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By Mark Goodacre

Jesus' parables are among the most memorable and distinctive elements in the Gospels. Jesus uses these striking short stories to explain the extraordinary, unexpected and apocalyptic nature of God's activity. They often begin with the words, "The kingdom of God is like..." and end with some kind of declaration of the unusual nature of God's reign. The parables press home the idea that in God's kingdom, things work differently. They subvert people's expectations. The Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16), for example, tells of workers who were hired at the end of the day being paid the same amount as those who were hired at the beginning of the day, and it ends with the bizarre statement that "The last will be first and the first will be last" (Matt. 20:16). Another tells the story of how invitations to a royal banquet are refused, and those from the highways and by-ways are invited instead (Matt. 22:1-14).

The most famous of Jesus' parables, the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), has the same underlying subversion of expectations, where a half-dead man in the road is not rescued by the priest and the Levite, but instead is looked after by the despised Samaritan, the last person the hearers would have expected to help. In its first century Jewish context, the point may be that the priest and the Levite are on the way to the Temple and cannot risk incurring corpse impurity by touching the half-dead man, an attitude the parable implicitly criticizes.

The word translated "parable" (parabolē in Greek) is used both of pithy one-sentence similes like that found in Luke 6:39, "A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?", and the narratives in which there are multiple points of connection between the story and its meaning. The first three Gospels (the "Synoptic Gospels"), but not John, feature many parables, and several of the same parables are found in parallel versions in Matthew, Mark and Luke. Thus the Parable of the Talents (Matt. 25:14-30), in which the Master entrusts five talents, two talents and one talent to three servants is told in a slightly different version as the Parable of the Pounds in Luke 19:11-27, where ten servants are entrusted with a pound each.

The point of the parables often seems to be the attempt to make plain something that is otherwise obscure and difficult to grasp, and the hearers are sometimes depicted as immediately understanding what Jesus is saying (e.g. Mark 12:12). On other occasions, however, the parables appear have an enigmatic, riddling quality, and the disciples come to Jesus looking for explanations (Mark 4:10-12).

Parables in the Gospels

While there are many similarities, each Gospel also has its distinctive emphases. The parable collection in Mark 4 features stories clustered around agricultural imagery. The Sower is a fine example of an allegory in which each element in the parable (Mark 4:1-9) is subsequently explained (Mark 4:13-20) in a point-by-point correspondence. The Sower is Jesus, the seed is "the word" and different types of people respond to his preaching in different ways, ways that one can see fulfilled in the way that people will respond to Jesus in the Gospel.

Matthew's parables often feature royal imagery, and regularly have judgement scenarios, with rewards for the righteous and punishments for the wicked, as when, in the Parable of the Wedding Banquet, the miscreant goes to the place of "weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 22:1-16) or when, in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matt. 25:31-46), there is a great separation on the day of judgement, and rewards and punishments are assigned on the basis of whether or not people have fed the hungry, clothed the naked and visited those in prison.

Luke's Jesus is the master storyteller and his parables are skilfully woven stories with real human interest. The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) is a perfectly crafted allegory about the sinner who squanders his rich inheritance, the father who forgives him, calling a feast and lavishing gifts upon him, and his brother who begrudges such undeserved favour. One short story skilfully interweaves themes of repentance and forgiveness, divine grace and familial intimacy, and the failure to respond appropriately.

The bulk of the parables might be described as extended metaphors, narratives constructed to explain God's dealings with his people. On several occasions, though, Jesus tells "example stories" that serve to warn the hearers about the dangers of accumulating riches, as when the Rich Fool (Luke 12:13-21) plans a sumptuous life of plenty but dies before he can enjoy any of it, or when the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) have their roles reversed in the after life, and Lazarus, who was destitute in life, is carried by angels to Abraham's bosom.

The Tenants in the Vineyard

Perhaps the most poignant of all the parables is one told by Jesus in the lead up to the Passion (Mark 12:1-12), the Tenants in the Vineyard, which features in the first episode of The Passion. It is poignant because it is both autobiographical and prophetic, looking back over the history of God's relationship with his people, and forward to the death and resurrection of Jesus.

As at the baptism (Mark 1:11) and the transfiguration (Mark 9:7), so here, the key figure in the parable is called the beloved son. Mark is depicting Jesus in a unique, intimate relationship with his father. But the parable tells us something more. It associates Jesus' identity as Son of God with a special destiny. He is one who will suffer and die an appalling death, subsequently to be vindicated by God in resurrection.