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- To fulfill the prophecy: Jesus fulfilled every prophecy about His life, ministry, death, burial, and resurrection.
- To reveal the truth: “And the disciples came and said to Him, ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’ He answered and said to them, ‘because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them, it has not been given’’ (Mt. 13:10-11).
- To conceal the truth: Not everyone was intended to understand Christ’s message. He skillfully used parables to throw curve balls and confuse those who were not open to truth. Parables have a unique way of withdrawing the light from those who love darkness. They have an element of mystery, forcing the listener to meditate on them to fully fathom their meaning. The casual listener is left baffled, hearing the superficial story but failing to grasp the underlying truths conveyed.
- To illustrate truth: Parables provide examples of how truth applies to everyday life. When a lawyer asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” He responded with the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk. 10:29-36). In it, Jesus redefined the term “neighbor” as any person of any race who is in need, not just a person who lives nearby, and He showed how true neighbors treat others.
- To make truth relevant and practical
- To captivate people’s attention: Jesus avoided dry, dull sermons on the nuances of the law. Instead, He told interesting stories that captured people’s attention and imagination. People were “astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Mk. 1:22).
- To enable His audience to retain His message:
- To expose His enemies’ wrong motives: In the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Lu. 15:1-3, 25-32), Jesus included the “older brother” to rebuke the Pharisees for their holier-than-thou attitude toward sinners. He used the Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Lu. 16:14-15, 19-31) to expose their greed and apathy for the poor. Jesus told the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (Lu. 18:9-14) to confront the self-righteous and to prove a repentant heart is better than a religious show.[1]
[1] ‘8 Reasons Jesus Preached in Parables’, Daily Mountain Eagle, accessed 3 March 2021, https://mountaineagle.com/stories/8-reasons-jesus-preached-in-parables,25637.
