Why Did Jesus Speak in Parables?
Parabolic
Scholars have long debated why Jesus spoke in parables. Some say that he spoke in parables to hide the truth. On the surface, this seems like the complete answer. Why would Jesus teach such vague, ambiguous stories if he intended for people to comprehend? Why didn’t he just come out and explain everything to everyone plainly?
Another school of thought is this: Jesus spoke in parables because they are an effective way of exposing the truth. Teachers often use stories as aides to make a truth relevant, digestible or help it sneak past any mental defenses. These stories often refurbish and reset our understanding of reality.
Analogies and stories can help us when we’ve become so familiar with the truth that we cease to see it. As an example, I often find myself trying to remember the colors of various objects I interact with on a regular basis. It sometimes can take quite a while before I remember them. It's taking me a while in this moment to remember exactly what color the inside of my car is, and I have spent at least an hour driving around in it every single day for the past few years. I have become so familiar with it that I no longer see it for what it is.
As Chuck Smith put it, "The purpose of a parable is always to illustrate a truth. When a person cannot understand, when a person cannot see, then you use a story. You take something that is familiar to them, something that they can understand, and you tell the story, and then by the story you illustrate the truth that you are trying to get across to them" (Chuck Smith, C2000 Series on Matthew 13).
The author of Matthew clearly explains to us what Jesus was doing: "This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: 'I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.' All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable… And [Jesus] said to them, 'Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old'" (Matthew 13:34-35, 52). Jesus was using stories to put the familiar into relief, casting shadows and light in new ways to reveal what we have missed. He wasn't hiding the truth; he was showing us that we haven't truly seen it yet.
Now that we know that Jesus was exposing the truth rather than hiding it, how can we reconcile this with the fact that so many people rejected Jesus? If the truth was exposed, why did they not embrace it?
Reacting to Truth
Water is an interesting compound. Made up of hydrogen and oxygen, it is one of the most prevalent substances on our planet, with salt and fresh water covering around 70% of our planet’s surface. It is a required component for life as we know it. It is also present in many kinds of chemical reactions. Let's explore two types of reactions that involve water.
First, there is concrete. When mixed with water, dry cement becomes a fluid mass that chemically reacts to form a hard matrix, which binds all the materials together into a strong, stone-like substance.
Other the other hand, potassium metal reacts very violently with water producing potassium hydroxide (KOH) and hydrogen gas. This reaction releases enough heat to ignite the resulting hydrogen. It in turn may explode in the presence of oxygen.
In other words, water can cause one kind of substance to harden, but it can also cause another type of substance to explode. Two substantially different effects coming from the same compound. Fascinating.
In the same way as water, truth has different kinds of effects depending on the elements it interacts with. When a person rejects the truth because it is inconvenient, his heart may react with the truth to become spiritual cement. When another person has been preparing to hear the truth and welcomes any interruption it may cause, her heart may respond with explosive growth.