WHY DID JESUS TEACH IN PARABLES?

1. One reason he taught in parables was to disguise his meaning enough that he would not get into trouble with the Roman authorities. (Robert Stein)

2. Another one was as a memory aid because of their striking character. The simplicity of the teaching appeals to the masses even if they don't fully understand their meaning. Parables simplified the deep truths of the kingdom so that the people could easily understand them, unless their hearts were hardened.

3, Jesus used parables extensively in his teachings because the spiritually obtuse crowd was not yet ready for the gospel message and would have immediately rejected it if taught plainly. Parables purposely obscured truth from some people so that they would not have the guilt of knowing the truth and rejecting it outright.

4. Jesus masked the message purposely through the use of unforgettable stories that they would mull over in their mind and recall after his death.

Parables can be mysterious, but that is only to stimulate thought.

As a teaching tool, parables stick in the mind and cause the listener to meditate on them, eventually coming to understanding which is deeper than if the truth had just been openly stated.

5. Veiling of truth was temporary to allow for a moral change in listener's life before being intellectually enlightened.

It was temporary concealment only from outsiders. But the pictures would remain in their mind and might instruct them after they converted. Moral commitment is desired before intellectual enlightenment. James Edwards compares understanding a parable to looking at a stained glass window from the inside of a building rather than from the outside.

6. “Parables create a world into which the listener is drawn and is at home. But the content of the parables challenges him and expands his world. The text interprets the reader, not vice versa.” (Dictionary of NT Theology)  Consider the example of Nathan's parable to King David.

“Truth embodied in a tale shall enter in at a lower door.” (New Bible Dictionary)

Kierkegaard: Parables deceive a person into the truth.

7. The most valuable lessons are the indirect teachings which we can truly make our own.

“Learning from and responding to a parabole is not a matter of simply reading off the meaning from the words, but of entering into an interactive process to which the hearer must contribute if true understanding is to result.” (France)

8. Besides blinding the callous “Yet the parables are also intended to have a jolting effect on the remnant who have become complacent among the compromising majority; in addition, a remnant of pseudo-believers are woken up and genuinely converted.” (G.K. Beale)

But Jesus himself explained why he taught in parables in Mark 4:10-12, paralleled by Matthew 13:10-16.

“When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve, asked him about the parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; in order that

    they may indeed look, but not perceive,

    and may indeed listen, but not understand;

    so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.'”

Jesus quotes from Isaiah 6:9-10: “And he said, “Go and say to this people: 'Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.' Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed.”

DUBIOUS INTERPRETATIONS

1. These words are not the words of Jesus (Hugh Anderson). They actually belonged to Mark's opponents. (Weeden)  The Interpreters Bible calls the teaching in vv. 11 and 12 “perverse.” It caters to the esoteric, group of enlightened insiders, Gnostics.

2. Sarcastic, ironic comment addressed to disciples who did not understand at all (see v. 13). Even with their advantages, his followers did not fully comprehend what he was telling them, and deserted Jesus.

                        3. An example of reverse psychology.

4. This saying was created by the early church to assure the readers that all of Jesus' teaching have been preserved and there were no remaining secret teachings. Thus, it was written to counteract the Gnostics.

5. Parables purposely obscured truth from some people so that they would not hear the truth and be saved. Calvinistic double predestination in view here. Predestination is not in mind: “It is the stance of willingness to hear and obey that determines whether one is outside or inside.” (Snodgrass) Virtually no commentators accept this as interpretation even though it is the plainest meaning. Contra: Parables in 7:14 and 12:1-12 were either meant by Jesus to be understood or were in fact understood by hearers. “If Jesus wanted to prevent understanding, it would have been easier just to remain silent.” (Snodgrass)

However, the purpose was communication, as evidenced by Matthew 13:34-35 quote from Psalm 78:2 proves. “Parables are not always obvious and self-explanatory, but even when enigmatic, their purpose is to enlighten.” (Snodgrass)

ACCEPTABLE INTERPRETATIONS

1. The most popular approach is to realize that the Hebrew mindset tended to express consequences as if they were purposes or commands. Thus, God is not telling Isaiah to purposely confuse the people through his prophecies, but warning him that will be the probable result of his teachings. Another clear-cut example of this would be Jesus' saying that he came not to bring peace but the sword.

2. One has to realize that Jesus is quoting the Aramaic version of a saying in Isaiah originally written in Hebrew. We know this because the ending word “forgiven” instead of “healed” only appears in the Aramaic version. Then Mark subsequently translates this into Greek. So there are a number of places where the translation of words is a bit ambiguous.

a. “So that they may indeed look but not perceive” can be translated as “who do not perceive.”

b. “Lest they turn and be forgiven” could be translated “unless they turn” or “perhaps they will turn.”

c. “So that” may be Mark's shorthand for “so that the scripture might be fulfilled which says” followed by the quotation with an emphasis on the  first clause.

3. Regarding Matthew 13:13, Hendricksen says, “It was because the willful rejectors refused to see and hear that Jesus spoke to them in parables in order that they might not see and hear.”

4. The Isaiah quotation is used to explain who the outsiders are, not why parables are used. Thus, Matthew 13:12 would read “namely those who see. And do not perceive..”

5. “Parables” (note the plural in verses 10-11) This is not the first time that Jesus used various types of figurative speech (at least seven earlier examples). The best translation of parabole in this context could be “riddles/mysteries/secrets” and have little to do with parables as we understand them. CONFIRMATION: “Everything comes” (lit. “all things happen”) does not sound like it is referring to any teaching. It expresses not just the parables of Jesus, but his whole ministry. In the Bible, “mystery/secret” always means something previously concealed but now revealed by God, not something that only a few get to hear. (see Mark 4:22): Hidden But Now Revealed by Beale and Gladd. Parables and all of Jesus' teachings and actions remained a mystery to those around him INCLUDING THE APOSTLES until post-resurrection faith.