what we must look for in a parable is not a situation in which every detail stands for something but a situation in which one great idea leaps out and shines like a flash of lightning. It is always wrong to attempt to make every detail of a parable mean something. It is always right to say: ‘What one idea would flash into someone’s mind on hearing this story for the first time?’ When Jesus was alone, his own circle of people, together with the Twelve, asked him