Jesus used parables for many different purposes: through these simple open-ended stories he taught, he challenged people, he answered questions, always leaving his listeners with many ideas calling for further reflection.

In using parables, Jesus followed the tradition of the prophets. So Nathan, in facing David, made use of a parable: he did not confront David directly or accuse him of sinning. Instead he used a parable to bring David himself to a higher level of consciousness, where he would have to take a stance. Once David had taken a very clear stance against the rich man in the parable, he had unwittingly left himself without any defence: when Nathan told him bluntly: "You are the man", David could not bluster his way out of the situation, for his own words had condemned him.

Parables take many forms: a parable may be a story, an event, a saying, a question. The Gospel account of Jesus asleep in the boat during the storm is a parable of the Church afflicted with many troubles and God apparently asleep and inattentive to us and our needs.