The Lutheran Hour

"Why Jesus Told Parables"

#93-48
Presented on The Lutheran Hour on August 2, 2026
Speaker: Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler
Copyright 2026 Lutheran Hour Ministries

Text: Mark 4

You remember that story—the one about the “Good Samaritan” who saw the guy who had been mugged, left for dead on the side of the road? Other people passed him by, but the Samaritan stopped and helped. Or what about the story with the son—the one who demanded that his father give him his inheritance, and then he took all that money, skipped town, and wasted it on wild living? And then after he was dead broke, returned to his father to see if he would somehow take him back. You don’t have to be a religious person to recognize these stories.

And those are just two of them. There are dozens and dozens more: vivid, memorable stories about extravagant wedding banquets, and lost sheep, and tiny seeds that earn a thousand-percent return on investment. These stories have been speaking to people for generations, sort of like how Pixar movies have spoken to this generation, movies like Toy Story and Finding Nemo and Up. But these stories, the ones that I was mentioning, they’ve been around for a couple of thousand years. This kind of story is normally called a “parable.” A parable is a story that aims to say something true about life. And these stories that I mentioned, they all originate from one Person. The most talked-about Person in human history: Jesus of Nazareth. So why did Jesus tell parables? Well, who doesn’t like a good story? Stories connect. A story can take something complicated and make it simple. All good communicators tell stories. So why wouldn’t Jesus use them?

But if we thought that Jesus told stories only to be an engaging communicator, then it might be difficult for us to understand what happened to Him eventually, you know, the whole crucifixion and all. See, people who did dedicate their lives to telling moving stories, connecting with people, and emotionally enriching their lives, they don’t normally get the death penalty. The authors of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books end up on bestseller lists, not death row, So, Jesus, with all His engaging and vivid stories—how did He end up getting crucified?

Before we try to answer that, how about we let Jesus speak for Himself? Listen to some of His parables recorded in one of His biographies in the New Testament, the Gospel according to Mark. And as you listen, ask yourself, why did Jesus tell parables? It starts like this:

Again, Jesus went out and began to teach beside the Sea of Galilee, and a giant crowd began to gather around Him, so that He got into a boat and stationed Himself out on the sea. And the whole crowd was on the shore facing the sea. And He began to teach them many things in parables. And in His teaching, He was saying, “Listen. Look. The farmer went out to sow his seed. And it happened as he was sowing some of the seed fell along the path, and the birds came and gobbled it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much earth, and straightway it sprang up because the earth was shallow. And when the sun came up, it was scorched. And since it had no root, it withered. Other seed fell into the weeds, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it produced no grain. And other seeds fell into the good earth, the rich earth, and they proceeded to produce grain, growing and increasing and bearing in one case 30 times more, in another case 60, and in another case 100 times more than what was sewn.” And He continued to say, “Whoever has ears to hear, listen.”

And when He was alone, those who were around Him, along with the twelve disciples, began to ask Him about the parables. And He said to them, “To you is already given the mystery of the rule and reign of God. But to those on the outside, it’s all in parables, so that they are looking and they look, but they do not see. And they are hearing and they hear, but they do not understand. Otherwise, they would turn and be forgiven.”

And He continued to say to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The farmer is sowing the Word. Some people are like those along the path where the Word is being sown. When they hear, Satan, the adversary, straightway comes and takes away the Word that was sown into them. Others are like those sown on the rocky ground. They are the ones who when they hear the Word straightaway receive it with excitement. But since they have no root in themselves, they endure only for a while. When trouble comes or persecution because of the Word, straightway they stumble and fall. Others are like those sown among the thorns. They are the ones who have heard the Word, but the cares of this present age, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires that come in with everything else choke the Word, so that it proves fruitless. But the ones that were sown on the good earth, the rich earth, they’re the ones who hear the Word and receive it and produce a crop 30, 60, 100 times more than what was sown.”

And He continued to say to them, “A lamp is not brought in to be put under a basket or a bed, is it? Is it not brought in to be put on a lampstand? Because nothing is hidden except to be brought into plain view. Nothing is concealed except to be brought to light. Whoever has ears to hear, listen up, but pay attention what you listen to. Because with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and more will be added to you, so that the one who has more will be given, but to the one who has not, even what he has will be taken from him.”

