List of the parables of Jesus
Thirty-nine parables: Matthew's first, in his order; then the one only Mark tells; then the rest from Luke, in his order. When a parable is told in more than one Gospel, every place is listed.
| Parable | Where to read | What it means in one line |
|---|---|---|
| The Lamp under a Bushel | Matthew 5:14-16; Mark 4:21-25; Luke 8:16-18 | The light God gives you is meant to be seen, not hidden. |
| The Wise and Foolish Builders | Matthew 7:24-27; Luke 6:47-49 | A life built on doing Jesus' words stands when the storm comes. |
| New Cloth and New Wine | Matthew 9:16-17; Mark 2:21-22; Luke 5:36-39 | The new life Jesus brings will not fit inside old forms. |
| The Sower | Matthew 13:3-23; Mark 4:3-20; Luke 8:4-15 | God's word bears fruit in a heart that hears it, understands it and holds on. |
| The Wheat and the Tares | Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 | Good and evil grow side by side until the harvest, when God will separate them. |
| The Mustard Seed | Matthew 13:31-32; Mark 4:30-32; Luke 13:18-19 | God's kingdom starts tiny and grows beyond anyone's expectations. |
| The Leaven | Matthew 13:33; Luke 13:20-21 | The kingdom works quietly from within until it fills everything. |
| The Hidden Treasure | Matthew 13:44 | The kingdom is worth everything, and giving all for it is a joy. |
| The Pearl of Great Price | Matthew 13:45-46 | Finding the kingdom is finding the one thing worth more than all else. |
| The Net | Matthew 13:47-50 | The gospel gathers all kinds of people, and the end of the age will sort them. |
| The Lost Sheep | Matthew 18:12-14; Luke 15:3-7 | God goes after the one who wanders and rejoices to bring them home. |
| The Unforgiving Servant | Matthew 18:21-35 | People forgiven a debt they could never pay must forgive others. |
| The Laborers in the Vineyard | Matthew 20:1-16 | God's grace is generous; it is not a wage earned by hours worked. |
| The Two Sons | Matthew 21:28-32 | Doing the Father's will matters more than saying the right words. |
| The Wicked Tenants (Husbandmen) | Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19 | Rejecting God's messengers, and at last his Son, brings judgment. |
| The Wedding Feast (the King's Son) | Matthew 22:1-14 | God's invitation goes out to everyone, but guests must come on the King's terms. |
| The Budding Fig Tree | Matthew 24:32-35; Mark 13:28-31; Luke 21:29-33 | Read the signs of the times; Jesus' words will not pass away. |
| The Faithful and Wise Servant | Matthew 24:45-51; Luke 12:42-48 | Serve faithfully while the master is away, because he will come back. |
| The Ten Virgins | Matthew 25:1-13 | Be ready for Christ's return; readiness cannot be borrowed at the last minute. |
| The Talents | Matthew 25:14-30 | Use what God has entrusted to you; the fear that buries it is the real failure. |
| The Sheep and the Goats | Matthew 25:31-46 | What we do for the least of Jesus' brothers and sisters, we do for him. |
| The Seed Growing Secretly | Mark 4:26-29 | We sow and wait; the growth is God's work, even when we cannot see it. |
| The Two Debtors | Luke 7:36-50 | Those who know how much they have been forgiven love much. |
| The Good Samaritan | Luke 10:25-37 | Your neighbor is anyone in need, and love crosses every line to help. |
| The Friend at Midnight | Luke 11:5-13 | Keep asking: God is far more willing to answer than a sleepy neighbor. |
| The Rich Fool | Luke 12:13-21 | A life rich in things but not rich toward God can end in a night. |
| The Watchful Servants | Luke 12:35-40 | Stay ready, for the Lord comes at an hour no one expects. |
| The Barren Fig Tree | Luke 13:6-9 | God is patient, and his patience is time given to bear fruit. |
| The Lowest Seat | Luke 14:7-11 | Take the humble place; God lifts up the lowly. |
| The Great Supper | Luke 14:15-24 | God's table is ready; when the invited make excuses, the poor are brought in. |
| Counting the Cost | Luke 14:25-33 | Following Jesus asks for everything, so count the cost before you start. |
| The Lost Coin | Luke 15:8-10 | Heaven rejoices over one sinner who repents. |
| The Prodigal Son | Luke 15:11-32 | The Father runs to welcome the son who comes home, and pleads with the resentful brother too. |
| The Unjust Steward (Shrewd Manager) | Luke 16:1-13 | Use money wisely for what lasts; no one can serve both God and money. |
