A fresh and incisive examination of the cutting-edge teaching of Jesus in the parables. Ray Markham – author of What Kind of Power Is This? (on the miracles of Jesus) and Greater Expectations (on the Sermon on the Mount) – provides the background to each of the parables. He also explains how pointed and personal the messages of the parables were for the first-century readers of the gospels Each chapter concludes with a series of questions for group discussion and a series of points for personal prayer, reflection and practical application.