Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” Matthew 13:10-11 (ESV)
The disciples asked a question that perhaps many people have asked down through the years. Or perhaps many have read this passage numerous times and have not stopped to consider why some people understood what Jesus preached and others did not. It is obvious from Jesus’ response, “. . . to them it has not be given,” that the ability to understand the secrets of the kingdom came from a source outside of the individual. Continue reading