The Purpose of a Parable, or a Story written in the Literary form of a Parable:

God wants us to be the best we can be. Every once in a while we'll hear or read about another person's story, and it causes us to reflect on our story and we get inspired to be better people.

A parable is like that. It lets us as readers or listeners see someone else's story. Then we can identify ourselves in their story and decide whether we want to continue on our same course, or choose another way, which is more whole and filled with God's love. Each parable or Story written in the literary form of a parable shows us someone's story, shows us a specific wisdom, and shows us how or why the wisdom is appropriated. So parables are like teaching tools. They teach us how to be Christ in ourselves and to be Christ to our neighbors.

So the purpose of a parable is that we reflect on our own story, for only then upon seeing the wisdom for doing so, can we become enlightened...which is putting the wisdom of the parable into practice.

Because of a request, tomorrow we'll post a Story from John on this blog.