Did Jesus Only Teach in Parables?

I was listening to a podcast on Jesus’s parables and, as the host introduced the episode by giving a quick rundown of what was going to be discussed—as all good hosts do—he said something that caught my ear. While setting up the importance of Jesus’s parables he referenced a place in Mark’s gospel where the evangelist writes about Jesus’s teaching style and this host said, “It even says specifically that when Jesus taught the masses…he taught exclusively in parables.”

Really? Did Jesus only teach in parables? It seems like there were plenty of places throughout the gospels (John included, which doesn’t have any “parables”) where what is recorded isn’t a parable. Think of the Sermon on the Mount, or the Olivet Discourse, or the famous extended teaching and prayer in John 14-17. Whatever those are, they are different from: “A farmer went out to sow his seed.” So, where did the host get this idea?

If we look at the text in question—Mark 4:33-34 (also, see the parallel in Matthew 13:34)—we can see quickly where this idea comes from. The text reads, “With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything” (Mk 4:33-34, NIV). Even if I didn’t bold that sentence you would see it right away.

I’ll confess that for a long time I was in lock-step agreement with the host because it seemed to be saying right there in Mark (and Matthew) that Jesus only used parables. But is that what Mark was actually saying? After a closer look, I think we must say, no.

Mark isn’t telling us that Jesus exclusively taught in parables—that’s obvious from looking at other places in the gospels where a teaching is recorded and it’s not a parable—instead, Mark is telling us that parables were Jesus’s main way of teaching to the crowds (and, sometimes, just the disciples). In fact, he valued this parabolic way of teaching so much that every time Jesus taught the crowds, he would use parables.

This makes sense of those places where a parable might not be recorded. This isn’t a contradiction in the text; it simply illustrates the selection process of the gospel writers. They (other than John) included lots of parables, but there were most certainly times when Jesus was teaching when he used a parable, and they didn’t record it. Perhaps because he had already told that parable, or they decided to leave it out for another reason.

The fact remains, though, that Jesus loved teaching in parables. Did he only teach in parables? No. But it seems to be that he never taught without them.