Christianity, or any religious perspective for that matter, can often seem so out of touch with day-to-day realities. That was certainly true in Jesus’ day. Most people saw God and religion for the special few—but no real connection to their own lives. The sad thing is that they and we miss out—both in understanding the truth about our world and us and how both are created to operate. But even more importantly, we miss the truth about God—who He is and how He relates to us.

As the “expressed image of God,” Jesus brought those realities into language and pictures that the average person could understand called “parables”—if they really wanted to know. He used parables to be both windows into truth and mirrors to help us see the truth about ourselves.

The parables are very exciting and challenging portions of Scripture. They are like mystery novels; there is always something secret about them, something hidden—so they are enticing, challenging. There are clues given in each of the parables to lead us to the meaning of it.

These parables are given to encourage us to investigate and discover a hidden truth, which will be a real treasure to us, enriching our lives in fantastic ways when we act upon it. The study of the parables can be as exciting as reading a mystery novel—even more so—because you are always involved in the parable and there is often a surprise treasure that will be revealed in the end.