Q 01/05

In Jesus's parable of the Prodigal Son, the word 'prodigal' refers to which trait of the younger son?

A) Lost and wandering

B) Wildly wasteful

C) Deeply sorry

D) Stubbornly proud

Answer · why

B) Wildly wasteful

Wildly wasteful is what 'prodigal' means, from the Latin prodigus. The word has nothing to do with leaving or coming home: it describes how the son bu...

Q 02/05

In Jesus's parable of the talents, a master going away trusts three servants with amounts of what?

A) Money

B) Land

C) Grain

D) Cattle

Answer · why

A) Money

Money, and a lot of it: one talent was worth about 6,000 days' wages. The English sense of 'talent' as a gift to be used most likely grew out of this ...

Q 03/05

Which phrase for a final chance comes from Jesus's parable of workers hired late in the day?

A) The nick of time

B) The zero hour

C) The eleventh hour

D) The dying seconds

Answer · why

C) The eleventh hour

The eleventh hour was when the final workers were taken on, with about an hour of the working day left. They still received a full day's pay, which is...

Q 04/05

In Jesus's parable of the Good Samaritan, robbers attack a man on the road from Jerusalem to which city?

A) Bethlehem

B) Nazareth

C) Capernaum

D) Jericho

Answer · why

D) Jericho

Jericho sits far below Jerusalem, and the winding road down to it was notorious enough for ambushes to be called the 'Way of Blood'. Jesus's first hea...

Q 05/05

In Jesus's parable of the Prodigal Son, the penniless son takes a job feeding which animals?

A) Pigs

B) Sheep

C) Goats

D) Chickens

Answer · why

A) Pigs

Pigs were forbidden food under Jewish law, which made tending them a humiliating job. The son grew hungry enough to envy the pods they ate.