Parable, << PAR uh buhl, >> is a brief story, proverb, or saying that expresses a moral. Most parables illustrate difficult or mysterious ideas through situations that can be easily understood.
Almost all parables express religious ideas, and the Bible includes many such stories. For example, the Old Testament contains a parable told by Nathan to King David. A rich man had many sheep, but a poor man had only one. The rich man wanted to feed a traveler who called at his door. To do so, he killed the poor man’s only sheep, rather than take one from his own flock. Nathan was actually comparing the rich man with David, who had married another man’s wife (II Sam. 12:1-7).
The best-known parables are those of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Jesus used simple, everyday situations to express such ideas as the Kingdom of God, the proper use of wealth, and the nature of prayer. For example, he compared Judgment Day to a fisherman’s net cast into the sea (Matt. 13:47-50). The net caught all kinds of fish. But after it was pulled to shore, the edible fish were kept and the bad-tasting ones were thrown away. Jesus was saying that on Judgment Day, people who have been saved from damnation will likewise be separated from the damned.
