I would like to open with an illustration by Lifeway author Christine Hoover. She tells of the time her husband, Kyle, used her in a sermon illustration and spoke of her inability to perfect a pecan pie. She testifies, “That particular Sunday, I was serving in the nursery, and as parents came to pick up their children, I became deeply confused as to why so many were offering me their favorite pecan pie recipes. After a few of these offers, it dawned on me that Kyle had probably said something about my recent attempts at baking … Just like my fellow church members remembered the pecan pie illustration long after Kyle’s sermon ended, Jesus’ parables are a gift to us as we seek to understand intangible realities of the kingdom. They take gospel truths and create a deeper, more memorable imprint.”(1)
I have entitled our message this morning, “Why Speak in Parables?” based on the very question the disciples asked in our passage. Jesus spoke in parables frequently. There are about thirty-five parables recorded in the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.(2) Fourteen percent of Matthew is comprised of parables, Mark contains seven percent, and the parables in Luke comprise eighteen percent.(3) According to Mark 4:34, “He did not say anything to them without using a parable,” leading us to believe that not all His parables were recorded (cf. John 21:25). As we look at the reason Jesus gave as to why He used this storytelling device, we will discover that there is more to it than helping people remember His teachings. The listener who pursues understanding will receive both healing and blessing, and ultimately come to know God.
He Who Seeks Will Find (vv. 10-12)
10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” 11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”
In verse 10, the disciples asked Jesus, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” I believe a definition is in order, as week seek to understand the use of parables. The word “parable” is derived from the Greek word parabolé, which literally means “putting things side by side”(4) or “placing beside.”(5) Para means “beside” or “alongside,”(6) and ballo means “to throw” or “to lay down.”(7) Thus, “the word parable means ‘to cast alongside’.”(8) It is a story that is placed alongside a teaching to help illustrate the teaching and make it more memorable, and to illustrate a certain truth.(9) Jesus spoke of objects or situations that correspond to daily life, but represent kingdom principles. The simple definition of a parable is this: It is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.(10)
In verse 11, the answer Jesus provided as to why He spoke in parables is this: “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” This answer seems confusing, especially when combined with verse 12, because it appears as though Jesus has appointed some people to understand the mysteries of the kingdom and others are predestined to never understand. So, let us go deeper and see if we can figure out what Jesus intended by this statement.
The word mystery (musterion) was used in a special way. “To us, a mystery means simply something which is dark and difficult . . . to understand, something which is ‘mysterious.’ But in New Testament times, a mystery was the technical name for something which was dark and unintelligible to the outsider, but which was crystal clear to the man who had been initiated and who therefore had learned to understand its meaning.”(11) “It is not a mystery in the sense that it is incomprehensible,”(12) but rather, it is “known only to those ‘on the inside’ who learn from the Lord and obey Him.”(13)
Commentator William Barclay explains that “Jesus says to His disciples, ‘Outsiders cannot understand what I say; but you know Me; you are My disciples; you can understand.’ The great fact of Christianity is that it can only be understood from the inside. It is only after a personal encounter with Jesus Christ that a man can understand . . . It is only the man who is prepared to become a disciple who can enter into the most precious things of the Christian faith.”(14) To draw a parallel, the unbeliever often finds the Bible confusing and difficult to understand; but once he is saved, the Scripture then comes to life. This is because the new believer now has the Holy Spirit to enlighten him to the mysteries of the kingdom.
In verse 12, Jesus said, “For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” Barclay states that the truth presented here is an unescapable law of life.(15) Commentator Adam Clarke elaborates how “this is an allusion to a common custom in all countries: he who possesses much or is rich, to such a person [gifts] are ordinarily given . . . The poor man, he that has little, may be easily made prey of and so lose”(16) the little that he has. This statement, which was “well known in rabbinic Judaism,”(17) “implies that if one does not take the opportunities presented, the opportunities will be denied.”
“Jesus told the disciples that because of their receptivity, they had been able to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. The crowds, for the most part, lacked this receptivity. Those who were already receptive would be given increased understanding. Those who were already closed to the truth would become even more blind and deaf to it.”(18) Simply stated, “Whoever desires to understand will understand, and whoever does not have that desire will fall farther from the truth.”
All me to apply this truth to salvation. The person who hungers after heavenly knowledge, and takes the opportunity to pursue, will acquire it; and the one who seeks after Christ, will come to know His forgiveness and salvation. But if a person does not seek after these things, they cannot be attained; and what little the individual does have, like his or her mortal life, will be taken away. Isaiah declared, “Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:6), and Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).
