1-3. At about that same time Jesus left the house and sat on the beach. In no time at all a crowd gathered along the shoreline, forcing him to get into a boat. Using the boat as a pulpit, he addressed his congregation, telling stories.
10. The disciples came up and asked, “Why do you tell stories?”
11-15. He replied, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they’re blue in the face and not get it. I don’t want Isaiah’s forecast repeated all over again:Your ears are open but you don’t hear a thing.Your eyes are awake but you don’t see a thing.The people are blockheads!They stick their fingers in their earsso they won’t have to listen;They screw their eyes shutso they won’t have to look,so they won’t have to deal with me face-to-faceand let me heal them.