And He went on to say, “The rule and reign of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. And he sleeps and he rises day and night, and the seed sprouts and grows. How? He does not know. The earth brings forth on its own automatically. First the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain and the ear is ripe, he sends forth the harvesters, because the harvest has come.”

And He went on saying, “To what can we compare the rule and reign of God and with what parable shall we present it? It is like a grain of mustard seed which, when it’s sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the ground. Yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants. And it sends out great branches so that the birds of the air can find shelter in its shade.”

With many parables like this, He would publicly speak the message to them, just as they were able to hear. And He would not speak to them without a parable. But when He was alone, with His own disciples, He would explain everything.

Now on that same day, when evening had come, He says to His disciples, “Let’s go across to the other side of the sea.” And after they dismissed the crowd, they took Him with them in the boat, because He was in the boat, and there were other boats with Him. And then it happened, a furious wind storm and the waves are beginning to break into the boat, so that now the boat’s starting to fill with water, but He was in the back of the boat on a cushion asleep. And they wake Him, “Teacher,” they say, “Teacher, does it not concern You that we are perishing?” And He awoke and rebuked the wind and says to the sea, “Quiet. Be still.” And the wind ceased and everything was completely calm. “Why are you so afraid?” He said to them. “Do you still have no faith?” And they were filled with great fear, and they started saying to one another, “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

That’s from the Gospel according to Mark, chapter 4.

So, why did Jesus tell parables? We’ve already considered one answer to this question. We said that He taught in parables to connect with people. There’s some truth to that answer. People came out in droves to hear Jesus talk. They walked for days. They skipped meals. They endured hardship. They exposed themselves to danger just so that they could stand on a crowded seashore out in the middle of nowhere and listen to this Man talk. Yes, Jesus was an effective communicator. You don’t get to be the most talked-about Person in history by being dull and boring.

But if you’ve been listening to the Gospel of Mark with us, you’ll know that Jesus’ storytelling is just part of His program. Sometimes He would speak parabolically and figuratively, but He would also speak directly and literally, with authority. He could preach a simple, straightforward message like “Repent!” that is, “Turn around. Follow Me, because the Kingdom, the rule and reign of God, is here.” He said to the demon, “Be gone.” He said to the sick, “Be healed.” He said to the storm, “Be still.” He said to the sinner, “I forgive you your sins.” And that last one really got the religious leaders stirred up, because they knew that not just anyone can talk like that. No one can forgive sins but God alone, they said. It was upsetting to them because Jesus wasn’t just telling stories. He was speaking in the Name of God, with the authority of God, in the place of God, as the Son of God. And that’s the kind of talk that can get a storyteller crucified.

So, it’s not enough to say that Jesus told stories to connect with people. That might be the mission of Pixar or Disney, but not Jesus. Jesus’ stories don’t just connect, they point. The crowds connected with Jesus’ stories. But for the disciples, these stories pointed them somewhere. The stories pointed them to the mystery of the coming kingdom of God, the rule and reign of God, to forgiveness, and a restored relationship with God. And the longer they were with Jesus, the more they saw that He wasn’t like any other teacher. You heard them. “What kind of Person is this?” They asked. “Even the wind and the waves obey Him.”

When a teacher tells a story, it’s common for the student to ask, “What’s the point?” Because that’s what teachers do. They tell stories to make a point, an illustration of some topic or theme or lesson. But with the New Testament parables, it’s Jesus Himself. He’s the point. He is the lamp on the stand that gives light to the house. He’s the farmer out in the field laboring for the harvest. He is the Word that is sown into the ground to die so that He can rise and send out His branches, so that we might find shelter in His shade.

So far, we’ve talked through two answers to this question, “Why did Jesus tell parables?” And we’ve discovered that Jesus’ parables not only connect, they also point. But there’s more.

