Jesus knows that his beloved followers will need things to hold onto as they undergo the crushing persecution and ostracism of the first years (300ish) of Christianity.
So he gives them stories—stories so vivid and memorable and simple and beautiful that they can go back again and again to these stories to nourish them in the dark places they will find themselves in as followers of The Way.
The parable are rooms we can live in, stories we can inhabit, people and places and symbols we can return to again and again
As we wait in dark places
For the Return of the King.
Carrying Light 