The Parables of Jesus Explained, With Their Meanings

The parables of Jesus are short stories about farmers, coins, sons and neighbors that say something about God. They are among the best known passages in the Bible, and also among the most often misread. This guide explains how to read a parable, walks through the main ones in the Gospels, and shows what each story meant to the people who first heard it.

You need no background. Every name, custom and term is explained when it appears.

What a parable is and how to read one

A parable is a short story from daily life that makes a point. The Greek word means "placed beside": one thing is laid next to another so you can see the second one more clearly. Jesus laid God's kingdom next to a seed, a coin, a lost sheep, a father with two sons.

His first listeners were mostly farmers, fishers, small traders and workers. They knew what it was to sow grain by hand, to lose a sheep, to wait for rain. The stories begin in a place they knew. Then something changes. A father runs, when a respectable man would not. A hated foreigner helps, when the priest walks by. The change is the point, and the surprise is what you should look for.

Some simple habits help when you read a parable.

Read the setting first. Who is Jesus talking to, and why did he tell the story? Luke 15 starts with tax collectors and sinners coming near to listen, and the Pharisees complaining. That tells you who the three stories in the chapter are for.
Find the turn. What is unexpected? What would a first listener have found shocking?
Look for one main point. Most parables make one main point. Do not try to give every detail a hidden meaning. The coin in a story is a coin.
Notice the ending. Some parables end with a clear answer. Others stop with a question, and the question is addressed to you.
Keep the Gospel in view. A parable should fit what the rest of the Gospel shows about Jesus.

The Gospels do not agree on how many parables there are, because scholars count them differently. Matthew, Mark and Luke have most of them. John has none in the same form, but he has pictures that work in a similar way, such as the shepherd and the vine.

The Sermon on the Mount in plain words

The Sermon on the Mount is not a set of parables, but it is the best place to start, because it shows the kind of life the parables point toward. Matthew places it early in the ministry of Jesus. He sits on a hillside with his disciples and a crowd listens, and he teaches for three chapters. Luke has a shorter version, set on a level place.

It opens with the Beatitudes, a list of short blessings. Each begins with the word "blessed". The word means something like "fortunate" or "favored by God", and it is said to the poor, the grieving, the gentle, and those who are hungry for what is right. A full reading of the list is in the Beatitudes explained.

The sermon then moves through several topics:

how to treat anger, promises and enemies, with the repeated phrase "You have heard that it was said ... but I tell you";
giving, praying and fasting without showing off;
trusting God over money, with the picture of birds and wild flowers that need no barns;
not judging others harshly;
the closing story of two builders, one on rock and one on sand.

In the middle sits the Lord's Prayer, the short prayer Jesus gives his disciples. Each line has a meaning that is easy to miss when you say it quickly. That is the subject of the Lord's Prayer explained line by line.

Seeds, soil and a kingdom that grows quietly

Many parables are about growth. In Mark 4 and Matthew 13, Jesus tells several in a row.

The sower

A farmer scatters seed by hand. Some falls on the path, and birds eat it. Some falls on rocky ground with thin soil, and the plants spring up and wither in the sun. Some falls among thorns, which choke it. Some falls on good soil and gives a large harvest.

Jesus explains it privately to his disciples. The seed is the word of God. The four soils are four ways people hear it. This is one of the few parables where the Gospel gives an explanation, which makes it a good model for how to read the others. A fuller look is in the Parable of the Sower.

Small beginnings

Jesus also compares the kingdom of God to a mustard seed, the smallest of the seeds a farmer would sow, which grows into a large garden plant where birds can nest. He compares it to yeast, which a woman mixes into a large amount of flour until it is all risen. The kingdom does not arrive with a loud noise. It grows quietly, and then it is large.

Luke has the same pattern of small things with surprising results. After a widow gives two small coins to the temple, Jesus says she gave more than the rich, because she gave everything she had.

The vineyard and the tenants

In another parable, a landowner plants a vineyard and rents it to tenant farmers. He sends servants to collect his share, and the tenants beat them. Finally he sends his son, and they kill him. The first hearers understood that the story was about their own leaders and about the prophets God had sent to Israel. The story is a hard one, and Jesus tells it in the last week in Jerusalem, in the temple.

Three lost things and one father

The three stories of Luke 15 belong together. The Pharisees and teachers of the law complain that Jesus welcomes sinners and eats with them. His reply is three parables about things that are lost and found.

