Why does the Lord Jesus speak in parables?

Recently I had the opportunity to meet a man – a computer expert. Many an owner can spend hours in front of a computer. However, this expert can do small miracles with the computer to help people gain time and money. I did not understand many things, so he answered my questions with various explanations and similes.

Even the Lord Jesus, when He wanted to explain something essential and important to the apostles, often used parables. Therefore, the apostles once asked him about this matter, and he answered them: “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them, it is not given…” (Mt. 13:11).

These words of the Lord Jesus also need explanation. We may therefore ask: What decides in this matter? On the one hand, it is the gift of God and, on the other hand, sincerity, and willingness to accept the Word of God. This means that where this will is lacking, the “mystery” of the kingdom of God will not be opened to man. That is why the Lord Jesus says that where this willingness is absent, the man looks and does not see, listens, and does not understand.

In this way, we can also understand the broad masses of people who listen to the teachings of the Lord Jesus but do not understand them, and this is only because they can only look at everything with material eyes, or they look at Jesus only as the Messiah – the politician who would restore the kingdom of God on earth.

It was a difficult time for the Jews. A nation occupied but also mismanaged and misguided as the scribes and Pharisees, who usurped the key to lead the nation, distorted the mission of the awaited Messiah. The prophet likened their actions to this, saying, Their heart was turned to fatness. Therefore, when the Lord Jesus comes, and there is such an unfavorable situation for important truths of His teaching, He uses various similes, and images, and yet the essence of the mystery of God remains hidden from the hearers. But the Lord Jesus, when He is alone with His disciples, explains to them the nature and meaning of the mysteries of faith. Before the disciples, the Lord Jesus speaks openly and often returns to the things these apostles will one day have to spread and teach after his ascension. That is why he often criticizes them for speaking openly, and they do not understand.

Just think of how many sounds, images, and sensations over the course of a day impact our senses. So often, we may find ourselves in danger of merely looking but not seeing, of listening and yet not understanding.

To give just one analogy: it is the season of holidays and vacations. Imagine just one car journey of a few hours. What we experience in that time! When we see the police in front of us, a thought flashes: What was the sign a moment ago? What happened? Maybe that forty saw it and missed it. Perhaps he was in a hurry and crossed the entire line with one wheel… He saw, and yet it was as if he didn’t see.

Or another example: you’re worried. Someone says something to you, and you respond that well. After a while, you’re willing to argue that you didn’t hear it. Why? The person was preoccupied with something else, heard a word from another, but in the back of his mind was attending to his problem.

Let us return to the spiritual. Let us ask ourselves: Are we still willing to hear what the Lord Jesus came to tell us in the Gospel? Are our eyes still open to the grand horizons of God’s plans that lead man and the world to eternal happiness? How open are we to the Word of God that we hear at Mass? Do we listen to it, or do we just register it? This is what we have to be aware of today and not be content with just being physically present, but our presence must be active. In the words of the Lord Jesus, “But blessed are your eyes that see, and your ears that hear” (Mt 13:16).

Let us desire to be happy, that is, to truly experience the encounter with the Lord Jesus. Let superficiality and passivity be removed from us by our action, for we would not be disciples of the Lord Jesus, but a crowd at Christ’s side, who hear but do not understand; who see and yet do not comprehend. In modern times, one cannot do without parables. Indeed, I read in a recent article that we should express ourselves in myths, even in everyday speech. It will enrich our spiritual life.