Matthew 13:10-17
Jesus Teaches in Parables
10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables:
“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’
16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
John 3:10-15
On Understanding Heavenly Things
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
Jesus was the Perfect Teacher, and He was a Masterful Teacher...Jesus used images and analogies and used common things of His time like salt, sheep and bread to teach us in context to a teaching or lesson...And in some of His parables, a further explanation for me, would help me better understand Him -and His teaching...
His teachings make us think...His teachings cannot always be thought out with the mind...We must sometimes use our senses to understand what His teaching meant...Some, if not much, of His teachings came out of just answering people's questions, who were around Him (asking Him these questions)...Always looking and getting a straight answer in all the questions that were asked to Him is hard to find...He chose His words wisely...He formed His spoken words and His answers in such a way, that maybe they were all shaped by the Kingdom of God...In that respect, His answers and teachings contain the Spiritual, and His teachings all contain elements of the above...He answered questions with great wisdom and great intelligence and yet for me I need more than thoughts and my thinking to understand what He is saying...It is like I need to listen more with my heart, than with my head in what He is trying to tell me...And then I even ask, is this enough...After reading His same words twice or three times, I often come up with another idea on what He has said...
C. S. Lewis said this about our LORD's teachings...“We may observe that the teaching of Our Lord Himself, in which there is no imperfection, is not given us in that cut-and-dried, fool-proof, systematic fashion we might have expected or desire...He wrote no book...We have only reported sayings, most of them uttered in answer to questions, shaped in some degree by their context...And when we have collected them all we cannot reduce them to a system...He preaches but He does not lecture...He uses paradox, proverb, exaggeration, parable, irony; even (I mean no irreverence) the "wisecrack"...He utters maxims which, like popular proverbs, if rigorously taken, may seem to contradict one another...His teaching therefore cannot be grasped by the intellect alone, cannot be "got up" as if it were a "subject"...If we try to do that with it, we shall find Him the most elusive of teachers...He hardly ever gave a straight answer to a straight question...He will not be, in the way we want, "pinned down"...The attempt is (again, I mean no irreverence) like trying to bottle a sunbeam.”...
He wants us to understand Him...I would think, He does not want us to misunderstand His teachings...And maybe I should add that beside using our minds, and our hearts, He wants us to think more in terms of heaven and the Kingdom of heaven -and look at His teachings in Light of the Spiritual...After all He is from heaven and understands those things in heaven and the ways of heaven...We are still learning the earthly things, and know little of those things of the Spiritual and those heavenly ways...And Lewis is right it is difficult to bottle the rays of a Light...