What Jesus Taught in Parables.1

Jesus taught in parables. Parables are metaphors, similes, and stories which are comparative in nature. The word “parable” literally means to “lay something alongside of something else,” for the sake of comparing the one with the other, like Shakespeare’s poem, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”. The point of the comparison is to increase our understanding of the former by comparing it with the latter. To say for a Biblical example that “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God” (Psalm 42:1), sharpens and intensifies our understanding of the depth of our desire for God.

Today I begin a series on “What Jesus Taught in the Parables.”