Why did Jesus speak in parables?
Insights from Saint John Chrysostom
Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables…that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: ‘I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world. –Matthew 13:34–35
A parable is a short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle. –Mirriam Webster
Why did Jesus speak in parables? Wouldn’t he have reached more people if he just spoke directly? Today such questions about the ministry of our Lord are not uncommon. But if we look to the Fathers of the Church, we find a twofold answer: to reveal and conceal the Truth of God.
Saint Cyril of Alexandria comments that “parables…are the image not of visible objects, but rather of those cognizable by the intellect and spiritual. For that which it is impossible to see with the eyes of the body, the parable points out unto the eyes of the mind.”1 That is, by speaking in parables Christ was able to reveal great mysteries to His listeners – and win over new disciples, as St. John Chrysostom is wont to point out.2 By the same token, Christ concealed these mysteries in parables they might be hidden from those who are not prepared to hear them.3
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