He Who Seeks Is Healed (vv. 13-15)
13 “Therefore, I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; 15 for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them’.”
In verse 13, Jesus said, “Therefore, I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” This verse appears “to make the extraordinary statement that Jesus spoke to [people] in parables in order that they might not understand, and in order to prevent them from turning to God and finding forgiveness.”(19) But this is not the case. Jesus was likely saying, “On account of this reason, I speak to them in parables, because, seeing the miracles which I have wrought, they see not the reason why I performed them, and hearing my teaching, they listen not, and are unable to profit by what is spoken, neither do they understand and apply it to their hearts.”(20)
Verses 14-15 are based on Isaiah 6:9-10, which says, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed.” These verses make “it sound as if God had deliberately blinded the eyes, and deafened the ears and hardened the hearts of the people, so that they would be unable to understand,” but, according to Barclay, the text clearly “removes the responsibility from God and lays it fairly and squarely upon the people.”(21)
Listen closely, as I read verses 14-15 by piecing together the God’s Word Translation and the New Heart English Bible: “Go and tell these people, ‘No matter how closely you listen, you’ll never understand. No matter how closely you look, you’ll never see’ (God’s Word Translation). The heart of this people has grown dull, and their ears sluggish, and they have closed their eyes, otherwise they might see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn back, and I would heal them” (New Heart English Bible). God did not make the hearts of the people dull, nor stop their ears and shut their eyes. The people themselves refused to seek after understanding. It was their own personal decision!
Commentator Frank Stagg says, “The price of refusing to hear is that one becomes deaf, just as the price of refusing to see is blindness.”(22) “The principle taught is that God can impart His higher gifts to those alone who are open to receive. Those not having this openness sink deeper into their deafness and blindness.”(23) In other words, if we diligently seek to understand Jesus’ teachings and the words of the Bible, we will both see and understand; and thus, be healed. In Proverbs 8:17 we read, “I love those who love Me, and those who seek Me diligently will find Me.” Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
For those desiring “spiritual healing” – to be forgiven of their sins and receive eternal life – they must diligently seek after Christ. Ephesians 2:8 says that it is “by grace you have been saved through faith.” A person must believe “in faith” that Jesus is God’s one and only Son, the sinless and perfect sacrifice Who laid down His life on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, and rose again from the grave victorious over sin and death; and confess Him as Savior and Lord, to be spiritually healed. We read in Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
He Who Seeks Is Blessed (vv. 16-17)
16 “But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; 17 for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
Jesus told His disciples, “Blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear.” This statement tells us that those who are diligent to seek after Christ will both see and hear; and thus, be blessed. So, is the seeing and hearing meant to be literal? Consider that Jesus’ disciples literally and physically saw the Savior face to face! They saw His acts and miracles, and heard His teachings, as they followed their Rabbi and Master along the countryside and through the cities. But Jesus was likely referring to something more than just a physical encounter. Seeing with the eyes and hearing with the ears probably had a deeper meaning and spiritual counterpart.
In Ephesians 1:18, in the New International Version, the apostle Paul said, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance.” The phrase “that you may know the hope” (NIV), is rendered in the New Living Translation as “that you can understand the confident hope.” So, knowing equals understanding; and thus, understanding is the result of having the eyes of the heart enlightened. So, when Jesus told His disciples, “Blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear,” He was telling them they had a deeper level of understanding than others. They had a spiritual understanding!
In John 20:29, Jesus said to Thomas, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Thomas believed, because He had seen and beheld Jesus in actual physical form. But for those who have faith in Christ when they have never seen Him, their faith is much greater. To look beyond the physical and see with the eyes of the heart will lead to spiritual understanding, and thus, a great spiritual blessing; which is the knowledge of salvation in Christ and “the riches of His glorious inheritance” (Ephesians 1:18) prepared for those who believe.
In verse 17, Jesus said, “Many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see.” He was referring to the Old Testaments saints and prophets who did not live to see or hear the Messiah. But allow me to offer another application. There were many in Jesus’ time who did live to see Him. Some encountered Jesus maybe a year ago, and for others it had been just a few weeks or days. Sadly, people saw Him and heard Him, but they did not perceive and understand His words. The disciples understood, because they had abandoned everything to follow Christ and dedicate themselves to His teachings; and so, here is the application: Only those who truly desire the kingdom of heaven will follow Jesus and understand His parables and teachings. So, let us now skip down to verses 34-35.
