various genres, including parables in the New Testament. The term comes from the Greek word parabole, which is similar to our English word. Parabole means “to throw alongside.” A parable throws one idea alongside another for the purpose of comparison. Mark 4 records a parable in which the farmer sows his seed on four different kinds of soil. We’re not to take that literally, however. It’s a parable, remember? But we have to be careful not to make any parable “walk on all fours.” If we try to make