I realized recently that I have never heard anyone insist on the “literal truth” of a parable.
I have never heard anyone, or heard of anyone, who insists that the prodigal son was a single, physical individual. I don’t think anyone has tried to find archaeological evidence of the inn to which the Good Samaritan brought the man who fell among thieves going down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
Why is that? Presumably because everyone knows that isn’t the point of a parable, to be true that way. Assuming they are true, they are true … in a different way.
Matters of Interpretation 