Jesus
spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn’t speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,
“I will open my mouth in parables;
I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”
Matthew 13:34-35
Matthew 13 [33.] He spoke another parable to them. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, until it was all leavened.”
Matthew 13 [34.] Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn’t speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,
“I will open my mouth in parables;
I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”
Matthew 13 [36.] Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field.”
Meaning:
Jesus has told the crowds four parables: the farmer, the darnel weeds, the mustard seed and the yeast. Before he goes into the house to explain them to his disciples, Matthew pauses to comment on Jesus’ way of teaching. Even the use of parables, he says, was part of God’s plan foretold in Scripture.
- “Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes”
At this stage of his ministry Jesus taught the crowds in parables. Mark makes the same observation: “With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. Without a parable he didn’t speak to them; but privately to his own disciples he explained everything” (Mark 4:33-34). The parables were a gracious way of teaching, suited to what the people could receive. They also tested the hearers: those who wanted to understand would seek more (Matthew 13:10-12).
- “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet”
The quotation comes from Psalm 78:2: “I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old.” The psalm was written by Asaph, one of David’s chief musicians, who was also regarded as a seer, a prophet. Psalm 78 retells Israel’s history, from the Exodus to the time of David, to show God’s faithfulness and the people’s repeated rebellion. Asaph calls this history a “parable”: a story with a lesson hidden inside it, meant to be passed down “telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh”.
Matthew sees a fulfilment here. The psalmist used the story of the past to reveal God’s ways. Jesus, a far greater teacher, now uses parables to reveal the deepest truths of God’s Kingdom. What the psalm did in part, Jesus does in full.
- “I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world”
Matthew’s wording stresses that these truths were hidden from the very beginning. God’s plan to establish his Kingdom through his Son, to welcome the nations and to defeat evil was in his mind before creation. Jesus would later speak of “the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). In Jesus’ parables these hidden things were finally being brought into the open.
The Significance of Matthew 13:34-35
- Jesus reveals God’s secrets
The things that “many prophets and righteous men desired to see” are made known in Jesus (Matthew 13:17). Through his words we come to know God’s purposes.
- Take time with his words
Parables invite reflection. Their meaning opens up to those who keep listening, asking and obeying. Reading Jesus’ stories slowly and prayerfully is still the way to understand them.
Cross-References:
Psalm 78:2: "I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old," The psalm Matthew quotes.
Mark 4:34: "Without a parable he didn’t speak to them; but privately to his own disciples he explained everything." Mark’s comment on Jesus’ teaching.
Matthew 25:34: "inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;" God’s plan from the beginning.
Conclusion: Matthew notes that Jesus taught the crowds in parables, and he sees in this the fulfilment of Psalm 78:2: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.” As the psalmist used Israel’s story to teach God’s ways, Jesus used parables to reveal truths that God had kept hidden since creation and now made known in his Kingdom.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible