Mark 4:13

‘And he says to them, “Do you not know this parable? And how shall you know all parables?” '

‘Do you not know this parable?' Strictly He means ‘do you not know what this parable means, do you not understand it?' There is a slight rebuke implied in Jesus' words. These eager hearers have revealed their inability to grasp truth and to link it up with what they have heard before in the ministry of John the Baptiser. Yet He feels that they should have done so. John had himself clearly used ‘parabolic' forms of expression illustrating the going forth of the word of God and its impact, in terms of agriculture and nature, and of abundant grain (Matthew 3:6; Luke 3:7; Luke 3:17). Why then did they still not see?

But the descriptions in the parable had been commonplace ones and without that first clue the parable is not as clear as it would be once the clue was given. We are so used to it that it seems obvious, but we are not hearing it for the first time without an explanation. It was not so obvious to the first hearers. They only knew that it had a spiritual message to convey that they had, at least partly, missed. Had we been in the same situation we too may not have fully understood.

‘How then shall you know all the parables?' Perhaps His words here were intended to dampen down any feeling of superiority they may have been developing because they saw themselves as His true followers. But it also warns them that they must put more effort into their interpretation. If they cannot understand this one which is so clear, how will they get on with the more problematic ones?

Such a rebuke is not likely to have been invented at a later time when the Apostles and those who had directly followed Jesus, and were eyewitnesses, had great prestige. None but Jesus could have given it. And this helps to confirm that what follows are His words as well. The idea that Jesus could not have intended a number of lessons to be contained in His parable has little foundation in fact. Mark 12:1, for example, is clearly intended as an allegory. And there is nothing forced about the applications, either in that parable there, or the one here.