By Martin Steffens
If “symbol” means something we throw together (sym-ballô), the parable operates at a higher level of meaning: the symbols it employs, much like a dice thrower, are cast against one another (para-ballô). This amplifies interpretive value: to grasp its meaning, one must decipher the symbols, which, in turn, draw their significance from the story where they are intricately woven.
For example, in the parable of the prodigal son, depending on the interplay of symbols, the son can represent either a forgiven sinner or the Son who came into the world to lavish this same forgiveness – spending, to the point of exhaustion, the Father’s inheritance: his gift of love for all creation. The parable plunges our understanding into a shared universe of references articulated in an astonishing narration.
You cannot enter the Kingdom without desiring it
Parables primarily aim to speak about the Kingdom. But why such an indirect approach? Why doesn’t Jesus provide a straightforward description of the Kingdom or simply the means to access it? Here is the reason: the parable doesn’t just prompt reflection—it stirs longing. Not immediately apparent, its meaning tests our understanding—and this test, like the riddle of a myth or a child’s guessing game, awakens the desire to know.
Thus, while parables vary according to what Christ seeks to convey, they all share this fundamental purpose: one cannot enter the Kingdom without first desiring it. In this way, Jesus’ parables are provocations: the images they deploy and the shifts they create in everyday elements (a wedding, a steward, a reward…) call out (vocare) to the listener, forcing them to step forward (pro), to break free from their preconceptions.
This provocation has nothing to do with irony. In fact, the parable is the anti-irony. Irony involves saying the opposite of what we think to test if the other person thinks as we do. It’s a test with little reward: either they grasp the irony, but in this shared complicity (“we’re on the same page…”), they learn nothing, or they miss it, proving they understand nothing at all.
Jesus understands that not everything is understood right away
The parable, on the other hand, is patient. By using it, Jesus shows he understands that not everything can be understood immediately. He knows that nothing is truly “heard” when what is to be heard is the Good News. God precedes us by such an infinite distance (from all eternity!) that, like Peter and John running to the tomb, the time gap between receiving and understanding is eternally irreducible. Yet Jesus walks with us through this delay.
In fact, he even adds time to time: through his curious parables (the shrewd servant, the lost drachma…), he pauses our minds, planting within them the desire to know more. He sows this yearning for God, without which the Kingdom would seem unnecessary and remain inaccessible to us.
Unlike irony, the parable is not biting. Yet it does not lack humor, for, as Jesus said, it invites us to check if there are two little vessels ready to receive the Good News on either side of our brain: “Let anyone with ears listen!” – La Croix International
