Explore the Greatest Stories Ever Told

Gain unforgettable insights into 22 parables from one of Christianity's leading parables experts.

Who hasn’t heard of the Good Samaritan? Even people with little knowledge of the New Testament know that a good Samaritan is someone who comes to the aid of a person in need. But did you know that those who first heard Jesus tell the story were shocked when they learned the identity of the hero – as shocked we would be by a story that made a hero out of a bomb-planting terrorist?

You surely know also the parable of the farmer sowing seed in different kinds of soil, where little of it came to fruition. We usually read it as a story about these different soils. When Jesus first told the story, however, he had something quite different in mind. What was it?

Which of us has not been bothered by the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard? Though some work all day, others only for an hour or two, at the end of the day they all receive the same pay. How can we make sense of this injustice?

Did the younger brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son come back home just to put a roof over his head, and food on his table? Or was he truly sorry for wasting everything his father had given him? And didn’t the elder brother, who stayed home and always worked dutifully for his father, get a raw deal?

In the parable of the Sheep and the Goats Jesus speaks about those on the king’s left hand being consigned to "everlasting punishment." How can a loving God send anyone to hell?

Modern Reflections on Timeless Stories

These are just a few of the questions which you will find answered in this fascinating discussion of Jesus’ parables. You will learn what a parable is, the difference between parable and allegory, and the reason why Jesus chose parables as his favorite form of teaching.

Though based on the work of scholars, and incorporating what Pope Benedict XVI writes about the parables in his book Jesus of Nazareth, the presentation is straightforward and easy to follow, without scholarly jargon or technicalities. You will enjoy these talks whether you are a minister or an attendee of just about any church.

Father John Jay Hughes speaks not just to the mind but also to the heart – the fruit of over a half century of pulpit ministry. The son and grandson of priests in the Episcopal Church, he served six years as an Episcopal priest himself. A Catholic priest since 1968, he says: “I’ve heard some horrible preaching (haven’t we all?). But in my youth I also heard great preaching that fed my mind, moved my heart, and stirred my soul. Whenever I go into the pulpit, I am mindful of two imperatives. First, the Church commissioned me to preach Good News…And second, I am there to respond to the request made in John’s gospel, chapter twelve, by ‘some Greeks’ to the apostle Philip: ‘Sir, we would like to see Jesus.’ I love being a priest: it’s all I ever wanted. I invite you to join me on this Journey through the Parables. I can promise that you won’t be bored.” Fr. Hughes studied with Professor Joseph Ratzinger, who is now Pope Benedict XVI, and received his doctorate in theology from the University of Münster. Fr. Hughes is the author of 11 books including Stories Jesus Told: Modern Meditations on the Parables.

Fr. John Jay Hughes has just published his autobiography, No Ordinary Fool: A Testimony to Grace (Tate Publishing, 344 pp, 24 photos, $19.99). Eugene Kennedy calls it: “The most profound memoir of a spiritual search since Thomas Merton’s Seven Storey Mountain.” Papal biographer George Weigel’s 1000-word Foreword calls it “a most dramatic life.” In November Now You Know Media will be offering Fr. Hughes’s 21-talk series, Saints for Sinners. “Every saint has a past,” Fr. Hughes comments, “every sinner has a future.”

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Parables: What and Why?

The Sower and His Seed

Joy in Heaven

The Merciful Father, the Two Lost Sons

Two Men Went Up to the Temple

Which Did What the Father Wanted?

I Canceled Your Entire Debt

I Want My House to Be Full

Law or Love?

Surprised by Joy

I Knew You Were a Hard Man

Will the Son of Man Find Faith?

Bargainers and Beggers

Warning—and Encouragement

The Rich Fool

The Man God Helped

Everlasting Punishment?

Journey’s End

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