Everyone loves a good story. The popularity of Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Game of Thrones illustrates the affection most of us have for engaging tales of romance, intrigue, and the omnipresent theme of good versus evil.

As evidenced by the variety, characterization, and sheer spontaneity of his parables, Jesus must have been the most brilliant storyteller of all time. While brief, his stories are filled with engaging characters who grab our attention: harsh judges who care nothing for poor widows, rich men gone bad and shrewd stewards gone worse, prodigal sons who eat out of pig sties, and shocking Samaritans who rescue wounded Jewish travelers.

Moreover, Jesus appears to have told his stories "on the spot"; there's no indication that he ruminated for days or weeks creating tales of spiritual truth. As he traveled throughout ancient Israel preaching on the kingdom of God, he assessed the situation and then brilliantly imagined stories rooted in that specific cultural context to meet spiritual needs, address moral questions, and call listeners to personal commitment.

Why you should preach on the parables

Given the genius of our Lord's stories, I'd like to encourage the readers of Preaching Today to try a six to ten week sermon series on the parables in 2018. There are four reasons why this might be worth your time and effort.

First, the parables illuminate both the nature of the kingdom and how different people respond to its advent. Quite often Jesus says, "The kingdom of God is like …" and then illustrates it with a story.

That reality needs to be reiterated in the 21st century, perhaps more so than in the past. While our culture still retains vestiges of its Judeo-Christian heritage, those are fading. Because the church and its attendees are now in a society pulling them in directions often contrary to God's rule and reign, pastors would be wise to communicate clearly what Christ's kingdom is about. Parables are spell-binding windows into that reality.

Second, almost any parable can stand alone as the focus of a sermon. As most pastors can testify, the majority of parishioners only attend worship two out of every four Sundays per month. Apart from church staff who are paid to be there every week, even the most committed Christians often miss one Sunday a month. Preaching the parables allows pastors to communicate something substantive without feeling the need to refer to last Sunday's sermon that may not have been heard by a number of people.

Third, Jesus' stories tend to be uniquely fascinating, even a bit disturbing. They deal with many of the big issues and questions of life: who God is, the surprising nature of grace, the awful power of money, the coming judgment, and even the flow of history. These stories throw us for a loop because they have a tendency to upend how we often approach certain issues and questions.

For example, we're taught by our culture to hoard wealth, yet Jesus' stories encourage us to give it away. We often have unconscious biases about who God likes and who he doesn't, but some of the parables reverse our view of who's in and who's out in God's economy. Sometimes we're told that if we just say a prayer, we're saved, but some of Jesus' stories, such as the Parables of the Talents and the Sheep and Goats in Matthew 25, stress that saving faith always results in visible fruit. Ouch!

Lastly, the parables call for a response. Will we engage God with the persistence of the man who bothered his friend for help in the middle of the night? Will we claim to receive the awesome forgiveness of God but refuse to give it to those who have hurt us? Will we get caught up in the willy-nilly busyness of contemporary life or will we prioritize our lives to focus on the pearl of great price?

How to preach on the parables

How might we preach the parables clearly and effectively? Let me offer some ideas on how to read and then communicate Jesus' stories for spiritual impact and life transformation.

First, keep the context of the story front and center. This will help the listener understand why Jesus told the story and what he hoped to communicate.

For example, most of us are familiar with the three parables of Luke 15: The Lost Sheep, The Lost Coin, and The Lost Son. In this context, Jesus breaks his normal story-telling cadence of giving one story and instead provides three in a row. Why? In verses 1-2, Luke says, "Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, 'This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.'" Jesus then proceeds to tell the three stories back-to-back in order to communicate that something of great value had been lost, but was then found, resulting in a joyous occasion. In the context of verses 1-2, the three stories indicate that lost people matter to God and when they're found, there is joy in heaven. When preaching the parables, context is crucial.

Second, treat each story as unique. New Testament scholars and biblical theologians often knock themselves out trying to place Jesus' stories into some kind of system, formula, or pattern. While some of the stories might be generally categorized as parables of "grace," "judgement," or "the kingdom," more often than not they stand alone because Jesus told them to meet a pressing need or communicate how people respond—or don't—to spiritual truth and moral demands.

Approaching each parable on its own terms can help us to communicate Jesus' intent. The story of the unjust judge and the persistent widow in Luke 18 illustrates this. While Christ's characters sometimes represent God or certain groups of people, the parable in Luke 18 is one of opposites. God is completely unlike the unjust judge because God cares about each of us in a deeply personal way. We are completely unlike the poor widow who had no resources or power because we are children of the King of Kings. She wore down the judge with her persistence, but our persistence in prayer (the goal of the parable according to Luke's editorial comment in verse one), even when things look stark, is a visible sign of our faith in the Father, who loves us and will provide for us (Luke 18:6-8).

Third, determine the main point or points of the parable and use those as the main point or points of your sermon. I'm personally committed to preaching a single big idea, but sometimes the parables contain what Kenneth Bailey called "theological clusters." By this he meant a series of related ideas that revolve around a singular theological theme.

In The Parable of the Sower, Jesus communicates how different people respond in different ways to the message of the kingdom based on the spiritual condition of their hearts. While the story revolves around the Sower (Jesus) spreading the seed (God's Word) it lands on different soils (the various conditions of the human heart), producing different results. Any sermon on this parable must address how and why people have varied responses to the proclamation of God's Word and what it takes to be a person with an open heart who, over time, produces spiritual fruit.

Fourth, if at all possible, try to contemporize the story to enhance its connection with your congregation. Years ago, I read a sermon John Ortberg did on the parable of The Unforgiving Servant in Matthew 18. Ortberg creatively situated the story in a corporate setting of a family-owned business where a middle manager pilfered tens of millions and yet was graciously forgiven his vast debt by the family patriarch. The forgiven debtor, however, refused to negotiate with a co-worker who owed him $30,000. While some in the audience may have had an understanding of ancient kings and how much money ten thousand talents represent (what Jesus claimed the debtor owed the king), Ortberg's retelling of the story in a contemporary setting gave greater weight and insight into what we owe God versus what others may owe us.

The rich farmer/fool of Luke 12 can be transformed into a modern software genius; the Pharisee and tax collector of Luke 18 can be contemporized into an evangelical seminary professor and a porn addict; the Samaritan, Levite, and priest of Luke 10 can be made out respectively as a devout Iranian Muslim, the head of an evangelical para-church ministry, or even you, the pastor of your church!

Fifth, be sure to teach the theology of the story. As I noted earlier, Jesus sometimes intended his characters to represent God, others, and us in order to show what relationships in the kingdom look like. At other times, he told the story to make a serious point about how God really operates or what he really values. If we want to see peoples' lives change for the good, we must stress the theology of a passage. For example, the parable of the Unjust Steward in Luke 16 shows that if we use some of our money for kingdom purposes, we're good friends with God. The scary story of the Rich Man and Lazarus, later in the same chapter, shows that hell is real and some people end up there. The seemingly unfair story of the workers in the vineyard in Matthew 20 reveals that grace alone is the ticket to Christ's kingdom.

Sixth, pray for the power of the Holy Spirit and allow yourself to enjoy preaching the parables. With sufficient time, attention, and a bit of creativity, a series on these stories may produce more spiritual fruit than we can imagine. May God graciously help us preach Jesus' delightful and challenging stories in such a clear and effective fashion that more and more people are brought ever closer to him, our Savior and the greatest communicator who has ever spoken.

Scott Wenig is associate professor of applied theology at Denver Seminary in Denver, Colorado, and author of Straightening the Altars.