He Who Seeks Knows God (vv. 34-35)
34 All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, 35 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.”
In these verses, the reason Jesus gave as to why He spoke in parables was to fulfill prophecy. The quote He uses is from Psalm 78, which is attributed to Asaph. He is “the prophet” who is mentioned here.(24) 1 Chronicles 25:2 specifically states, “Asaph . . . prophesied according to the order of the king.” Allow me to read Asaph’s words in Psalm 78:2-4: “I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.”
Although parables can be mysterious or seem to be shrouded in darkness, these verses imply something that is meant to be understood. “Things that have been hidden are now proclaimed, not concealed . . . Jesus taught in parables to be understood, not to veil His teaching.”(25) Asaph said, “We will not hide them from their children” (Psalm 78:4). But the Psalm of Asaph ultimately speaks of knowing the Lord and His works: “Telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done” (78:4). The person who truly seeks to follow Christ and understand His teachings will come to know Him; and thus know God. In knowing Jesus, we are forgiven of our sins and reconciled unto the heavenly Father.
Time of Reflection
So, allow me to summarize what we have learned today. Jesus stated that He spoke in parables because of the sluggishness of the people (Matthew 13:10-17) and because it was prophesied (Matthew 13:34-35). The purpose of the parables was to reveal the truth to those who wanted to know it, and to conceal the truth from those who were indifferent.(26) Jesus shared just enough truth to raise curiosity, promising more if His listeners went along, but also hiding enough of the truth that the complacent could walk away uninspired.(27) To them, the parables of Jesus would create only a greater fog.(28)
This principle applies to more than just the parables. It applies to all of Jesus teachings. We can either seek Him and understand the truth, or walk away uninspired and remain lost in sin. The listener who pursues understanding and arrives at the truth will receive spiritual healing and the blessing of eternal life. The truth is found in Jesus. In John 14:6, He declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” And so, I would like to close by extending an opportunity for you to walk the aisle and to publicly confess your faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, so you can be forgiven of your sins and receive eternal life.
NOTES
(1) Christian Hoover, “The Reference Desk: Why Jesus Taught Using Parables,” Lifeway Women: https://women.lifeway.com/2021/04/28/the-reference-desk-why-jesus-taught-using-parables/ (Accessed November 27, 2025).
(2) “What Is a Parable?” Got Questions: https://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-a-parable.html (Accessed November 4, 2025).
(3) Matthew contains 1071 total verses, 150 of which are parables; Mark contains 678 total verses, 44 of which are parables; and Luke contains 1151 total verses, 202 of which are parables.
(4) “Parable,” The New Bible Dictionary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1962.
(5) “What Is a Parable?” Got Questions.
(6) Strong, page 54 in the Greek dictionary.
(7) Ibid., page 18 in the Greek dictionary.
(8) Warren Wiersbe, “The Complete New Testament in One Volume,” The Wiersbe Bible Commentary (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2007), p. 37.
(9) “What Is a Parable?” Got Questions.
(10) Ibid.
(11) William Barclay, “The Gospel of Matthew,” The Daily Study Bible, vol. 2 (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1958), p. 72.
(12) David E. Garland, “Mark,” The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), p. 157.
(13) Wiersbe, p. 37.
(14) Barclay, p. 74.
(15) Ibid., p. 74.
(16) Adam Clarke, “Matthew to the Acts,” Clarke’s Commentary, vol. 5 (Nashville: Abingdon Press), p. 144.
(17) Ian Fair and Stephen Leston, ed., “Matthew Thru Mark,” Layman’s Bible Commentary, vol. 8 (Uhrichsville, OH: Barbour Publishing, 2008), p. 67.
(18) Clair M. Crissey, “Matthew,” Layman’s Bible Book Commentary, vol. 15 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1981), pp. 73-74.
(19) Barclay, p. 76.
(20) Clarke, p. 144.
(21) Barclay, p. 76.
(22) Frank Stagg, “Matthew,” The Broadman Bible Commentary, vol. 8 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1969), p. 154.
(23) Ibid., p. 154.
(24) Clarke, pp. 148-149.
(25) Stagg, p. 158.
(26) “What Is a Parable?” Got Questions.
(27) Walter A Elwell and Robert W. Yarbrough, Encountering the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 140
(28) “Matthew,” Holy Bible Baptist Study Edition (Nashville: Thomas Nelson), p. 1359.
