Why Jesus Spoke in Parables

Parables are stories that teach a lesson. Jesus used parables a lot. But seldom did he explain the meaning of his parables, and when he did it was only to his disciples, not to the general public.

Why did he so often use parables? I believe there were several reasons.

First, stories are great teaching tools. People love stories. Stories are entertaining and easy to remember. If you want to hold an audience’s attention, tell stories. If you want them to remember what you said, tell stories.

Another reason Jesus used parables is that he was fulfilling prophecy, as he pointed out in Matthew 13:13-15:

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. And in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

You shall keep on listening, but shall not understand;
And you shall keep on looking, but shall 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 might see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
Understand with their heart, and return,
And I would heal them.

The prophecy that Jesus quoted is from Isaiah 6:9-10. Isaiah was a prophet at a time when the people of the northern kingdom of Israel had been practicing idolatry—and all the evils that came with that—for more than 200 years, and the people of the southern kingdom of Judah were not much better. Because of their wickedness, God allowed Israel to be conquered by the Assyrians in 722 B.C., and he allowed the people of Judah to be taken into exile by the Babylonians in the late seventh and early sixth centuries, B.C. Before doing so, God sent prophets to try to lead the people back to piety and righteousness, but they refused to listen. They had hardened their minds and their hearts against God, his ways, and his truths.

By quoting Isaiah, Jesus is saying that the people of his own time were the same. He came preaching truth and righteousness, urging them to repent, but most of them—and the Jewish leaders in particular—did not want to hear it. They closed their eyes to the miracles and shut their ears to the truth, just as the people of Isaiah’s time had done.  

So Jesus used stories to gain their attention and try to cut through their resistance. Those who truly wanted to know the truth—and clearly, some did—sought explanations, while the others just enjoyed a good story.

There was at least one more reason why Jesus spoke in parables, and it involved the political climate of the time. Like Jews throughout history, the Jews in Jesus’ time were looking for a Messiah (in Greek, Christ), the “anointed one.” But the kind of Messiah they wanted was a political/military leader who would vanquish the Romans and reestablish the glorious kingdom of David and Solomon.

That is of course not the kind of Messiah Jesus was, nor was it the kind of Messiah the Romans would have tolerated. And it was certainly not the kind of Messiah the Jewish leaders wanted, for they feared both Roman retaliation and the loss of their own privileged status. Parables allowed Jesus to convey important truths to his devoted followers while often concealing the deeper meanings from superficial listeners and antagonistic opponents.