Leaven||||Thomas 96|||||||
|11|Parable of the Lost Sheep||||Thomas 107 Gospel of Truth 31-32|||||||
|12|Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen||||Thomas 65|||||||
|13|Parable of the Talents||||Nazoraeans 18|||||||

## Related pages

- Gospel harmony
- Miracles of Jesus
- Parable
- Parables in the Qur'an

## Further reading

- Lisco, Friedrich Gustav and Fairbairn, Patrick, 1850. _The Parables of Jesus_ Daniels and Smith Publishers, Philadelphia
- Oxenden, Ashton, 1864. _The parables of our Lord_ William Macintosh Publishers, London.
- Snodgrass, Klyne, 2008. _Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus_ William B Eerdmans Publishing Co
- Sumner, John Bird, 1850. _The parables of our lord and saviour Jesus Christ_ C. Cox Publishers, London.
- Trinder, William Martin, 1816.  _Sermons on the parables of Jesus Christ_ Baldwin, Cradock and Joy Publishers, London.

## Other websites

- List of biblical parables
- Another list, slightly different and only of the synoptic Gospels
- Jewish Encyclopedia: Parable
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Parable
- PBS: Frontline: From Jesus to Christ: The Parables
- Parables of Jesus at WikiChristian