One of my favorite Eugene Peterson quotes is, "when Jesus told parables the people all stood around listening and applauding and when He was done they shouted, 'great sermon - loved it - really spoke to my heart.' The truth was they weren't really listening and had no idea what He was saying - until later that night when they were sitting around relaxing and suddenly - like a time bomb - the truth of the parable plowed through their brain like a runaway freight train. Jesus was talking about them. He snuck a story about them - a not so nice story about them - into the sermon. And now they have to wrestle with it."