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Why Do You Speak in Parables?
Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “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.”
Matthew 13:10-13 ESV
Next month in our Just For February small groups (it’s not too late to sign up here!), we’re reading the parables of Jesus. The passage above is from the beginning of a long section in Matthew where Jesus tells one parable after another. Before, in His Sermon on the Mount, we don’t hear any. It seems like the disciples noticed the change and so they asked Jesus why He’s now telling stories instead of just explaining what He means.
At first glance, Jesus’ answer does not sound promising. Is He turning to parables to deliberately draw a veil over the truth, to conceal it from those who need it most?
It may help to understand that Jesus turned to parables in part because of the opposition He had stirred up. Unlike at the beginning of His public ministry, there now were powerful figures who were looking to use His words against Him. And there were now people who had made up their minds against Him (you know the type), who weren’t really listening anymore but just scanning His words for something to denounce.
We get like that sometimes, don’t we? We are so convinced they are wrong (whoever they may be for us) that we shut our ears before listening to a word they say. Or perhaps we aren’t interested in who’s right or wrong at all and are simply trying to gain power or get something we want. We do this sometimes in our daily lives with other people and, more consequentially, we even do this when it comes to God and His holy Word.
Stories, or parables, have a way of getting past our defenses and our self-interested filters. “What on earth is he talking about?” is a better response than “I know what you’re saying already and it’s dead wrong.” One reason Jesus told parables is not to hide the truth, but rather to sneak the truth into our hearts when we’ve tried to shut it out.
The poet Emily Dickinson has the best explanation I know of for why Jesus spoke in parables. I’ll give her the last word:
Tell all the truth but tell it slant —
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise
As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind —
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