The Purpose of the Parables

⁹ Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant.^(A)

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰ When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables.

The Parable of the Sower Explained

¹⁸ “Hear, then, the parable of the sower.

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰ Then the disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”

¹⁵ I do not call you servants^[a] any longer, because the servant^[b] does not know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.

¹⁷ When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸ He said to them, “So, are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile,

³⁴ he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.^(A)

¹⁵ But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.”^(A)

Jesus Explains the Parable of the Weeds

³⁶ Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.”