WHY JESUS USED PARABLES

10 Then the disciplesk came up and asked him, “Why are you speaking to them in parables?”l

11 He answered, “Because the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given for you to know,m but it has not been given to them. 12 For whoever has, more will be given to him, and he will have more than enough; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.n 13 That is why I speak to them in parables, because looking they do not see,o and hearing they do not listen or understand.p 14 Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:

You will listen and listen,

but never understand;

you will look and look,

but never perceive.q

15 For this people’s heart has grown callous;

their ears are hard of hearing,

and they have shut their eyes;

otherwise they might see with their eyes,

and hear with their ears, and

understand with their hearts,

and turn back—

and I would heal them.C,r

16 “Blessed are your eyess because they do see, and your ears because they do hear.t 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see the things you see but didn’t see them, to hear the things you hear but didn’t hear them.u