Mark 4 · a question people ask
Did Jesus speak in parables so that people wouldn't understand?
Here is what the chapter says. To those around him with the twelve, Jesus said, "To you is given the mystery of God’s Kingdom, but to those who are outside, all things are done in parables" (4:11) (tap mystery), "that ‘seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest perhaps they should turn again, and their sins should be forgiven them.’" (4:12). Those words stand near Isaiah 6:9-10, and Mark doesn't name Isaiah; the go-deeper sets them side by side. The same chapter also says, "For there is nothing hidden except that it should be made known" (4:22), calls out to whoever has ears (4:9, 4:23), and tells that he spoke the word to them "as they were able to hear it" (4:33), while "privately to his own disciples he explained everything" (4:34). Matthew gives Jesus's answer as "Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand" (Matthew 13:13), and Luke as "but to the rest it is given in parables, that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’" (Luke 8:10). The chapter doesn't explain 4:11-12 beyond these words, and these notes don't either.
The verses
“When he was alone, those who were around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. He said to them, “To you is given the mystery of God’s Kingdom, but to those who are outside, all things are done in parables, that ‘seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest perhaps they should turn again, and their sins should be forgiven them.’””
“He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand. You see indeed, but don’t perceive.’ Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.””
“He said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.””
“For there is nothing hidden except that it should be made known, neither was anything made secret but that it should come to light. If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.””