Jesus frequently taught in parables, that is, stories based on an analogy. For example, in the "parable of the Workers in the Vineyard" (Matthew 20), Jesus tells a story about a farmer hiring people to work in his vineyard. But the whole point is that this is an analogy about God and salvation.
Something that really strikes me about Jesus's parables is that they are very well constructed. The "surface story" is always plausible. There are clear connections between the surface story and the inner meaning. At no point does he have to say, "Well, yeah, but just go with it for the sake of the analogy."
Let me use the story of the Workers in the Vineyard as an example. The gist of the story is that a wealthy farmer needs workers to help harvest his crop. So early in the morning he goes to the "unemployment office" and hires a bunch of men. He tells them he'll pay them each one denarius for a day's work. To his listeners, this was an obviously fair amount. It was the going rate for unskilled labor at the time. A few hours later he realizes he does not have enough workers to complete the job, so he goes back and hires some more. He doesn't promise them a specific wage but just "something fair". He goes back several times hiring more workers each time, so some of them worked all day and others for only a few hours. At the end of the day he gathers all the workers together and pays them each one denarius. The men who worked all day get one denarius and the men who worked for only two hours get the same one denarius. The men who worked all day complain that this is unfair: they worked longer, they should be paid more. The farmer replies that when he hired them, they agreed to work the entire day for one denarius. He is not giving them any less than he promised. So what is their complaint? That others got more than they deserved? So what?
The "inner story" is that this is how salvation works. God promises that if we believe in him and accept Christ's offer of salvation, our sins will be forgiven and we will spend eternity in paradise. So if one person devotes his life to serving God, goes to some remote country as a missionary, puts up with all sorts of hardships, etc, he is rewarded with eternity in paradise. If another person lives a horrible life, if he sells drugs and steals and rapes, and then on his deathbed he accepts Christ, he also gets eternity in Paradise. People often object that this is not fair. Why does the person who did nothing for God his whole life get the same reward as someone who devoted his life to serving God?
According to the parable, the answer is: When you accepted Christ, you knew what the reward was. You accepted the "deal". He has not given you any less than he promised. So he is generous to someone else? So what? How does that make his treatment of you unfair? You got exactly what you agreed to.
Now let me compare that to an analogy I've seen going around the Internet lately. Admittedly this one is much shorter. But it goes like this, "Some people were born on third base, and think they hit a triple."
Compare the two analogies. In Jesus's parable, the surface story makes complete sense. The farmer hires workers. They agree to work for some promised amount. Later he realizes he doesn't have enough workers so he hires more.
Is any part of that story strained or implausible? Would workers NOT have agreed to work for the going rate? When they saw the people who worked fewer hours got the same amount, is it implausible that they would complain? Etc. It is strange that the farmer would pay them all the same, but it's not impossible. Someone might do that. He says in the story that he's doing it to be generous.
Now consider the baseball analogy. Would a woman really give birth to a child on third base on a baseball diamond? Even if by some strange circumstance she did, would the child then grow up and live his entire life on that base? And when a team came to play there, would he be considered a member of the team?
None of the surface story makes sense. Yes, we get the point: Some peole are born with advantages -- born to a rich family, for example -- and talk and act as if they accomlished everything themselves. But the story just doesn't make sense.
In many analogies, the surface story has to be strained to make the analogy work. You have to say, "yeah, yeah, just accept it, not relevant to my point". But Jesus never did this. His surface stories were always plausible as is.
Furthermore, every element in Jesus's surface story relates plausibly to an element in the inner story. The farmer represents God. The workers represent Christians. The salary represents salvation. Etc.
But many analogies, you have to say, "Yes, the door doesn't represent anything. It's just there because I need it to make the story work."
But Jesus's parables never have this problem. Perhaps you could think of something that would have to be present for the story to work, but if Jesus doesn't bring it up, it's not relevant, and if he does bring it up, it is relevant.
© 2026 by Jay Johansen
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