THE PARABLES OF JESUS

Parable of the unforgiving servant

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (also known as Ungrateful Servant, Unmerciful Servant, or Wicked Servant appears in only one of the Canonical gospels of the New Testament. According to Matthew 18:21–35 it is important to forgive others as we are forgiven as illustrated unforgiving servant.
The Apostle Peter had asked how many times one should forgive, "Till seven times?" and Jesus answered, "Not seven times but seventy times seven" (Matthew 18:21-22). The context of this passage is Jesus teaching His disciples about the "kingdom of heaven." We can take some very important principles from this parable and apply them to our lives today.

The servant whose lord forgave him much, ten thousand talents, equivalent to several millions of dollars, was unwilling to forgive another servant who owed him a hundred denarii. A denarius was a day's wage and was worth approximately sixteen cents. Therefore, compared to what the first servant was forgiven, this was a very small amount. The principle here is, "the one forgiven much should forgive much." In other words, the principle of forgiveness is that grace or forgiveness to another is without limit. The disciples are not to count the number of times they forgive. Rather, as the parable teaches, they are to forgive much because God has forgiven much.

 The first servant had been forgiven all, and he then should have forgiven all. In like manner, a child of God by faith through Christ has had all sins forgiven.

Parable of the unforgiving servant

THE PARABLES OF JESUS

Parable of the Two Debtors

The Parable of the Two Debtors appears in only one of the Canonical gospels of the New Testament. According to Luke 7:36-50 Jesus uses the story of two debtors to explain that a woman loves him more than his host, because she has been forgiven of greater sins. This parable is told after his anointing. A similar anointing in other gospels may not refer to the same event, and this parable is not to be confused with the parable of the unforgiving servant, where a moneylender forgives the debts of two debtors, and the one with the larger debt loves the moneylender more.

One of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered into the Pharisee's house, and sat at the table. Behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that he was reclining in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of ointment. Standing behind at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, "This man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what kind of woman this is who touches him, that she is a sinner."

Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you."
He said, "Teacher, say on."
"A certain lender had two debtors. The one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they couldn't pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most?"
Simon answered, "He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most."
He said to him, "You have judged correctly." Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave me no kiss, but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. You didn't anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little." He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."
(Luke 7:36-39)

The parable does not seem to be an attack on Pharisees, but rather an attempt to teach Simon to see the woman as Jesus sees her. The description of the woman suggests that she is a known prostitute, although this inference is disputed. If she is a prostitute, her presence defiles the Pharisee's ritual purity.

Parable of the Two Debtors

THE PARABLES OF JESUS

Parable of the Good Samaritan

The parable of the Good Samaritan is mentioned in only one of the Canonical gospels. According to Luke 10:25-37 a traveller (who may or may not be Jewish) is beaten, robbed, and left half dead along the road. First a priest and then a Levite come by, but both avoid the man. Finally, a Samaritan comes by.
Samaritans and Jews generally despised each other, but the Samaritan helps the injured man.




(Luke 10:30-37) Jesus answered, "A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side.  In the same way a Levite also, when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled, came where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion, came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, and gave them to the host, and said to him, ‘Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return.’ Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?" He said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

That is exactly what Jesus teaches us to do, to love and help all people, treating every one of them as our neighbour. The Samaritan proves himself a neighbor by his unprejudiced mercy and compassion. Without distinction of race, nationality, or religion, the human being that we affect good or bad by our conduct is our neighbor. More specifically in light of this parable, he who needs our aid, no matter who he is, is our neighbor. The question, then, should not be "Who is my neighbor?" but "Are we neighborly?" Are we friendly, kind, helpful, considerate, caring, cooperative, amicable, merciful, and compassionate? Do we love our fellow human beings more than ourselves?

Parable of the Good Samaritan

THE PARABLES OF JESUS

Parable of the Prodigal Son

 
The Prodigal Son is also known as the Lost Son. It appears in only one of the Canonical gospels of the New Testament. In Luke 15:11-32 a younger son is given his inheritance. After wasting his fortune (the word 'prodigal' means 'wastefully extravagant'), the son returns home and repents.

The parable begins with a young man, the younger of two sons, who asks his father to give him his share of the estate. The parable continues by describing how the younger son travels to a distant country and wastes all his money in wild living. When a famine strikes, he becomes desperately poor and is forced to take work as a swineherd. When he reaches the point of envying the pigs he is looking after, he finally comes to his senses:
But when he came to himself he said, "How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough to spare, and I'm dying with hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.'"
He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
The son does not even have time to finish his rehearsed speech, since the father calls for his servants to dress him in a fine robe, a ring, and sandals, and slaughter the "fattened calf" for a celebratory meal. The older son, who was at work in the fields, hears the sound of celebration, and is told about the return of his younger brother. He is not impressed, and becomes angry:
But he answered his father, "Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this, your son, came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him."
The parable concludes with the father explaining that because the younger son had returned, in a sense, from the dead, celebration was necessary

The father's joy described in the parable reflects divine love, the "boundless mercy of God," and "God's refusal to limit the measure of his grace."
The request of the younger son for his share of the inheritance is "brash, even insolent" and "tantamount to wishing that the father were dead." His actions do not lead to success, and he eventually becomes an indentured servant, with the degrading job (for a Jew) of looking after pigs, and even envying them for the carob pods they eat. On his return, the father treats him with a generosity far more than he has a right to expect.
The older son, in contrast, seems to think in terms of "law, merit, and reward," rather than "love and graciousness." He may represent the Pharisees who were criticizing Jesus.

Parable of the Prodigal Son

THE PARABLES OF JESUS

Parable of the Lost Coin

The Parable of the Lost Coin appears in only one of the Canonical gospels of the New Testament. In Luke 15:8-10, a woman with ten silver coins (Greek drachmae) loses one. She then lights a lamp and sweeps her house until she finds it, rejoicing when she does:

This parable is a member of a trilogy on redemption that Jesus tells after the Pharisees and religious leaders accuse him of welcoming and eating with "sinners."


Or what woman, if she had ten drachma coins, if she lost one drachma coin, wouldn't light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she found it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost.' Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting." (Luke 15:8–10)

Parable of the Lost Coin

THE PARABLES OF JESUS

Parable of the Lost Sheep

In the Gospels of Matthew 18:12–14 and Luke 15:3–7, a shepherd leaves his flock in order to find the one sheep that is lost.
It is the first member of a trilogy about redemption that Jesus tells after the Pharisees and religious leaders accuse him of welcoming and eating with "sinners.





He told them this parable. "Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn't leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance." (Luke 15:3-7)

 The lost sheep represents a lost human being.
As in the analogy of the Good Shepherd, Jesus is the shepherd, thus identifying himself with the image of God as a shepherd searching for stray sheep in Ezekiel 34:11–16
he rejoicing of the shepherd with his friends represents God rejoicing with the angels. The image of God rejoicing at the recovery of lost sinners contrasts with the criticism of the religious leaders which prompted the parable.

Parables of Jesus

THE PARABLES OF JESUS

Parable of the Leaven

The Parable of the Leaven (also called the Parable of the Yeast) is one of the shorter parables of Jesus. 
It appears in two of the Canonical gospels of the New Testament. The differences between Gospels of Matthew 13:33 & Luke 13:20–21 are minor.  

(He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”) Matthew 13:33


Its theme is that of the Kingdom of Heaven growing from small beginnings. The final outcome is inevitable once the natural process of growth has begun.

 Matthew 13:33