| The Rich Man and Lazarus | Luke 16:19-31 | How we treat the poor at our gate matters forever, and Scripture is warning enough. |
| The Unprofitable Servants | Luke 17:7-10 | Obeying God is our duty, not a favor that puts him in our debt. |
| The Unjust Judge (Persistent Widow) | Luke 18:1-8 | Pray always and do not lose heart. |
| The Pharisee and the Publican | Luke 18:9-14 | God accepts the sinner who begs for mercy, not the proud who trusts himself. |
| The Pounds | Luke 19:11-27 | Work faithfully with what the King has given you until he returns. |
Lists differ. Some leave out short sayings such as the lamp or the budding fig tree, or treat the sheep and the goats as a prophecy rather than a parable; others add more one-line comparisons. Look-alike stories, such as the Talents and the Pounds, are listed separately here.
How to read a parable
Notice who is listening
Luke 15 opens with religious leaders grumbling that Jesus welcomed sinners and ate with them (Luke 15:1-2). The three stories that follow, the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son, answer that complaint. Knowing the first audience often unlocks the meaning.
Look for the surprise
Most parables turn on something unexpected: a Samaritan is the hero, a father runs, workers hired at the last hour get a full day's pay. The surprise is usually the point.
Find the main point first
A parable is not a code in which every detail stands for something. Ask what the whole story shows about God and his kingdom, then let the details fill in the picture.
Read the verses around it
Sometimes the Gospel writer gives the point before the story (Luke 18:1), and sometimes Jesus explains it afterward (Matthew 13:18-23, 36-43). Read a few verses on either side.
Find yourself in the story
Ask which character you are most like today: the son who left, the brother who stayed and resented it, or the servant who buried his talent. Parables are meant to be lived, not only understood.
The Parable of the Sower: meaning (Matthew 13:3-23)
A farmer scatters seed. Some falls on the hard path and the birds eat it. Some falls on stony ground, springs up quickly and withers in the sun. Some is choked by thorns. And some falls on good ground and yields thirty, sixty or a hundred times what was sown. This is one of the few parables Jesus explained himself (Matthew 13:18-23; Mark 4:13-20; Luke 8:11-15).
“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. ... But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.”
What it means. The seed is the same everywhere; the soil is what differs. The path is the person who hears without understanding, so the word is snatched away. The stony ground receives the word with joy but has no root, and falls away when trouble comes. The thorns are “the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches” (Matthew 13:22, KJV), which choke the word slowly. The good ground hears, understands and keeps it.
What it asks of us. The parable is a warning and an encouragement at once. It warns that hearing is not the same as receiving. And it encourages anyone who shares their faith: not every seed will grow, and that is not your failure. The harvest from the good ground is far greater than the seed that was lost.
The Good Samaritan: meaning (Luke 10:25-37)
A lawyer asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, and agreed that the law sums it up: love God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself. Then, wanting to justify himself, he asked, “And who is my neighbour?” (Luke 10:29, KJV). Jesus answered with a story about a man beaten by thieves and left half dead on the road from Jerusalem down to Jericho.
A priest came by and passed on the other side. So did a Levite, from the tribe set apart to serve at the sanctuary. Then a Samaritan came, and Jews and Samaritans in those days kept apart; as John puts it, “the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans” (John 4:9, KJV). Yet he was the one who stopped.
“But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.”
What it means. The lawyer wanted to know where his duty ended. Jesus turned the question around: “Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?” (Luke 10:36, KJV). The question is not who deserves my love, but whether I will be a neighbor to the person in front of me. The lawyer could not bring himself to say the word Samaritan. He answered, “He that shewed mercy on him” (Luke 10:37, KJV).
