Rev. Lois Hedden points out that parables are stories. Who doesn’t like a good story? Parables are like onions, they have layers. She first of all read a quote from Eugene Peterson:

“Parables are narrative time bombs. These are stealthy stories that steal into people’s hearts, confusing them initially, throwing them off balance for a while. After all, at first these seemed like cozy, tame little stories about farmers and seeds, women and bread baking, fathers and sons. People let the stories steal into their hearts and imaginations. They had no defenses up to keep them out. Why would they? These are such nice stories, interesting, vivid, well-told.

But at some later point the “Ah-ha!” moment may arrive as the real meaning of the story suddenly explodes in people’s minds like a time-bomb. The parables were meant to blast people into new awareness, new understandings, new ideas. “Oh my!” people would exclaim, “We thought he was talking about farmers and crops but he was really talking about us and God!!! And we don’t come off looking all that great, either!!”

After observing there are only three parables that are repeated in three of the gospels she begins to share about the parable of the tenants. At first the Pharisees were listening with interest to the “story” until they realized Jesus was talking about them and they were the evil tenants. And sure enough, they did eventually kill the Son, Jesus Christ.