Jesus told this story while dining in the house of a Pharisee. Around the table sat men proud of their religion but unmoved by compassion. When someone exclaimed, “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” Jesus responded with a parable that turned their comfort into conviction.

The parable of the Prodigal Son reminds us that repentance is always met by the Father’s mercy. No matter how far we wander, His love runs out to meet us.

This week, we move forward to another prophet and another parable—Isaiah’s “Song of the Vineyard.” Nathan’s story exposed one man’s guilt; Isaiah’s song laments the unfaithfulness of an entire nation. Both reveal the heart of God: a holy love that longs for righteousness but grieves over rebellion.

David had sinned, and he knew it. He had taken another man’s wife, arranged a murder to cover it, and then carried on as if nothing had happened. Perhaps in the busyness of his royal life, he thought it was hidden away—buried in the past, forgotten even by himself. But God had seen it, and God sent Nathan.

My father used to say that parables are “earthly stories with a heavenly meaning.” That phrase has stayed with me, because it captures what makes parables so powerful. They take the ordinary things of this world—trees, seeds, sheep, coins—and open them up to reveal eternal truth. Jesus* (4BC -30 AD) used parables constantly in His teaching, but He was not the first. All through Scripture, God spoke to His people in parables and allegories, calling them back to Himself.

What happens when you die? He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. Jesus in Mark 16:16