Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

513.1 For Whom Did Jesus Intend His Message?
and it probably had such an impact from the first. 17
Both Matthew and Luke also follow Mark in inserting between the parable
and its explanation the somewhat puzzling, not to say disturbing comment,
which purports to give the reason that Jesus spoke in parables.
Matt. 13.10-15
10 Then the disciples came and
asked him, 'Why do you speak
to them in parables?' 11 He
answered, 'To vou it has been
given to know the mysteries of
the kingdom of heaven, but to
them
it has not been given. ...
13 Therefore I speak to them in
parables, that
"seeing they do
and hearing thev do not hear,
nor do thev understand".
14 With them indeed is fulfilled
the prophecy of Isaiah that says:
"You will indeed hear, but never
understand, and you will indeed
see, but never perceive. 15 For
the heart of this people has
grown dull, and their ears are
hard of hearing, lest they
perceive with their eyes, and
hear with their ears, and
understand with their heart and
turn, and I would heal them" '
(Isa. 6.9-10).
Mark 4.10-12
10 When he was alone, those
who were around him with the
twelve asked him about the
parables. 11 And he said to
them, 'To vou has been
given the mystery of
the kingdom of God, but for
those outside,
everything comes in
parables; 12 in order that
"seeing they may see
and not perceive,
and hearing thev mav hear and
not understand: lest thev turn
again and be forgiven"'.
Luke 8.9-10
9 Then his disciples asked him
what this parable meant.
10 He said,
'To vou it has been
given to know the mysteries of
the kingdom of God; but to
others
(I speak) in
parables, in order that
"seeing they may
not perceive,
and hearing they may
not understand'".
Liebenberg, however, justifiably questions whether the Evangelists necessarily intended their
appended interpretation to be the only one possible (Language 351; further 376-414, especially
405-406). GTh 9 almost certainly reflects independent oral tradition (bibliography in Hultgren
185 n. 6): it lacks the Synoptists' explanation, and displays the sort of variations which would
have been characteristic of oral performance.
17. When we thus focus on the impact, the question of what Jesus may have intended
(the 'meaning' of the parable) and whether the impacting imagery would have been the seed,
the plants, or the different soils becomes inconsequential (see, e.g., the discussions referred to
in Hultgren, Parables 185-88). That the parable most probably originated with Jesus is generally
acknowledged (see, e.g., Perrin, Rediscovering 156; Funk, Five Gospels 54; Lüdemann, Jesus
28-29).
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