What it asks of us. “Go, and do thou likewise” (Luke 10:37, KJV). Mercy here is costly: the Samaritan gave his time, his oil and wine, his animal, his money and a promise to come back. It is also natural to see Jesus in this story, the one others looked down on, who finds us half dead and pays for our healing. Both readings end in the same place: receive mercy, then show it. For more, see these Bible verses about love.
The Prodigal Son: meaning (Luke 15:11-32)
A younger son asks for his share of the family inheritance, travels to a far country and “wasted his substance with riotous living” (Luke 15:13, KJV). That is what prodigal means: wastefully extravagant. When the money is gone and famine comes, he ends up feeding pigs and wishing he could eat what they eat. Then “he came to himself” (Luke 15:17, KJV) and set off for home with a speech ready: he would ask to be taken on as a hired servant.
“And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”
What it means. The father does not wait at the door with folded arms. He sees his son far off, runs to him, embraces him, and stops the speech before the son can ask to be a servant. Then he calls for the best robe, a ring, shoes and a feast: “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found” (Luke 15:24, KJV). This is how God receives a sinner who comes home: not grudgingly, but with joy. It is the heart of the gospel.
Do not skip the second half. The older brother, who never left, refuses to come in. He has worked for years and feels cheated. The father goes out to him too, and pleads with him. Jesus told this story to Pharisees who grumbled that he ate with sinners (Luke 15:2), and he ends it without saying whether the older brother went in. That question is left with them, and with us. If you have wandered, the door is open. If you have stayed, the feast is yours as well, and so is your brother.
The Lost Sheep: meaning (Luke 15:3-7; Matthew 18:12-14)
A shepherd with a hundred sheep loses one. He leaves the ninety-nine, searches until he finds it, carries it home on his shoulders and calls his friends together: “Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost” (Luke 15:6, KJV).
What it means. God does not wait for the lost to find their own way back. He goes after them, and he is glad when he finds them. In Luke the story answers critics who thought Jesus spent his time with the wrong people, and it ends with heaven's joy over “one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:7, KJV). In Matthew the same story is about believers who stray, and Jesus draws the lesson plainly: “it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish” (Matthew 18:14, KJV).
What it asks of us. The sheep does nothing clever to be found; it is simply carried home. If you feel far from God, this parable says he is already looking for you. If someone you love has wandered, it tells you how God feels about them, and it invites you to go looking too.
The Parable of the Talents: meaning (Matthew 25:14-30)
A man about to travel entrusts his money to three servants: five talents to one, two to another and one to the third, “to every man according to his several ability” (Matthew 25:15, KJV). A talent was not a coin but a large weight of silver, worth about 6,000 denarii, and a denarius (the KJV calls it a penny) was a laborer's pay for a day (Matthew 20:2). Even one talent was a fortune.
Two servants put the money to work and double it. The third is afraid and buries his talent in the ground. When the master returns, the first two receive the same praise.
“His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”
What it means. Everything we have is entrusted to us by God, and he expects us to use it for him until Christ returns. The point is faithfulness, not the size of the result: the servant with two talents is praised in almost the same words as the servant with five. The third servant's trouble was fear and a harsh picture of his master: “I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth” (Matthew 25:25, KJV).
What it asks of us. Name what God has put in your hands, whether time, money, skills, relationships or the gifts of the Spirit, and put it to work. Our English word talent, meaning a natural gift, most likely comes from this parable.
Frequently asked
How many parables did Jesus tell?
There is no single agreed number, and lists usually land somewhere between about 30 and 40. Counts differ for three reasons. First, the Greek word for parable, parabole, covers everything from a full story to a one-line comparison or proverb, so some lists include short sayings such as the lamp under a bushel and others leave them out. Second, many parables appear in two or three Gospels and are counted once. Third, some look-alike stories, such as the Talents (Matthew 25) and the Pounds (Luke 19), are one parable to some readers and two to others. The list on this page has 39.
