The Power of Parables
Like every good teacher, Jesus had a favorite method he used to capture his pupils' attention and to effectively convey his points. Jesus' preferred teaching tool was the parable. Although well-known parables such as the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son are often simplified into children's stories, the ambiguous meanings and provocative content of many of the parables has continued to challenge modern readers, just as they engaged Jesus' original audiences two thousand years ago. Roughly one third of Jesus' teaching was done through parables. As Matthew suggests, "All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude; and without a parable spake he not unto them."
But modern ears have difficulty relating to the parables. The stories seem dustily quaint, events far removed from the present. What do we know about shepherds, sowing seeds, or laboring in a vineyard? What was commonplace and accessible to the shepherds, farm laborers, or vintners of Galilee is alien to us today. The only animals we tend are house pets and the only seed we scatter is grass seed.
Yet parables are still being used as teaching tools today, though in a somewhat different form. Listeners around the modern campfire (TV, movies, books) still yearn for a good story, but the difficulty of constructing a viable, interesting, and non-cliched parable will be confirmed by anyone who has tried it. Lesser talents than Jesus of Nazareth have opted instead for the sermon, the homily, or the fire-and-brimstone harangue that, while containing the desired principle, lacks the power to convince the heart of the hearer. The genius of Jesus' teaching was requiring his audience to participate actively in the story, pondering how the story elements applied to them.