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Why did Jesus teach in mysterious parables—making truth harder to grasp, seemingly on purpose? In this thrilling episode of The Jimmy Akin Podcast, Jimmy dives deep into Jesus’ shocking answer in Mark 4, unpacks the Isaiah connection, explores the challenge for believers, and reveals how parables invite us into deeper truth while respecting human freedom. You won’t believe what’s really going on! Don’t miss this mind-bending look at the secrets of the Kingdom! Listen now!
TRANSCRIPT:
Coming Up
Jesus was known for doing something really mysterious.
As part of his ministry, he did teach people, but he taught in parables, making his teachings harder to understand.
And when his disciples asked him why he did this, his answer was really strange.
Let’s get into it!
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Howdy, folks!
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Introduction
In the Gospels, Jesus is known for teaching in parables. The parable of the sower, the parable of the prodigal son. The parable of the good Samaritan. And others.
He was so known for using parables that the disciples asked him why he did this, and he gave a really mysterious reply. In Mark 4, we read:
Mark 4:10-12, ESV
And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.
And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that
“‘they may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.’”
What does Jesus mean by this?
Let’s go through it a piece at a time.
Setting the Stage
So that we’ll have the context of Jesus’ statement, here’s how Mark sets up this passage in Mark 4:
Mark 4:1-2, ESV
Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.
And he was teaching them many things in parables.
So the crowd was so big that Jesus had to get into a boat and cast off from shore so that he could get some distance and project his voice so they could all hear.
He also sat down to teach, which was the common way teaching was done at the time, not like we do it today.
Jesus then relates the parable of the sower, which we can discuss another time.
After the parable of the sower, Jesus is then asked about the parables, and this is something that happens in private, “when he was alone.”
It’s also interesting to note that it isn’t just Jesus’ core disciples who ask him about the parables. Instead, it’s “those who were about him with the Twelve.”
That indicates that it’s a group of disciples that are close to Jesus and include the Twelve but that are broader than the Twelve.
They may have included men that we read about in Acts 1, where the disciples pick a replacement for Judas, so they name candidates from “the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us. . . . And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias” (Acts 1:21-23).
In addition to men like Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias, they may also have included women like those we read about in Acts 8:
Acts 8:2-3, ESV
Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.
So don’t think that Jesus was just followed by the Twelve. There were other followers who also accompanied him on a regular basis.
And Mark notes that some of these additional people were among those who asked about the parables.
In Mark, they could have been asking Jesus to explain the meaning of the parables. He had taught many. In fact, Mark notes that he was teaching them many things in parables.
But thus far, Mark has only given us the parable of the sower.
Since Mark has said that Jesus taught many parables, but he’s given us only one so far, that suggests that they aren’t just asking about the meaning of the parables, they’re asking why he uses parables in general.
That interpretation is made explicit in Matthew 13, where Matthew says:
Matthew 13:10, ESV
Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
Jesus replies by telling them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables.” He thus draws a distinction between the two groups.
Why Them & Not Others?
But why does this group get the secret of the kingdom explained to them when other people don’t?
You might propose that it’s because they’re the Twelve, and he’s going to send them out to preach his message.
They’d thus need a detailed understanding of it, so if people ask them questions, they’ll be able to answer, and that’s why he not only teaches them the parables but also teaches them the meaning of the parables.
Only that proposal won’t work because it isn’t just the Twelve here.
Mark has already noted that the group includes people who are not members of the Twelve. It includes “those around him with the Twelve.”
So this isn’t about them needing to be able to preach his message. That’s what he’s got the Twelve for, but that’s not the exclusive group of people he’s talking to here.
So what makes them different from other people who don’t get the parables explained?
Well, they say history belongs to those who show up, and that’s what this group of people did: They showed up for the private conversation. They didn’t just go home once Jesus stopped teaching in the boat.
Presumably, the distinction is that the people in the inner group have made a commitment to Jesus. They follow him on a regular basis. They don’t just come to the public appearances.
The implication is: If you are willing to follow Jesus and to commit to him, then the mysteries of God will be revealed to you; but if you are not committed, they will remain mysterious.
A Challenge
The parables also contain a challenge for us. In fact, this goes to the core of what parables are.
Parables can be understood in different ways and on different levels.
By receiving the truth in this enigmatic way, we are invited to puzzle over and meditate on the teachings.
As a result, we are likely to learn more—and learn more thoroughly—than if we had the truth presented to us in a few straightforward sentences.
