Jesus was a master storyteller, and the parables He told were ingeniously simple word pictures. Some of them were no more than fleeting remarks about commonplace incidents, objects, or persons. In fact, the most compact of all Jesus' short stories does not even fill a complete verse of Scripture. Yet the all were filled with profound spiritual lessons that He wanted His listeners to hear and understand. Jesus told these parables so they would clearly comprehend His message about the kingdom of God and the reason He had come to earth.