Parables, by their very nature, are not easy to understand… at least, not at first.

A parable is a unique type of story designed to promote observation, meditation, and action. A parable that does not invite this sort of deep thinking and eventual active response to the meaning contained within the story is not a parable after all.

I was listening to a podcast on Jesus’s parables and, as the host introduced the episode by giving a quick rundown of what was going to be discussed—as all good hosts do—he said something that caught my ear. While setting up the importance of Jesus’s parables he referenced a place in Mark’s gospel where the evangelist writes about Jesus’s teaching style and this host said, “It even says specifically that when Jesus taught the masses…he taught exclusively in parables.”