Why did Jesus speak in parables? Throughout the Gospels of the New Testament, the gospel writers depict Jesus speaking in parables to a group of people regarding the Kingdom of Heaven. Parables are insightful, concrete stories that are told orally to evoke a key theme or point about life. Jesus uses parables (probably) because the language for the most part is easy to understand and his audience included a wide variety of persons with different backgrounds and lives. The parable I will be focusing on is the Prodigal Son about a son leaving home and squandering all his money that his father had willed to him. He finally has a self-revelation period while "dining" with the swine, and he finally makes the decision to go home and ask for his father's forgiveness.
The significance of this parable can be seen in the three major characters of the story (the father, the elder son, and the prodigal son). Each person in the story has a function that depicts real life circumstances. The father seems for the most part to be a sincere and believable character. He gave his younger son what he demanded with no ill feelings or contempt, and he knows that he has lost his son. If I were to lose a son to a situation like this, I am not too sure how I would act. When the prodigal son returns home, dirty and forlorn, the father reacts by running to greet the son whom he thought "was dead, but now is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found" (Luke 15:24). This coincides with his willingness to accept his son again as his son, and celebrate this joyous occasion of his return.
