Why did Jesus speak in parables?
Matthew 13:10-17
10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.
13 This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “ ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused; 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.’
16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.
17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
New International Version (NIV)
The answer
Jesus spoke in parables to give understanding to those given to know, and to conceal the truth from hard-hearted hearers — fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy of judicial hardening.
Matthew 13:10-17 is Jesus' own answer to this question, and it moves in three steps.
To reveal to those given to know
Matthew 13:11 — "To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them." The parables are not riddles meant to lock everyone out; they are a privileged disclosure to those the Father is drawing. Matthew 13:16-17 then says the disciples' eyes and ears are blessed, because prophets and righteous men of old longed to see and hear what they now see and hear.
To conceal from the hard-hearted
Matthew 13:13 — "Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don't see, and hearing, they don't hear, neither do they understand." The form of the teaching itself becomes a judgment. Matthew 13:14-15 quotes Isaiah 6:9-10: this people's heart has grown callous, their ears dull, their eyes closed — "or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and would turn again, and I would heal them." Their continued refusal has hardened them, and the parable form keeps the truth at a surface they cannot penetrate.
The principle behind it
Matthew 13:12 — "For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever doesn't have, from him will be taken away even that which he has." The same Word that opens one heart closes another.
Mark 4:33-34 keeps both ends together: Jesus "with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it." And Mark 4:10 records that He explained the meaning privately to those who came and asked — the parables did not silence the seekers.
Answered from Scripture · reviewed November 8, 2026
Jesus spoke in parables neither to amuse crowds nor simply to simplify complex ideas, but as a deliberate instrument of divine disclosure and judicial concealment. To those granted faith, parables unveil the hidden mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; to those who stubbornly reject His word, they conceal divine truth in judgment, fulfilling ancient prophecy.
Divine Disclosure
The Mysteries of the Kingdom Given to the Humble
He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
Matthew 13:11 (NIV)
Jesus explicitly declares that spiritual understanding is sovereignly granted to His disciples while withheld from those outside.
In Matthew 13:11, the Lord cuts through the common assumption that His illustrations were merely folksy sermon aids meant to make difficult truths simple: spiritual comprehension is a sovereign gift granted to disciples and withheld from the self-satisfied. When the disciples come asking why He addresses the vast multitudes through riddles and narratives (Matthew 13:10), Christ does not say He wants to make His message popular. Instead, He draws an absolute dividing line between those given ears to hear and those left to their own darkness. To the humble learner who clings to Christ in faith, parables unveil the intimate secrets of heaven's kingdom. Luke 8:10 reiterates that these holy mysteries are deliberately guarded, entrusted solely to those drawn by grace.
This sovereign difference evokes wonder rather than boasting. Christ pronounces a solemn benediction over His followers in Matthew 13:16, declaring their eyes blessed because they see, and their ears blessed because they hear. The greatest patriarchs, kings, and seers of the old covenant longed to behold the substance of what the humble disciples now witnessed at Christ's feet, yet they died waiting in hope (Matthew 13:17). Jesus raises this very praise in Matthew 11:25-26, thanking His Father, the Lord of heaven and earth, for concealing these realities from the haughty, worldly-wise scholars and opening them freely to spiritual infants. Luke 10:21-24 captures this divine joy again, showing that God's hidden counsel is never wrested away by human intellect or self-righteous striving. The parable meets the humble seeker as an open doorway into divine wisdom, welcoming the child of God into an intimacy that ancient prophets yearned to experience.
| Passage | What it says |
|---|---|
| Matthew 13:10 | The disciples ask Jesus directly why He speaks to the crowds in parables. |
| Matthew 13:11 | Jesus affirms it is given to disciples to know kingdom mysteries, but not to the crowd. |
| Matthew 13:16 | Jesus pronounces the disciples' eyes and ears blessed because they truly see and hear. |
| Matthew 13:17 | Prophets and righteous men of old longed to witness what the disciples now experience. |
| Luke 8:10 | Jesus states that parables prevent outsiders from perceiving the secrets of God's reign. |
| Matthew 11:25-26 | Jesus thanks the Father for hiding these things from the wise and understanding and revealing them to little children. |
| Luke 10:21-24 | Jesus rejoices that the Father reveals kingdom truths to babes and blesses disciples who see what prophets longed to see. |
Judicial Concealment
Judgment on Hard Hearts Fulfills Ancient Prophecy
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “ ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; 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.’