When we listened to Mark 4, did you notice that Jesus Himself gave a reason why He teaches in parables? He said that His stories are designed to divide. Pixar movies are designed to connect with crowds, but Jesus’ stories divide crowds and draw in disciples. The crowd was captivated by Jesus’ stories. They wanted part of what He has to offer: a life lesson, a moving story. And when they got what they wanted, they might say, “Oh, that was a good story. He made a good point,” and then they go on with their lives.

But the disciples linger with Jesus long after the crowd has lost interest. And the parables are designed to do this. They draw you in, out of the lines of the crowd and into the circle of disciples. They prompt you to ask questions: “What did that mean, Jesus? What was the point?” See, the crowd came for a short while, but the disciple is drawn to Jesus for life.

I heard a parable once about a boy who was captivated, watching a butterfly. He saw it floating almost effortlessly, gliding from flower to flower. He’d never seen anything like it before—the bright color of its wings, the fluid yet unpredictable flight path, the way it landed gracefully and balanced on a single flower petal. And he was so interested in it that he wanted to keep it and show it to his friends. So he caught it and he pulled it apart, and he divided its wings and put them in one pile over here, and its antennae in a pile over here, and its legs and body in another pile. But when he did that, he discovered that he had lost something.

Jesus’ stories are captivating. Even 2,000 years after He told them, they still glide almost effortlessly through cultures in different times and places. They land in our imaginations and pollinate our thoughts with new ways of seeing ourselves in the world. And sometimes we might be inclined to take some lesson from them like the soldiers who divided up His clothing at the foot of His cross. We might pick a pile and leave. But if you do that, you will have lost everything.

But if you stay with Jesus and talk with Him—if you go with Him and ride out the storm with Him, all the way to the cross and the empty tomb with Him, like His first disciples, you will know that He is much more than an engaging communicator. He is the Good Samaritan who revived us when we were dead in our sins on the side of the road. He is the forgiving father who welcomes the prodigals back home. Pixar movies give life lessons. Jesus gives life, life with God, forgiveness, and salvation.

So, would you talk to Him with me? Lord Jesus, even the wind and the waves obey You. Draw me out of the crowd and into the circle of Your disciples so that I may have forgiveness and life in You because You live and You reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen.

Reflections for August 2, 2026
Title: Why Jesus Told Parables

Mark Eischer: Welcome to “Archives August” where we revisit classic messages from previous seasons. The parables of Jesus will be our theme this month and, to get things started, here’s Lutheran Hour Speaker, Dr. Michael Zeigler.

Mike Zeigler: Hi, I’m Pastor Mike Ziegler and welcome to “Archives August.” I am joined by Rev. Dr. David Schmitt here as a conversation partner in the studio. Thanks for being here, David.

David Schmitt: Oh, thank you for inviting me, Michael.

Mike Zeigler: David and I are going to be your fellow listeners, your conversation partners as we revisit some of these sermons from our archives this August. And the message we’re going to hear today is one that I delivered five years ago, and it focused on the purpose of Jesus’ parables, the “why” He told parables.

David Schmitt: Good for us to think about what a parable is. They’re such intriguing stories, and I think it’s wonderful that we’re taking time to listen to a whole set of parables and think through how they interact with us.

Mike Zeigler: The “why” and the “what,” what a parable is. Think about that as you hear this sermon.

(Conversation resumes after sermon)

Mark Eischer: You’re listening to The Lutheran Hour. It’s “Archives August” and that was Dr. Michael Zeigler with a message that first aired in January 2021. You can find other past messages at our website, lutheranhour.org. Now Dr. Zeigler continues his conversation with our guest, Dr. David Schmitt.

Mike Zeigler: Thanks, Mark. So we’re back here with Rev. Dr. David Schmitt, a professor at Concordia Seminary, one of my professors, and we’re just so grateful that you can be here to talk with us.

David Schmitt: Oh, thank you for inviting me.

Mike Zeigler: The sermon is about “Why parables?” but we wanted to, in this conversation, focus on the “what” of parables. In other words, the definition of a parable. So David, what are some possible definitions of a parable? We’ve all heard them.

David Schmitt: I think one of the most common ones, which is, it’s an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.

Mike Zeigler: Something about everyday life that points to life with God.