It’s like in Luke 10, when Jesus is having a discussion with a lawyer about the second great commandment—love your neighbor as yourself—and we read:
Luke 10:27, ESV
But [the lawyer], desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Now, Jesus could have answered him with just one word. He could have said, “Everybody.”
Instead, Jesus told the parable of the good Samaritan, which made the point that even someone you ordinarily would hate and despise is your neighbor.
Which do you think made the point more powerfully and gave the lawyer more to think about? The one-word answer or the dramatic parable involving the good Samaritan—a class of people ordinarily despised by Jews at the time?
By giving us parables, Jesus encourages us to wrestle with the text and learn more in the end than if he didn’t use them.
This means—among other things—that God is willing to make us work for the answers, and that’s for our own good.
It also fits with why he would reward those who are willing to stick with him rather than just hearing a parable and refusing to meditate on it.
What About Outsiders?
But what are we to make of Jesus’ next statement, where he says that he teaches in parables so that the outsiders “may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven”?
This statement can make it sound as if Jesus does not want these people to be forgiven, and that has provoked a lot of discussion among scholars.
It has been noted that the statement is based on a passage in Isaiah 6, where we read:
Isaiah 6:9-10, ESV
And [the Lord] said, “Go, and say to 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 blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
In its original context, this involves resistance to Isaiah’s teaching in his own day, and it’s been suggested that Jesus is applying this situation to himself and his destiny to die on the Cross. For example, Pope Benedict XVI wrote:
Jesus of Nazareth 1:189-190
If we want to understand the Lord’s mysterious words, we must read them in light of Isaiah, whom he cites, and we must read them in light of his own path, the outcome of which he already knows.
In saying these words, Jesus places himself in the line of the Prophets—his destiny is a prophet’s destiny.
Isaiah’s words, taken overall, are much more severe and terrifying than the extract that Jesus cites. In the Book of Isaiah it says: “Make the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed” (Is. 6:10).
Prophets fail: Their message goes too much against general opinion and the comfortable habits of life. It is only through failure that their word becomes efficacious.
This failure of the Prophets is an obscure question mark hanging over the whole history of Israel, and in a certain way it constantly recurs in the history of humanity.
Above all, it is also again and again the destiny of Jesus Christ: He ends up on the Cross. But that very Cross is the source of great fruitfulness.
On this reading, Jesus is not positively willing the loss of anyone. Instead, he is embracing his destiny as a prophet, knowing that his ministry will stir up opposition and eventually lead to his death. But that death will bring about redemption for the world.
In other words—even though Jesus wants everyone to be saved—he doesn’t want everyone to understand his teaching right now, in the moment.
If they all repented during his ministry, he wouldn’t have been crucified, and—given God’s plan—he needs to be crucified for the salvation of the world, so he needs some people not to understand him for the moment.
And thus he doesn’t make his teachings as clear as he could. He uses parables, instead.
God’s Invitation
It is likely that this saying also works on another level, which is that God does not force himself upon us. He invites us, but we must be willing to answer his call.
In this case, the parables constitute the call, and those not willing to wrestle with their meaning will not find the key to forgiveness—or commitment to Jesus.
The sharpness with which this teaching is expressed makes it memorable, but it is not to be read as implying ill will on Jesus’ part.
A parallel is the last petition in the Lord’s Prayer or “lead us not into temptation.”
Taken at face value, you might think that this suggests that God might display ill will by leading people to sin.
But we know from elsewhere in Scripture that God cannot do this. As James says:
James 1:13–14, ESV
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
So—in the literal sense—God never leads anybody into temptation. He himself tempts no one.
Instead, this petition is a paradoxically memorable way of asking for God to deliver us from evil—to not let us fall into it.
In the same way, Jesus’ statement about using parables lest others find forgiveness could be read as indicating ill will on his part; but we know from elsewhere in Scripture that God doesn’t want people to end up unforgiven. As 1 Timothy 2 says:
1 Timothy 2:3-4, ESV
God our Savior . . . desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
And John tells us in chapter 3 of his Gospel:
John 3:16-17, ESV
God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
So when Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah, he wasn’t indicating that he didn’t want some people to be saved.
He was using a paradoxically memorable way of indicating that God does not force himself upon us and that a person must be willing to respond to God’s invitation to find salvation.
By teaching in parables, Jesus gave that invitation, but it’s up to us to meditate on them, figure out their meaning, and learn the truth that God wants us to have.
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