“And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:”
He told them, the secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables — the secret (mystērion) of the kingdom is the insider knowledge given to the disciples. The inside/outside distinction is stark: disciples receive the secret in plain speech; outsiders receive it in parable. This is not elitism but eschatology: the kingdom creates its own community of comprehension, those who have been drawn in by the call of the kingdom. The parables serve a dual function — they reveal to those inside and conceal from those outside, not because God arbitrarily prevents understanding but because the parables require the response of seeking that marks the insider.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
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