“Why did Jesus speak in parables?”

Sunday, September 26, 2021

We all know that Jesus did a lot of teaching during his time on earth.  Whether it was to crowds numbering in the thousands, groups small enough to fit in a house, a handful of disciples, or even private lessons with individuals, he was constantly spreading the good news of the kingdom of heaven.  But realistically, the short duration of his earthly ministry, just three years or so, means that any veteran preacher nowadays has probably racked up more words spoken, and more hours spent in teaching God’s word, than did Jesus himself.  Even considering that, the proportion of Jesus’ teachings that have been recorded and preserved for us in the Gospels is quite small.  Any full-time preacher would, in just a few weeks, quickly exceed the number of recorded words preached and taught by Jesus in all four Gospels.

What we have in these Gospels is a selection of his assorted teachings, and we may notice that one of his favorite methods of teaching was the parable—a short, generally fictitious story told in very simple terms about mundane parts of daily life for the working class.  Matthew’s Gospel spends nearly all of chapter 13 relating one parable after another.  After the first of these, the parable of the sower, the disciples have a question for Jesus: “Why do you speak to them in parables?” (Mt 13.10)  Jesus’ response is very interesting:

“To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

        ‘“You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.”

        ‘For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’

But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” (Matthew 13.11-17)

In the first place, Jesus tells us that not everyone is going to know God’s secrets.  Is this because he arbitrarily selected one person, to make him righteous and bring him into his presence for eternity, while selecting his neighbor to deliberately blind him and consign him to hell forever?  That’s kind of how verse 12 sounds: “to the one who has, more will be given…but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”  Is that just?  Fair?  Equitable?  Is God then unjust?

But the prophecy Jesus quotes fills in the gap—“this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed” (v15).  The obstinate audience has made its own decision.  In their hearts they have chosen not to listen.  God didn’t take away their eyes—they closed the door and refused to make use of the visual faculty God designed and graciously gave to them for the very purpose that they might see, and understand, and turn toward him and his healing.  Now, as they rejected his word and will, he rejects them, too.  He could keep trying to get the message through their heads, but he’s tried long enough, and his considerable patience is used up.  Why would he continue reaching out to them?  It’s not as if he hasn’t tried.  Above, Jesus was quoting from Isaiah 6; later in the same book, God says of Israel,

I spread out my hands all the day

                       to a rebellious people,

        who walk in a way that is not good,

                       following their own devices;

a people who provoke me

                       to my face continually… (Isaiah 65.2-3a)

He’s had enough.  He’s moving on.  He’s ready to seek someone who will listen and turn, and to speak to them in their own language.  If those who already had their chance can’t understand it, that’s not God’s fault; it’s their own.  They don’t see, or hear, or understand—not because God has actively prevented it, but because they do not want to do so.  Now that God has finally moved on to greener pastures, can they reasonably complain that God expects too much of them when he says things in a different language?

That is why Jesus spoke in parables—not so much because those who’d already rejected the gospel didn’t deserve to understand God’s word, but because he’d given them their chance, and they failed; so he moved on to the people who were listening, and spoke to them in terms they could understand.  The parables are simple.  Although they teach complex things—concepts and realities that can and do fill volumes—they do so by appealing to the everyday concerns of the common people:  food, farming, fishing, and other such things.

What about you?  Do your eyes truly see?  Do your ears truly hear?  God has blessed us very richly with his word, showing us the way to life.  So many people desired this instruction, when God was not yet ready to share it with the world.  Now that he has shared it, do you value it?  Do you understand it?  Do you obey it?  God wants to heal your broken spirit, wash you of your sins, and adopt you into his family for a lifetime of love, joy, fellowship, and service.  Do not close your eyes to the truth.

Jeremy Nettles

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