Fables teach us work hard, to work for what we want, and that our hard work will be rewarded. Or they teach us to keep working until the end, or not to lie.

Parables, though, are stories Jesus told to help us understand what the kingdom of Heaven is about. In the Parable of the Lost Son, Jesus taught the Pharisees and other religious leaders that God’s forgiveness was freely given because of how generous God the Father is, not because we earn his love by how good we are.