Immediately in the first parable, that of the sower, the Lord’s speaking in parables is put into a certain context. His entire performance is strongly symbolic in nature and is not described as such for nothing. More about that later. But it is also said that He began speaking in parables at a certain moment.
Matthew 13
1 On that day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea.
on that day
It is specifically stated when the Lord began to speak in parables, it was ‘on that day’. That refers to the immediately preceding one in Matthew 12. This is a long chapter where we find the Lord confronted with severe opposition. Here the unbelief of the leaders of the Jewish people comes to a head.
the Kingdom is near
At the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, the proclamation of Jesus, but also of John the Baptist: Reptent, for the kingdom of heaven is near (Matt. 3:2, 4:17). The King is present and if Israel would repent, then the Messiah would establish His Kingdom over the whole earth through Israel.
But during the rest of Matthew, we see that the Lord increasingly has to deal with unbelief, especially from the leaders of the people. This reaches a climax in Matthew 12. Because of this unbelief, the Kingdom will not be revealed and the Lord begins to hide His message in parables. Later, after His resurrection, He would hide Himself definitively and sit at God’s right hand in heaven.
Matthew 12
A number of events take place in Matthew 12. After the Lord healed a man with a withered hand, the Pharisees took counsel to kill Him (:14). A little later He healed a demon-possessed man who was blind and deaf and dumb. The Pharisees blasphemed the spirit by saying that Jesus was led by the prince of the demons (:24,31). They attributed a work that was clearly accomplished by God to the adversary. Jesus calls them: ‘a brood of vipers’ (:34) and an ‘evil and adulterous generation’ (:39).
Because of their unbelief, the Lord begins to speak to the crowd in parables, and therefore in secrets (Matt. 13:11). As we read in other places that He physically hid Himself from them (John 8:59; 12:36), here the Lord hides His message.
Only to believers are these mysteries explained (Matt. 13:11,36).