Matthew 13:14-15 (NIV)
Christ points directly to Isaiah's commission to explain that callous rebellion leads to sovereign blinding.
When Christ turns to figurative speech, He acts not merely as an instructor but as a divine Judge, citing Isaiah 6:9-10 to explain that persistent rebellion invites the terrible judgment of judicial hardening. In Matthew 13:14-15, Jesus explicitly declares that Israel's dullness of heart fulfils Isaiah's ancient commission: unbelief that refuses the light is ultimately confirmed in sovereign blindness. For centuries, prophets like Jeremiah had rebuked an obstinate nation who possessed physical eyes yet saw nothing, and ears yet heard nothing of God's heart (Jeremiah 5:21). Ezekiel witnessed the exact same spiritual tragedy among his exiled contemporaries, mourning a rebellious house numb to divine speech (Ezekiel 12:2). When the Son of God arrived in human flesh, performing unprecedented wonders in their midst, the nation hardened itself anew against His person.
Therefore, Christ speaks in parables so that 'seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand' (Matthew 13:13). Mark 4:11-12 preserves the stark, uncompromising reality that outsiders are left with baffling riddles lest they turn in superficial remorse and be healed without true repentance. John 12:37-41 points back to that same terrifying vision from Isaiah 6, observing that despite countless signs done before their very eyes, the people could not believe because God had blinded their eyes and hardened their heart. The parable is an act of mercy to the open-hearted, but to the determined rebel, it serves as a holy cloak that conceals the pearl from those who would only trample it, confirming the sinner in the dark path he has willfully chosen.
| Passage | What it says | Fulfilled |
|---|---|---|
| Isaiah 6:9-10 | God commands Isaiah to speak to a people whose hearts have become dull, blind, and deaf. | Matthew 13:14-15, Mark 4:11-12, Luke 8:10 |
| Matthew 13:13 | Jesus explains He speaks in parables because the people see without seeing and hear without understanding. | |
| Matthew 13:14-15 | Jesus cites Isaiah 6 to demonstrate that Israel's callousness fulfills prophetic warnings of judicial hardening. | |
| Mark 4:11-12 | Mark records that for outsiders everything remains in parables lest they turn and be forgiven. | |
| John 12:37-41 | John cites Isaiah's blinding vision to explain widespread unbelief despite Jesus' many signs and public discourses. | |
| Ezekiel 12:2 | Ezekiel describes a rebellious house that possesses eyes to see but sees not, and ears to hear but hears not. | |
| Jeremiah 5:21 | Jeremiah addresses a foolish people without understanding, having eyes yet seeing not, and ears yet hearing not. |
The Law of Response
Light Welcomed Multiplies While Light Refused Is Lost
Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.
Matthew 13:12 (NIV)
Jesus articulates the spiritual law governing all reception of His teaching: receptivity gains more, while resistance forfeits everything.
The parables operate according to an unbending spiritual law that governs every human soul under the ministry of the Word: faith multiplies light, while neglect forfeits even the light once possessed. In Matthew 13:12, Christ establishes this sobering principle as the fundamental hinge of His teaching method: whoever has will be given more, and he will enjoy abundant supply; but whoever lacks, even what he seems to have will be torn away. Spiritual neutrality is an impossibility when hearing Christ. The heart that receives His speech with honest faith becomes enlarged to comprehend still greater depths, while the heart that evaluates His words with indifferent curiosity steadily atrophies until its borrowed spiritual light is snuffed out completely.
Because this danger is acute, Jesus sounds the warning in Mark 4:24-25, urging all who listen to 'take care what you hear,' reminding them that the standard of diligence they bring to God's Word will be the exact measure of understanding measured back to them. Luke 8:18 sharpens the admonition further: 'Take care then how you hear.' It is not enough to stand within earshot of the truth; one must hear with brokenness, obedience, and reverence. The Lord repeats this very axiom at the culmination of His earthly ministry in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:29) and the Minas (Luke 19:26). The unfaithful servant, having hoarded what was entrusted to him out of a cold and suspicious heart, loses his stewardship forever. The parables continually confront the hearer with this reckoning: every story invites the responsive soul into eternal treasure, while leaving the careless listener spiritually destitute.
| Passage | What it says |
|---|---|
| Matthew 13:12 | To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who lacks, even what he has is stripped. |
| Mark 4:24-25 | Jesus warns hearers to take care what they hear, for the measure they use will be measured back to them. |
| Luke 8:18 | Christ exhorts the crowd to take heed how they hear, reiterating the loss facing the unresponsive. |
| Matthew 25:29 | To everyone who has will more be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. |
| Luke 19:26 | The master states that to everyone who has, more will be given, while the unfaithful loses even what he possesses. |
Prophetic Purpose
Revealing Things Kept Secret From the Foundation of the World
I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter hidden things, things from of old—
Psalms 78:2 (NIV)
Asaph's ancient psalm is identified as a prophetic blueprint for the Messiah's riddle-like parables.
