The Parables of Jesus are a collection of parables told by Jesus that embody much of his teaching and are recorded in the four Gospels. They are the best known examples of stories referred to as parables, and so form the prototype for the term parable.
Each of the four canonical Gospels contains parables of Jesus unique to that Gospel, with two of the best known, the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan, both being among those that occur only in the Gospel of Luke.
Only two parables occur in the Gospel of John, and both are unique to that Gospel.
A few parables appear in more than one of the synoptic Gospels, with three of them occurring in all three of these gospels (The Parable of the Lamp), and another two (some say three, on the grounds that the parables of the Talents and the Pounds are essentially the same story) in both Matthew and Luke. But no parable is common to the Gospel of Mark and either Matthew or Luke but not both; That is, if a parable occurs in Mark and also somewhere else, then it appears in all three. This observation is one of those used to try to identify and analyse the sources used by the gospel writers, see Q document.
Parables also exist in the Old Testament and in many other writings, see parable.
Themes and examples
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Jesus' parables centre on three overlapping themes:
The Leaven, unusual in the leaven is used here as a positive symbol, where everywhere else in the Bible it is a symbol of evil. [Matt 13:33], [Luke 13:20-21].
List of New Testament stories#Parables told by Jesus for a complete list more clearly showing corresponding passages in the different Gospels, and with links to the full texts.