David Schmitt: There was a definition by C.H. Dodd and his definition was that a parable is a metaphor, or simile, drawn from nature, or common life. So one point is that it’s something that isn’t surprising to you. It’s just kind of the natural way life is. Sowers sowing seed, a son is struggling with his father in an inheritance. So it’s just a story of common life. Then it arrests the hearer by its vividness or strangeness. There’s something about the story that isn’t quite right.

Mike Zeigler: So maybe in the parable of the sower, why is this sower throwing seed on the road and in the weeds? And that’s the arresting strangeness.

David Schmitt: Get that guy out of there and get somebody else who knows how to sow! Right? And then all of a sudden Jesus is like, “Yeah, the sower is God.” And you’re like, “What?”

Mike Zeigler: Yeah. The arresting strangeness is something that this definition adds that that earthly story with a heavenly meaning doesn’t quite … it overlooks or bypasses it.

David Schmitt: Right. It bypasses it. You’re drawn in by surprise. So that earthly story, the earthly story in my mind is kind of a trick. It makes you assume you understand what’s going on.

Mike Zeigler: Yeah. I already know this point.

David Schmitt: And that’s how we live, all the time. I know what’s going to happen at that party. I know what’s going to happen when my kids grow up. I know they’re going to get married, blah, blah, blah. And then all of a sudden God throws one in there and it’s like, “Oh my gosh, I didn’t see that coming.” And then you’re like, “What’s going on around here?” And that’s what’s happening.

Mike Zeigler: How is this definition helpful?

David Schmitt: Well, I think it’s helpful on the one hand because it acknowledges that we all think we know what’s going on. We like to think we’re in control of things. And so Jesus offers us a story that we assume we understand. And, you know, we’re kind of like, “Oh yeah, I get a sower sowing.” And then it’s the story itself [that] shocks us, arrests us. And so God’s doing something to us through that story. It’s not us making the story into something that we want it to be as instead God saying, “Hey, wait up before you think you understand everything, notice this.” And then it invites us to think about a much larger picture about the kingdom of God, as you were saying in the sermon.

Mike Zeigler: I think as a Christian who’s heard these stories their whole life long, some of that shock maybe has worn off or we don’t even notice it. And so that’s why I see this definition could be helpful is that now I can start trying to understand, well, maybe how would this story have been shocking to the first hearers and I can recover some of that.

David Schmitt: God is so deep and so rich and so mysterious that He works through His Word on us. And so these parables cause us to come before God humbly, recognizing our own limits and our lack of understanding and yet also expectant, recognizing that God doesn’t do things without reasons. And so we come before Him, humble and expectant that He’s got something there for us.

Mike Zeigler: That we would linger, like the disciples do in Mark 4, that we would stay and ask questions and know that there’s always something more we can discover and learn from Jesus, that He’s not this purveyor of entertaining tales or something.

David Schmitt: You know that line that you read in the Gospel of Mark about seeing they do not see, hearing they do not hear, lest they turn and be forgiven. That’s from Isaiah. And that’s Isaiah’s call to preach a judgment upon Israel. And then Isaiah responds to God and says, “How long?” And God says, “Until everything is destroyed, until everything is uprooted and cut down and all you have is a stump.” And then you go to Isaiah 11 and that stump bears fruit, right? And so you think about it, it’s really interesting, isn’t it, when you think about it, that parables are this really weird way of talk that happens before the crucifixion. And after the crucifixion, it stops because after the crucifixion, that’s when the new growth has come. Isaiah says, “How long do I preach this way, Lord?” And God says, “Until everything’s destroyed and all you have left is a stump.” And then when that new life comes, now it’s not a time to hide things in mystery. Now it’s a time to proclaim them in clarity. And so their parables are really beautiful in that sense.

Mike Zeigler: Well, we invite you to keep listening with us. That’s going to be the theme for these messages in August is the parables of Jesus. So please come back next week and listen and David and I will meet here and listen with you.

Music Selections for this program:

“A Mighty Fortress” arr. Peter Prochnow. Used by permission.
“Crucifer” by Sydney H. Nicholson, arr. Peter Prochnow. Used by permission.
“O Living Bread from Heaven” From The Concordia Organist (© 2009 Concordia Publishing House) Used by permission.