Centuries before the Incarnation, Asaph penned an inspired song that outlined the very method the Messiah would employ to declare God's eternal purposes. In Psalm 78:2, the psalmist writes by the Holy Spirit: 'I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old.' This historic hymn, which rehearses the long chronicle of God's redemptive patience with a wandering people, served as an unmistakable prophetic pattern. When Christ stood on the shores of Galilee and spoke of seed, soil, nets, and leaven, He was unsealing the eternal decrees that had been veiled since the dawn of creation.
Matthew records the direct fulfilment of this prophetic design in Matthew 13:34-35, noting that Jesus deliberately addressed the crowds with parables and spoke nothing to them without one. This practice was not an improvised speaking style, but the precise realization of Asaph's prophetic marker. Through these earthly comparisons, Christ reveals the mystery of the kingdom—how it would enter the world silently like a mustard seed, grow unseen like yeast, and culminate in an eternal separation of righteous and wicked at the harvest. What was hidden from ancient sages and concealed under shadows is openly proclaimed in Christ. The prophetic riddle becomes, through the Messiah's lips, the vessel that carries ancient revelation to its glorious, final clarity for those who follow Him.
| Passage | What it says | Fulfilled |
|---|---|---|
| Psalms 78:2 | The psalmist declares he will open his mouth in a parable and utter dark sayings from of old. | Matthew 13:34-35 |
| Matthew 13:34-35 | Matthew shows Jesus spoke nothing without a parable to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet. |
Pastoral Care
Meeting Hearers Where Able and Explaining to Seekers
With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
Mark 4:33-34 (NIV)
Mark balances Christ's parabolic public speech with His private instruction to earnest disciples.
Mark 4:33-34 captures the exquisite tenderness and sovereignty of the Master's pedagogy: Jesus tailored His parabolic speech to what crowds could bear, while reserving exhaustive explanations for those drawn close in devotion. Parables acted as merciful accommodation, wrapping infinite heavenly weight in finite earthly garments so casual hearers would not be crushed by light they lacked the capacity to digest. Yet this public restraint was intentionally designed to awaken hunger in true seekers. Earlier, in Mark 4:10, those who lingered after the crowd dispersed were invited into personal dialogue, proving that genuine understanding requires remaining near Christ. Similarly, Matthew 13:36 records how the disciples left the press of the shoreline to follow Him into the house, petitioning Him directly to unravel the parable of the weeds. Christ never turns away a soul who draws near in honest inquiry. To the hurried passerby, the story remained a seed cast upon the surface; to the quiet disciple sitting at His feet, private communion unlocked the deepest secrets of the kingdom.
| Passage | What it says |
|---|---|
| Mark 4:10 | When Jesus was alone, the twelve and those around Him approached to ask about the parable. |
| Mark 4:33-34 | Jesus spoke the word in parables as they were able to hear it, explaining everything privately to His disciples. |
| Matthew 13:36 | The disciples enter the house and ask Jesus to explain the parable of the weeds in the field. |
Convicting the Opponent
Parables Exposed Hypocrisy and Compelled Self-Judgment
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them.
Matthew 21:45 (NIV)
It demonstrates how parables penetrated religious pretension, bringing hearers to recognize their own indictment before God.
Matthew 21:45 lays bare the incisive, judicial power of Christ's teaching: the parables pierced the hard shell of self-righteousness until the opponents realized the indictment was aimed squarely at them. Far from gentle, harmless illustrations, these stories acted as brilliant diagnostic traps. The tradition of prophetic parabolic entrapment stretches back to the Old Testament, where Nathan confronted an unrepentant king in 2 Samuel 12:1-7 with the theft of a poor man's ewe lamb, compelling David to pronounce his own condemnation before hearing the verdict: 'You are the man.' In the exact same manner, Jesus confronted the corrupt custodians of the vineyard. In Matthew 21:45-46, Mark 12:12, and Luke 20:19, the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees clearly understood that the parable of the wicked tenants foretold their own stripping and destruction. Yet instead of breaking their hearts in repentance, the truth inflamed their hatred toward the Son, unmasking their murderously hardened posture and confirming God's just condemnation.
