Parable

The term signals that the Good Samaritan story — one of history's most recognized parables — is about to reframe the entire conversation about who deserves love.

The midnight-friend parable is referenced here as the setup Jesus uses before pivoting to the direct Ask-Seek-Knock promise, grounding the teaching in an everyday social scenario.

Jesus deploys a parable here to make his warning about greed concrete and personal — the story of the rich fool puts a human face on the abstract danger of stockpiling for yourself rather than being rich toward God.

This parable of the fruitless fig tree is told to give the crowd a concrete image of what Jesus's urgency about repentance actually looks like — patient care extended, but with a real deadline approaching.

Jesus tells two parables during this dinner — one about seating arrangements and one about a great banquet — each designed to expose the social and spiritual games being played by his audience.

This parable is the puzzling one — a story about a dishonest manager who gets commended — designed to unsettle listeners and force them to ask what shrewd, urgent faithfulness would look like in their own lives.

This parable of the servant and master is used to challenge the disciples' assumptions about recognition and reward, teaching that faithful service to God carries no entitlement to praise.

This parable about the persistent widow is unusual because Jesus states its purpose upfront — to teach that his followers should pray continually and never lose heart while awaiting justice.

This parable is Jesus's direct response to end-times excitement in the crowd — it resets expectations by teaching that the king's return is delayed and servants are accountable for what they do in the meantime.

The parable of the blind guides is used here as a bridge into the log-and-speck teaching — illustrating that a person with unaddressed blind spots cannot reliably lead or correct someone else.

The parable of the two debtors is Jesus's tactical move to get Simon to articulate the principle of proportional love before Jesus applies it to the scene unfolding right in front of them.

The parable is the subject of the disciples' question here — they want to know what it means, and Jesus unpacks each soil type as a different kind of response to hearing God's word.

Parables are under discussion here as Jesus defends the form itself — explaining that these stories aren't obstacles to understanding but instruments that reveal the condition of the listener's heart.

The lost sheep parable is told here to contrast God's pursuit of the vulnerable with the world's tendency to cut losses — every wandering 'little one' is worth leaving the ninety-nine to find.

Jesus deploys a parable here to make a point that resists direct argument — the story of vineyard workers forces listeners to feel the offense of grace before they can reason their way around it.

The parables land with devastating clarity at the chapter's close — the leaders understand these stories were about them all along, turning what began as illustrative teaching into direct accusation.

This parable of the wedding banquet is Jesus's sharpest yet — it depicts the religious establishment as guests who not only declined but killed the king's messengers, and it ends with a warning about taking the invitation seriously.

The parable form returns here as Jesus centuries later uses the same cedar-and-birds imagery to describe the Kingdom of Heaven — linking Ezekiel's allegory directly to the messianic promise.

The term is used here to contrast with what God is doing in this chapter — notably, there is no parable, no story, no metaphor. God's appeal to repent is unusually stripped-down and direct.

Parables are explicitly set aside here — God signals a rhetorical shift, abandoning figurative speech to state the coming destruction of Jerusalem in direct, unavoidable terms.

The parable here is the cooking pot metaphor — an extended domestic image where the pot is Jerusalem, the choicest meat is its people, and the fire is the Babylonian siege about to consume them.

The watchman illustration is clarified here as more than a story — God explicitly tells Ezekiel it is his literal job description, making the stakes of faithful versus silent prophecy personally binding.

This specific parable decodes the entire history of Israel's leadership — the vineyard is Israel, the tenants are its leaders, the servants are the prophets, and the beloved son is Jesus himself standing before them.

The parables are referenced here as part of the larger arc that culminates in this chapter — all of Jesus' teaching was leading toward this moment of ultimate sacrifice.

Parables are the subject of the disciples' question here — they're asking Jesus why he doesn't just speak plainly, and his answer reframes parables as a revealer of spiritual hunger, not a barrier.

Parables are listed here alongside healings and exorcisms as part of the mounting evidence that something extraordinary is happening through Jesus, alarming the religious establishment.

Parable is referenced here to distinguish Song of Solomon from the kind of story that hides a lesson inside a narrative — the point being that this book is not a coded message but a direct, unfiltered celebration of human intimacy.

The term Parable is invoked here to contrast with what this chapter is not — the author is orienting the reader by clarifying that Song of Solomon 4 is neither a teaching story nor an allegory, but a direct, unadorned love poem.

Parable is mentioned here to contrast what Song of Solomon 7 is not — this chapter isn't a teaching story with a moral, but raw, unfiltered love poetry celebrating human intimacy.