As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. And He was saying to them, "To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN."
Jesus’ disciples ask Jesus independently from the crowds about his teaching. Jesus says that he speaks in parables so that the majority of people could not understand them. He uses complex parables, so that only the disciples can understand them. Jesus only wants his teaching to be understood by those who are submitting to him. This is a result of the general rejection of the miracles he does—so only those who submit to God’s work can receive God’s truth, even though everyone hears the teaching. If they heard, they would be forgiven. Jesus then responds in amazement that the disciples didn’t already understand the parable. Perhaps this is because he expected the Spirit of God to explain it to them.
Jesus only teaches in confusion in order to separate those who believe in Him from those who do not. It is an act of faith and trust in Jesus that the stories not only make sense, but that Jesus is willing to give a straightforward interpretation.
It is a sign of a lack of faith in interpreters that they attempt to understand the parables apart from Jesus' explanation. They may not like Jesus' explanation, but it is the only one that really makes sense. So, rather than use our own imagination to understand the parables, we should instead examine what Jesus said about them.
Funny, how it keeps having to do with focusing on Jesus.
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