| Passage | What it says |
|---|---|
| Matthew 21:45-46 | The chief priests and Pharisees perceive Jesus speaks of them in parables and seek arrest, fearing the crowds. |
| Mark 12:12 | The religious leaders seek to seize Jesus because they know He spoke the parable of the tenants against them. |
| Luke 20:19 | Scribes and chief priests seek to lay hands on Him immediately, perceiving He told the parable against them. |
| 2 Samuel 12:1-7 | Nathan uses a parable of a stolen ewe lamb to elicit David's own righteous judgment against his guilt. |
Where in the Bible
| Book | Passages |
|---|---|
| 2 Samuel | 1 · 2 Samuel 12:1-7 |
| Psalms | 1 · Psalms 78:2 |
| Isaiah | 1 · Isaiah 6:9-10 |
| Jeremiah | 1 · Jeremiah 5:21 |
| Ezekiel | 1 · Ezekiel 12:2 |
| Matthew | 12 · Matthew 13:10, Matthew 13:11, Matthew 13:16, Matthew 13:17, Matthew 11:25-26, Matthew 13:13, Matthew 13:14-15, Matthew 13:12, Matthew 25:29, Matthew 13:34-35, Matthew 13:36, Matthew 21:45-46 |
| Mark | 5 · Mark 4:11-12, Mark 4:24-25, Mark 4:10, Mark 4:33-34, Mark 12:12 |
| Luke | 5 · Luke 8:10, Luke 10:21-24, Luke 8:18, Luke 19:26, Luke 20:19 |
| John | 1 · John 12:37-41 |
The story in order
- God commissions Isaiah (c. 700 BC) · Isaiah 6:9-10 · Foretells a people who will not understand God's word.
- Jeremiah addresses a foolish people (c. 600 BC) · Jeremiah 5:21 · Describes those with eyes and ears who do not perceive.
- Ezekiel describes a rebellious house (c. 580 BC) · Ezekiel 12:2 · God uses a parable to show their blindness and deafness.
- Psalmist declares dark sayings (c. 700 BC) · Psalms 78:2 · Promises to speak parables and hidden things from the past.
- Nathan's parable convicts David (c. 1000 BC) · 2 Samuel 12:1-7 · A parable elicits self-judgment from a guilty king.
- Jesus begins teaching in parables (c. AD 30) · Matthew 13:3 · He speaks in parables to the crowds.
- Disciples ask Jesus why parables (c. AD 30) · Matthew 13:10 · They inquire about His method of teaching.
- Jesus explains parables to disciples (c. AD 30) · Matthew 13:11 · Kingdom mysteries are given to them, but not the crowds.
- Jesus explains parables fulfill prophecy (c. AD 30) · Matthew 13:13 · He cites Isaiah 6 to explain their lack of understanding.
- Jesus explains the law of response (c. AD 30) · Matthew 13:12 · More is given to those who have, less to those who lack.
- Religious leaders perceive parables against them (c. AD 30) · Mark 12:12 · They understand Jesus' parables expose their hypocrisy.
- Jesus explains parables privately (c. AD 30) · Mark 4:34 · He explains everything to His disciples later.
- John cites Isaiah on unbelief (c. AD 30) · John 12:37-41 · Explains unbelief despite Jesus' signs and teaching.
Key words
- Parable (parabolē, παραβολή)
- A simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson. · Matthew 13:3
- Kingdom of Heaven (basileia tōn ouranōn, βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν)
- The reign and rule of God, manifested in Christ. · Matthew 13:11
- Mysteries (mystērion, μυστήριον)
- Revealed truths about God's plan, previously hidden. · Matthew 13:11
- Judicial Concealment (pōroō, πωρόω (to make hard/dull))
- God hardening hearts as a form of judgment. · Matthew 13:15
- Hear (akouō, ἀκούω)
- To perceive with the ear and understand. · Matthew 13:13
- See (blepō, βλέπω)
- To perceive with the eye and understand. · Matthew 13:13
Christ's parables still divide humanity along the lines of the heart: revealing eternal life to those who seek Him and leaving the proud in their chosen darkness. Let the one who has ears to hear come to Christ in humble faith, receiving the light of His kingdom.
28 passages, each cited once.
Scripture cited
- Matthew 13:10-17
- Mark 4:33-34
- Mark 4:10