Parables are stories or cameo-like pictures given by Jesus so that the listener might better understand a great truth of God. These stories would take what was common to reveal what was uncommon; they would disarm and then surprise. Often, they were about truths that had been previously ignored by Jesus‘ listeners through deliberate blindness or dullness of spirit. Jesus used the stories, knowing that His teachable followers would learn, but the hard-hearted would hear and not understand. Parables cause us to think, to ponder, to question – “where do I fit into the story?”
A preparatory thought as we approach these truths is to be ready to STRETCH. We need to allow God to stretch both our minds and our hearts, which may mean we need to let go of the security of an unexamined faith. We will be stretched in our human ideas of love, justice, mercy, devotion, and fair play. We need to stretch in advance by loosening the grip on our preferences and prejudices so we are open to a deeper understanding of God and ourselves uncovered in the Parables of Jesus, which break right through pretense to reality. Get ready to STRETCH.