"Why did Jesus teach in parables?"?

Answer 1

"And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" Jesus answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

In truth, there are many who prefer not being bothered by facts and evidence when the lies they believe better suit their immediate purposes. Indeed, the parables of our Lord Jesus are addressed only to those with willing ears. So, in summary, why did Jesus teach in parables? (1) To teach truth to those who were eager to hear. (2) To conceal truth from those who had no desire for it

Answer 2

Scripture tells why. Look at these verses:

Mat 13:34 All these things spake Jesus in parables unto the multitudes; and without a parable spake he nothing unto them:
Mat 13:35 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.

Hope that helps. It is all in 'the Book'.

Answer 3

Jesus did not prepare scripture on my own. and far of what hes suggested and did is area of our -- Catholic -- unwritten historic previous. the hot testomony isn't a transcript of each and every second of Jesus's existence or ministry. that is the tale of the fondation and early formation of the catholic churhc. The Gosples are the speivifc trainng that Jesus first bishops recived at his hand -- He hadn alternatives them trains them appoints a frontrunner, ordains him is crucified rises form the ded and ordains the last. Int he intervening time instuting the scaraments. The gosples are more beneficial and outline highlighten the most iimportant spects of Jesus's mission which grow to be to discovered His kingdom on earth, which contain teh instution of the sacraments. UNderstood in this contxt sripture makes perfect experience. outside of this context it makes no experience and all kinds of errenous notions and missunderstandings are produced. This si why -- the context -- it is really elementary for a catholic to communicate a protestant particualrly the sola -scrupture or "fundies" becasue all of us understand the trutht and the actual context so we've the reality with us, and would easliy straineout fake suggestions brough about through each and every indiviudal inperpting the owrds for themselves. So no no longer some thing will be added fro the reality Jesu gave scripture that is maximum ideal and definitely exalted palce yet he did not convey the idea of sola sripture or he would have wrote himslef, he would have spent his time writng and not in any respect fouodning he church. Sola scripture is a spread of idolatry which negates the actul jesus, aND UINDEED a personal REALTIONSTHP WITH HIM it is in trouble-free terms accessible through the sacrametns.. It elavtes the bible to the sataus of God. certainly many call it the note of god at the same time as in reality weknow that jesus is the note of god and the bible includes the words of god.

Answer 4

When speaking in parables, Jesus was not hiding truth from sincere seekers, because those who were receptive to spiritual truth understood the illustrations. To others they were only stories without meaning. This allowed Jesus to give spiritual food to those who hungered for it while preventing his enemies from trapping him sooner than they might otherwise have done.

Answer 5

It's because creation itself is laid out in parables.

The story of life, death and resurrection is told in the rising and setting of the sun, the life cycles of moths and butterflies, and going to sleep at night is a symbol of death while waking up with the sun is one of resurrection.

Night and day is a parable of good and evil. The sun and moon were set in the sky as "omens" of the ruler of light and the ruler of darkness, and the stars are the representitives of those who share in the stakes of the war between good and evil.

Marriage is a parable of our relationship with God.

Farming is a parable of the creation of life as well as our death and resurrection (Paul pointed this out in I Corinthians 15).

It was Jesus' mastery of these parables that identifies him best as the creator; someone who can effortlessly speak from the point of view of the creator.

(The immitation of these parables built into creation can be seen in written documents dating almost back to the invention of writing.)

Answer 6

He did this mostly because the common folk where not well educated and were Farmers or Fishermen etc and His parables made use of this fact to enable them to see His point.

Answer 7

Because a story teaches a lot more than being literal. The same ways as examples teach.

Answer 8

Stories stick to the mind like peanut butter to the roof of your mouth. At some level the human mind works clearest in narrative, it seems to me. He had a pretty much illiterate audience, so it wasn't like he could hand out flyers with his main points highlighted, or run a PowerPoint presentation.

Answer 9

It's a Jewish thing. It's just how the oral tradition was passed along in Jewish communities at that time. The same stories were often told with minor changes made to create the relevance for times as they changed.

Answer 10

It has been said that a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. For our purposes, this is a good working definition, as even a casual reading of the Gospels reveals that our Lord Jesus frequently used parables as a means of illustrating profound, divine truths. But were these truths given for the understanding of all or were these truths revealed to some but hidden from many others? Consider the following passage that appears in Matthew’s Gospel record:



"And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" Jesus answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

'YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND;

YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE;

FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL,

WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR,

AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES,

OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES,

HEAR WITH THEIR EARS,

AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN,

AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.'

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly 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" (Matthew 13:10-17).



Our Lord Jesus understood that truth is not sweet music to all ears. Simply put, there are those who have neither interest nor regard in the deep things of God. So why, then, did He speak in parables? To those with a genuine hunger for God, the parable is both an effective and memorable vehicle for the conveyance of divine truths. Our Lord’s parables contain great volumes of truth in very few words—and His parables, rich in imagery, are not easily forgotten. So, then, the parable is a blessing to those with willing ears.



But to those with dull hearts and ears that are slow to hear, the parable is also an instrument of both judgment and mercy. How can this be? Bible commentator John MacArthur explained, “…judgment because it kept them in the darkness that they loved (cf. John 3:19); but mercy because they had already rejected the light, so any exposure to more truth would only increase their condemnation.”