Modern audiences often fail to grasp the profound relationship ancient cultures had with stories and storytelling. This disconnect leads us to miscategorize Jesus’ parables as little more than helpful public speaking tools, inspirational anecdotes, or fireside chats. We see them as an optional appendix to the “real work” of Christian ministry rather than as integral to his message.

This misunderstanding causes us to overlook key aspects of Jesus’ storytelling.

• First, when we treat stories as mere tools for communication, we assume their purpose is to clarify, simplify, and make truths more relatable. But Jesus’ parables often did the opposite. Instead of making his message easier to understand, he used stories to obscure truths, presenting them as riddles and mysteries. He spoke in parables so that they might not understand.

  For this reason, the church errs when it assumes the primary goal of teaching is to make everything clear. Clarity is sometimes essential, even paramount. Yet truth is often oblique, requiring effort and contemplation to uncover. If truth were always as easy to digest as cheese puffs, it wouldn’t lead to real wisdom. Truth comes to us as a story or a riddle because it demands engagement, reflection, and growth.

• Second, Jesus’ parables point to the metaphorical nature of reality itself. Reality is not merely material; it is a network of deeper meanings. Faith is like a mustard seed. The kingdom of God is like a hidden treasure, a pearl of great price, or yeast in dough. These metaphors reveal the interconnectedness of all things, subverting the fragmented way we often perceive the world.

  For Jesus, everything was part of a unified whole—a divine poem held together in Christ. Reality, then, is not just what we see but what it signifies, a layered tapestry of meaning that invites us into the mystery of God.