The Parables of Jesus

Ten thousand talents was not a large debt, it was an unpayable one, and the second debt is real money. The gap between the two numbers is the parable.

Shepherd language in the Bible is royal language, so this is not a picture of gentleness. It is a claim to the throne, made against named rival claimants.

The one parable Jesus explains. What the soils mean, Wright's reading of it as Israel's return from exile, and three answers to why he quotes Isaiah 6.

A mustard bush is not the cedar Ezekiel promised, and yeast is an image of corruption everywhere else. Both parables pick the wrong thing deliberately.

The man hides what he found and buys the field without telling the owner, which is not obviously honest. Why the awkwardness is worth facing rather than fixing.

The servants want to clear the field and the farmer stops them. Wright on why the weeds are inside Israel, and whether the church may ever do the weeding.