1. Don’t treat parables like allegory.
An allegory is most often completely filled with symbolic meaning.
Every detail means something that can be traced to the overriding
principle that is being illuminated. Parables usually have one basic,
central meaning. Trying to oversymbolize them can have the effect of
tearing them apart. A person doesn’t understand the beauty of a flower
by disassembling it. Like a blossom, a parable is best understood by
seeing it in its simple and profound entirety.
2. The Rule of Three.
Like all good storytelling, parables usually follow the Rule of
Three. Do you remember the stories you heard as a child—such as “The
Three Little Pigs” and “The Three Bears”? Both of these stories are
filled with more “threes”: three wolves, three beds, three bowls of
porridge. Jesus did this often in the telling of the parables. And is it
any wonder that many parables deliver three important truths or that
most sermons rest on three important points? Keep Reading >>>
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