Why did Jesus speak in parables?

[tonychanyt]

Matthew 13:

1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. 2Such large crowds gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat down, while all the people stood on the shore.
3 And He told them many things in parables, saying, “A farmer went out to sow his seed.

Jesus often spoke in parables. It was his modus operandi.

10 Then the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why do You speak to the people in parables?”

Right, why? Why made it difficult for the listeners?

11 He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.

Spiritual truths are often mysterious compared to our everyday physical reality. Physics can be captured by a formal, unambiguous language like mathematics, but spiritual realities cannot be confined to any formal language. Jesus resorted to analogies, figures of speech, and parables to capture better spiritual truths. Moreover, Jesus used parables to test the hearts of the listeners: whether they would believe despite the difficulties.

12 Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

The more you believe in Jesus, the more you will understand what he said. It was a test:

13 This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’

Without a believing heart, they would not understand the parables.

14 In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. 15 For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’

Jesus spoke in Parables to fulfill the prophecy in Psalm 78:2 and Isaiah 6:9.

Why did Jesus speak in parables?

1. To fulfill the prophecies in the OT.
2. By nature, spiritual truths were often mysterious. Jesus spoke in parables because of this necessity.
3. Few people could read in Jesus's time. Jesus used parables as a mnemonic device to engage his audience. His listeners could easily remember the parables and retell them to their friends.
4. To reveal spiritual truths to those who were receptive.
5. Paradoxically, to conceal spiritual truths to those whose hearts were hardened.

Jesus used parables to sort out the believers from the unbelievers.

 

[Grip Docility]

Matthew 13:


Jesus often spoke in parables. It was his modus operandi.


Right, why? Why made it difficult for the listeners?


Spiritual truths are often mysterious compared to our everyday physical reality. Physics can be captured by a formal, unambiguous language like mathematics, but spiritual realities cannot be confined to any formal language. Jesus resorted to analogies, figures of speech, and parables to capture better spiritual truths. Moreover, Jesus used parables to test the hearts of the listeners: whether they would believe despite the difficulties.


The more you believe in Jesus, the more you will understand what he said. It was a test:


Without a believing heart, they would not understand the parables.


Jesus spoke in Parables to fulfill the prophecy in Psalm 78:2 and Isaiah 6:9.

Why did Jesus speak in parables?

1. To fulfill the prophecies in the OT.
2. By nature, spiritual truths were often mysterious. Jesus spoke in parables because of this necessity.
3. Few people could read in Jesus's time. Jesus used parables as a mnemonic device to engage his audience. His listeners could easily remember the parables and retell them to their friends.
4. To reveal spiritual truths to those who were receptive.
5. Paradoxically, to conceal spiritual truths to those whose hearts were hardened.

Jesus used parables to sort out the believers from the unbelievers.

Jesus still does the same thing through Paul. 2 Peter 3:16 He speaks about these things in all his letters in which there are some matters that are hard to understand. The untaught and unstable twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures.

It's painful to see that Jesus made everything so clear, yet here we are, 2k years later and one of Jesus' most important statements has been trampled. Matthew 15:9 They worship Me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commands of men.”

Jesus repetitiously warned against the "leavening of the Pharisees". It all comes to a specific moment when Jesus tells the Parable of the Tenants from Luke 20:9-18 In verse 19 we find that the Pharisees finally "understood", but instead of "hearing", they responded with murder in their hearts. Luke 20:19 The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.

Paul's ministry would have been cut short, just like Jesus' ministry would have been cut short, had they not spoken what needed to be spoken in "Riddles". (Numbers 12:8) With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord.

God reveals why He spoke face to face with Moses, without riddles.​

Numbers 12:3 (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)​

It's not a small occurrence within scripture. We see it over and over.​

Daniel 10:12 “Don’t be afraid, Daniel,” he said to me, “for from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your prayers were heard. I have come because of your prayers.​

 

[d taylor]

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Because Israel rejected Jesus as the promised Messiah, so after Jesus was rejected. On the bases of doing His miracles by the power of the prince of demons and not by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12)

Jesus' mission changed from offering The Kingdom of God to Israel. To training His Apostles for their up and coming ministry.

 

[BobRyan]

Matt 12 is the key to the Matt 13 events and Christ's teaching in parables.

IN Matt 12 Christ speaks directly , does miracles, claims to be the son of God -- and is then called a demon, in league with the king of demons... etc.

Jesus tells them in Matt 12 that going against God the Holy Spirit's work in the life of Christ - is fatal to the human soul. So in Matt 13 He switches to parables - a form of teaching that they will not understand enough to then condemn as being of the devil. In that way He can keep teaching them , planting seeds, but it does not result in their then blaspheming the Holy Spirit.

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As we see in Acts 6 - Christ's tactic in Matt 13 - worked out pretty well.

7 The word of God kept spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.

 

[KevinT]

Paradoxically, to conceal spiritual truths to those whose hearts were hardened.

I'm probably saying the same thing as you, but I have thought that His stories where like sneaky messengers. If Jesus said, in plain speech, the thrust of His message, it might be just rejected outright, without the listener having a chance to turn it over in their minds. But instead, He told stories about farmers and fishermen that slipped right through their erroneous mental defenses. I have been guilty of listening to a pop song on the radio, taking it all in and bouncing my head. Only later did I realize that I very much disagreed with the lyrics -- but already the song was stuck in my head. That is an example of a BAD use of the sneaky technique.

KT