Why Jesus Spoke in Parables

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Jesus used parables in his teachings and some wonder why. His disciples wondered and asked him.

Matthew 13:10-17

And the disciples came, and said unto Him, Why speakest Thou unto them in parables?

A great multitude had gathered to listen to Jesus Christ teach. But he was speaking in parables and the disciples wanted to know why.

He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

The ones that receive this knowledge are called God's elect or the saints. In Romans 11:4-10 it tells us that the election have received eyes to see and ears to hear and the rest have been blinded.

For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

This is talking about understanding the deeper truths of the Bible. God opens the eyes and ears of the elect and they have more understanding of the Bible.

Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

God has given the spirit of slumber to some people and no matter how hard one of God's elect tries to explain the deeper truths, they will not understand. Only God can open the eyes and ears of a person. It's important to understand why God has given the spirit of slumber to some people in order to understand this.

And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

This is quoting from Isaiah 6:9-10 This also brings to mind IIThessalonians 2:10-12 where it tells us that God shall send strong delusion to the people that did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. This all goes back to the first earth age and the rebellion of Satan. The people that made a stand against Satan in the first earth age are God's elect in this earth age. God has given them eyes to see and ears to hear to help him in his plan. God knows he can count on them to get the job done as they have proven themselves in making a stand against Satan in the first earth age.

But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

People living in this generation that have eyes to see and ears to hear are blessed because they see God's prophecy being fulfilled and understand the signs of the times. They know who the antichrist will be and what his plans are. They know that he will come back to earth before Jesus Christ comes back for anyone. They understand what the mark of the beast is and the truth about the rapture among other things.

Matthew 13:34-35

All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake He not unto them:
That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.

Verse 35 is a quote from Psalms 78:2 For the people with eyes to see and ears to hear, the parables of Jesus reveal things which have been kept secret since the start of this second earth age.

God's elect are to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. God's elect are given eyes to see and ears to hear so they understand the deeper truth of the Bible. As we are told in Romans 11:4-10 the rest have been blinded to these deeper truths. Now some people might think that is not fair and wonder why only God's elect receive this wisdom. Well first off, God is always fair. Second He knows that he can count on his elect to get the job done. You see, it really shows God's love for his children that he has given the spirit of slumber to some. I say that because of the unforgivable sin. Only God's elect can commit the unforgivable sin because they are the only ones that really understand what it is.

[Claudia]

Jesus Christ was sent by the Father to anunciate the Kingdom of God. This is not a phisical place. The Kingdom of God is God itself. We can reach Him by saying Yes to His word and by Prayers.
The Kingdom of God is very hard for us to understand, that why it is called a Mistery (you will never understand it perfectly, but you still can believe it with the eyes of faith).
The way Jesus found to make us all understand what kind of kingdom is this, was speaking in Parables: tipical stories about tipical events on daily life.
For all this we can see how Jesus was a real observer of humanity.
On the other hand, they stories that are supposed to puncture our assumptions and make us say “aha!”. When people begin to say aha! that’s the first stage of transformation.
My favorit parables are The Good Samaritan and The Prodigal Son.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Yes, if you understand a parable, it puts an image in your head that you can relate to. I think it's amazing that people don't understand parables, it's so simple a child could understand it if he uses his brain power a bit. I guess this only goes to prove what Jesus was saying, that some people really have blinders on, and ears that hear all the babble except for the truth and the living word. No one gets a free ride to heaven, and the people with the spirit of slumber will get their chance at the truth in the millenium period, but even then, many will fall short.

[coralie]

in another thread similar to this one i said this :

Originally Posted by coralie

ce qui sont familier avec la Bible et les enseignements du Christe devrait comprendre le sens de ces petites histoires "metaphores" qu'il a souvent utiliser pour pouvoir fair parvenir son message de facon claire mais aussi d'une facon aussi simple et pure pour que les plus demunis puissent le comprendre . donc il se referait toujours aux choses les plus simples comme l'arbre ou autres exemples de la vie de tous les jours !

Jesus used the parabole or the metaphore to make the lesson or the message easy to understand for the poor uneducated normal ppl ... but this was also a lesson to show how much "educated" "rich" ppl are so blind that they cant even understand a simple story that can lead them to the truth >> to salvation ! this proves how much their minds are blind not only the mind but also the hearts .

[Bodhisattva]

The Kingdom of God is a Grain of Mustard Seed.

[Stella]

Originally Posted by Bodhisattva

The Kingdom of God is a Grain of Mustard Seed.

Good one:)

Furthermore:

"Jesus said, "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the (Father's) kingdom is within you and it is outside you."


"Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death."

[Bodhisattva]

The limitations of the spoken language to transmit or express the profoundness of truth is apparent. Metaphors, parables, stories work like means and tools to trigger us into experiential insight, into realizing these insights for ourselves and to realize that they have always been there. Koan's are another tool or form of using parables to trigger insight.

it's all quite interesting :)

[Faithful]

The parables used by Jesus were inspired from daily human's life, he couldn't tell them things hard to understand. So he used their daily language to let all the people understand what he's saying, but unfortunatly some couldn't understand it.
Jesus's words were written from 2000 years and till now we feel that they are applied to our daily life. His words has no expiry date and will never be OLD.

[LebanonNation]

Did you notice how children like to hear most of these parables?? I still remember that when I was a child......

[Bodhisattva]

Originally Posted by LebanonNation

Did you notice how children like to hear most of these parables?? I still remember that when I was a child......

a childs mind is less polluted, less conditioned than an adults. Babies dont identify with their bodies for a while either :). In the beginning EVERYTHING is an extension of themselves. If only i can find that article, its quite interesting! Their parents, their surroundings, the furniture, everything :)

When mind is less polluted, realizing profoundness is easier and more natural. Many meditations or schools focus on demining the mind, dissecting the pollutants, removing the conditionings for one to see, realize truth. its always been there.. the IDEA of searching for it becomes an obstacle, its already there