Though Matthew moves this back to be with the parable, it was more likely given either privately at the seashore or later when they returned to the house.

The question that most initially struggle with is the question of the disciples, which is, “Why do you use parables?” However, as one’s understanding grows, we see that though the audience of Jesus saw the actual events, they didn’t “see” what was really occurring. Today, we use the term perspective to understand how different people gain different meaning from the same event. In this case, their perspective was so set that they missed the meaning, and therefore, didn’t really grasp what he was saying.

Jesus explains the parable by showing that to be able to multiply the word, we have to really have “ears that hear.” He also illustrates the things that prevent us from being effective for the kingdom.