Which Gospel has the most parables?
Luke. It has more parables than any other Gospel, including many found nowhere else, such as the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, the Rich Fool, and the Pharisee and the Publican. Matthew comes next, with a whole chapter of kingdom parables (Matthew 13). Mark has far fewer. John has no story parables of this kind: he records picture sayings such as the Good Shepherd, and the KJV calls one of them a parable (John 10:6), but the Greek word there is a different one, paroimia.
What is a parable?
A parable is a short story or picture from everyday life that teaches a spiritual truth by comparison. The Greek word parabole literally means placing one thing beside another. Jesus set the kingdom of God beside a mustard seed, a lost coin or a wedding feast so that people could see what it is like.
What is the meaning of the Prodigal Son?
The parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) shows how God welcomes a sinner who comes home. The father sees his son from far off, runs to him and throws a feast, saying “this my son was dead, and is alive again” (Luke 15:24, KJV). The second half is about the older brother, who resents the welcome, and the father pleads with him too. Prodigal means wastefully extravagant, which is how the younger son spent his inheritance.
What is the meaning of the Good Samaritan?
The parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) answers a lawyer who asked, “And who is my neighbour?” (Luke 10:29, KJV). A priest and a Levite pass by a wounded man; a Samaritan, from a people the Jews of that day kept apart from, stops and cares for him at his own cost. Love does not ask who qualifies as a neighbor. It becomes a neighbor to whoever is in need. Jesus ends with “Go, and do thou likewise” (Luke 10:37, KJV).
Did Jesus explain his parables?
Sometimes. He explained the Sower (Matthew 13:18-23) and the Wheat and the Tares (Matthew 13:36-43) to his disciples, and Mark says that in private “he expounded all things to his disciples” (Mark 4:34, KJV). Other parables he left for his hearers to work out, often by ending with a question.
What is the shortest parable of Jesus?
Several take a single verse. The Leaven (Matthew 13:33) and the Hidden Treasure (Matthew 13:44) are each one verse long in Matthew, which shows how much a parable can carry in a few words.
Finding yourself in the story
It is easy to hear the parables from a safe distance, as stories about other people: the careless son, the cold priest, the frightened servant. Jesus did not tell them that way. He told them to people who were standing inside the story without knowing it.
So read them slowly, and ask where you are. Perhaps you are in the far country, rehearsing a speech. Then hear that the Father is already running. Perhaps you are the older brother, faithful but quietly bitter. Then hear him come out to you as well: “Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine” (Luke 15:31, KJV). Perhaps you are the one lying by the road, waiting for someone to stop. Jesus stops.
If you want a place to begin, read Luke 15 tonight. In Faithero you can read it in the King James Version, tap any verse to have it explained in plain words, or have the whole chapter read aloud.
Why did Jesus teach in parables?
His own disciples asked him. After the parable of the sower they came and said, “Why speakest thou unto them in parables?” (Matthew 13:10, KJV). His answer runs to verse 17, and it has two sides.
Parables reveal. To people who come close and want to understand, the stories open up the kingdom. Jesus told his disciples, “it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 13:11, KJV), and Mark adds that when they were alone, “he expounded all things to his disciples” (Mark 4:34, KJV). A parable rewards the listener who stays behind and asks what it means.
Parables also conceal. Jesus quotes Isaiah about people whose “ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed” (Matthew 13:15, KJV). A story does not force anyone. A heart that has already shut God out can hear about a lost sheep and feel nothing, while an open heart hears its own name. So the same parable that leaves one listener puzzled can bring another to repentance. It is a kind of mercy: the truth is offered, never forced.
Stories also stay with us. Few people remember last year's sermons, but almost everyone remembers the father who ran to meet his son. And stories get past our defenses. We judge the priest who walked past the wounded man, or the brother who sulked outside the party, and only then realize who Jesus is talking about. Mark puts it gently: Jesus spoke the word to the crowds “as they were able to hear it” (Mark 4:33, KJV). Matthew adds that teaching in parables fulfilled Scripture (Matthew 13:34-35, quoting Psalm 78:2).