Jesus Explains the Purpose of Speaking in Parables
Matthew 13:10-14
10 And the Disciples came, and said unto Him (seems to pertain to a later time when they were alone), Why do you speak to them in Parables? (This portrays consternation on their part!)
11 He answered and said unto them (concerns the Lord's method of dealing with two different classes of people, those who really wanted to know God's way and those who were merely curious), Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is not given (two categories are here presented; in which category are you?).
12 For whosoever has (and wants more), to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance (if one wills Righteousness, the Lord wills more Righteousness to them): but whosoever has not (no interest for more), from him shall be taken away even that he has (he not only loses what he could have had, but even that which he has; to those who accept the Cross, they will have even more, and to those who reject the Cross, they will lose everything, even that which they previously had).
13 Therefore speak I to them in Parables (in order to separate those who hunger and thirst for Righteousness from those who don't): because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand (that is, they do not wish to see or hear or understand; and hence by a just judgment they lose this triple moral ability).
14 And in them (those who reject the Cross [1 Cor. 1:23]) is fulfilled the Prophecy of Isaiah, which says, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive (a willing deafness, a willful blindness, and a willful dullness; this Passage is quoted in one form or the other some seven times in the New Testament [Mat. 13:14-15; Mk. 4:12; LK. 8:10; Jn. 12:39-40; Acts 28:26-27; Rom. 11:8]):
JSM