The lost sheep. A shepherd has one hundred sheep and loses one. He leaves the ninety-nine in the open country and goes after it until he finds it. Then he puts it on his shoulders, goes home and invites his friends to celebrate. Jesus says there is joy in heaven over one person who turns back to God.
The lost coin. A woman has ten silver coins and loses one. She lights a lamp, sweeps the house and searches until she finds it. Then she calls her neighbors to celebrate. The coin was a small sum, perhaps part of a headdress or savings. The point is not the value, but the joy of finding.
The son who came home. A younger son asks his father for his share of the inheritance, which is like saying he wishes his father were dead. He goes to a far country, wastes the money, and ends up feeding pigs. For a Jewish listener, pigs were unclean animals, so this is the lowest place he could go. He decides to go home and ask to be a hired worker. While he is still far away, his father sees him, runs to him, hugs him and kisses him. He orders the best robe, a ring and a feast.

The older brother, who has stayed home and worked, is angry and will not go in to the party. The father goes out to him, too. The story ends without telling us whether he comes in. The question is left open for the Pharisees who were listening, and for you. See the Prodigal Son parable for the full walk-through.

The Good Samaritan

Earlier in Luke, a legal expert asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, and then asks who his neighbor is. Jesus answers with a story. A man is attacked on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, a steep and lonely road, and left half dead. A priest comes by and passes on the other side. A Levite, a temple assistant, does the same. Then a Samaritan, a member of a despised neighboring people, stops, treats his wounds, takes him to an inn and pays for his care.

Jesus then turns the question around. He does not ask who the neighbor is. He asks which of the three acted as a neighbor. The man has to answer, "The one who showed mercy." The story is explained in the Good Samaritan parable.

Other Luke parables

Luke also has a story of a rich man and a poor man named Lazarus, in which the roles are reversed after death, and a story of two men who go to the temple to pray, a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee thanks God that he is not like other people. The tax collector will not even look up and says, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." Jesus says the tax collector went home right with God.

Taken together, these stories give a surprising picture. God is like a shepherd who goes out, a woman who sweeps, a father who runs.

The pictures Jesus used for himself

In John's Gospel, Jesus uses short pictures to describe himself. They are called the "I am" sayings. They are not parables in the usual sense, but they work like them. He is the bread of life, the light of the world, the gate, the good shepherd, the true vine.

The shepherd picture is the best known. A shepherd in that country knew each sheep, led them from the front, called them by name, and was ready to face wolves. Jesus says the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, and contrasts him with a hired hand who runs away. This builds on a long tradition in the Scriptures, where God is the shepherd of his people, as in Psalm 23. You can read more in I am the Good Shepherd: what John 10 means.

Common mistakes readers make

Turning every detail into a code. In the Good Samaritan, the donkey and the oil may be just what a traveler would use. Do not build a theory from small details.
Forgetting the audience. The same story means different things when told to a crowd, to disciples or to critics.
Reading it as a rule for good behavior only. A parable usually says something first about God, and then about us.
Softening the shock. The younger son's request, the Samaritan's help and the tax collector's prayer were meant to surprise. If a parable feels comfortable, look again.
Ignoring the ending. Several parables end on a question. Stay with the question before looking for a lesson.
Skipping context. Read a few verses before and after. The setting often tells you the point.

Christian traditions read some parables differently, for example the rich man and Lazarus, or the details of the vineyard. Where they differ, a good reader notes it and keeps the main point in view.

Questions people ask

What is a parable in the Bible?

It is a short story from everyday life that teaches a truth about God and his kingdom. Jesus told most of them to explain what God is like and how his kingdom works.

Why did Jesus teach in parables?

Stories are easy to remember and hard to argue with. A parable lets a listener see something for themselves. Jesus also said that parables can be understood more fully by those who are willing to listen.

How many parables did Jesus tell?

It depends on how you count. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke contain somewhere between thirty and forty, depending on what is called a parable. Some are found in only one Gospel.

Which parable is the most famous?

Many people would say the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan, both found only in Luke.

Do the parables have one meaning?

Usually each has one main point. Some have more layers, and Christian traditions sometimes emphasize different aspects. The safest approach is to find the main point in the setting first.

Learn this passage in five minutes

The track "Lost and Found" follows the best loved parables that only Luke records: the Good Samaritan, the lost sheep and coin, the son who came home, the rich man and Lazarus, and the Pharisee and the tax collector. Each lesson reads one passage, explains the world around it and ends with three things to remember.