Parables: A Probing Teaching Technique
Then the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" And he answered them, "To you it is 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....But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear." Matt. 13:10-16, ESV.
Now here is a perplexing statement. Was Jesus really saying that He taught in parables to hide the truth rather than make it clear to all His hearers? What did He mean when He told His disciples, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven" (Mark 4:11, 12, RSV)?
Mark's version is even more mystifying than Matthew's. After all, both John and Jesus brought their ministries into the public with calls to repentance. Did Jesus speak in parables to make ideas clearer or to muddle truth in such a way that people wouldn't be able to understand and repent? Did He really desire them to remain in their lost state?
His statements have troubled people across time. They seem to contradict the very reason that He used parables.
One way of resolving the problem is to remember that Jesus was simultaneously speaking to at least four groups of people in the same audience: (1) the 12 disciples, (2) a believing but fluctuating larger group of followers, (3) the "crowd," which included many who were curious but did not necessarily believe, and (4) His adversaries.
In that context parables had the function of dividing the audience between those who were really interested and those seeking entertainment. Jesus used parables as a method to get His hearers to take hold of the topic and wrestle with it in their minds so that they could arrive at a fuller understanding. He wanted them to think through the implications of the story.
Conversely, as William Barclay puts it, "the parable conceals truth from those who are either too lazy to think or too blind through prejudice to see." This method of teaching became a kind of judgment as it sifted out the tares from the wheat, those whose thoughts were of this world and those who were spiritually minded.
The end lesson: God wants me to wrestle with the great truths of His Word.
Then the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" And he answered them, "To you it is 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....But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear." Matt. 13:10-16, ESV.
Now here is a perplexing statement. Was Jesus really saying that He taught in parables to hide the truth rather than make it clear to all His hearers? What did He mean when He told His disciples, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven" (Mark 4:11, 12, RSV)?
Mark's version is even more mystifying than Matthew's. After all, both John and Jesus brought their ministries into the public with calls to repentance. Did Jesus speak in parables to make ideas clearer or to muddle truth in such a way that people wouldn't be able to understand and repent? Did He really desire them to remain in their lost state?
His statements have troubled people across time. They seem to contradict the very reason that He used parables.
One way of resolving the problem is to remember that Jesus was simultaneously speaking to at least four groups of people in the same audience: (1) the 12 disciples, (2) a believing but fluctuating larger group of followers, (3) the "crowd," which included many who were curious but did not necessarily believe, and (4) His adversaries.
In that context parables had the function of dividing the audience between those who were really interested and those seeking entertainment. Jesus used parables as a method to get His hearers to take hold of the topic and wrestle with it in their minds so that they could arrive at a fuller understanding. He wanted them to think through the implications of the story.
Conversely, as William Barclay puts it, "the parable conceals truth from those who are either too lazy to think or too blind through prejudice to see." This method of teaching became a kind of judgment as it sifted out the tares from the wheat, those whose thoughts were of this world and those who were spiritually minded.
The end lesson: God wants me to wrestle with the great truths of His Word.
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