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When Jesus was here on the earth, He spoke to different groups of people in different ways. To the self-righteous Pharisees and Sadducees, He was direct about their hypocrisy and self-righteousness. To the crowds, He taught plain and simple truths, and went about performing miracles to lend evidence of who He was. And to those who followed Him, including the disciples (who were all Israelites), He spoke in parables; but why? Why speak in puzzles to those most interested? The parables of Jesus are among the greatest and most picturesque lessons of His public ministry. A parable is a story about a familiar subject to teach an important moral or spiritual lesson. Many of Jesus' parables begin with wording such as, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard." There are also examples from everyday life to convey a spiritual truth such as the Parable of the Good Samaritan, which teaches love and mercy. The parables were used to: (1) Reveal truth (and mysteries) to those who were willing to hear and believe, and to (2) Conceal truth (and mysteries) from those who rejected truth (and Christ) because of the hardness of their hearts. While many became lost in the surface of His stories, true disciples could dig deeper and learn better how to walk with Christ. The focus of most parables was the kingdom the Messiah was establishing. He wanted his disciples to understand He was talking about a spiritual kingdom; one not of this world, as the Jewish people (and their blind leaders) were expecting, but rather one composed of all races and all people; and one saturated by love and compassion. This kingdom, many believe, was firmly established on Pentecost after His resurrection, and Christ was already seated upon its throne in heaven. (See Acts 2:29-33).
