Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them — John notes that the Pharisees to whom Jesus speaks do not grasp the parabolic teaching, marking another moment in John's theme of spiritual blindness among Israel's leaders. The 'figure of speech' (paroimia) is a veiled teaching that requires spiritual perception to understand. This incomprehension sets up Jesus' more direct I-Am statements that follow, moving from parable to explicit self-declaration.

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