Jesus is a very controversial figure in the Bible. There have been a lot of attempts to demonstrate that Jesus wasn’t God, as the Bible claims. One of the more recent attempts at this was the best-selling book the Da Vinci Code. Kovacs seems to be jumping in the arena, not to show Jesus wasn’t God, but that Jesus didn’t want people to understand the message he was proclaiming. His entire point in this chapter is to demonstrate that Jesus spoke in code so that people wouldn’t understand what he was saying. The first question I would ask is if Jesus didn’t want people to understand his message, then why did he speak to the thousands of people as he did?

It would make no sense for Jesus to stand up and publicly teach numerous times if he didn’t desire for his message to be understood. What Jesus did make clear is that he taught in parable so that only those who truly cared to learn about the things of God would understand. Kovacs makes it sound as though Jesus actually taught parable so that people would not “see, convert, and become healed and forgiven.” The whole whopping three passages that he references are all surrounding the same scenario. Jesus’ disciples had asked him why he taught the people in parables. Jesus answered them by quoting the Old Testament; specifically he quoted Isaiah 6:9-10. This prophecy is about the nation of Israel, which would soon hear the prophecies of Isaiah about the coming destruction of their country who would reject the message. When Jesus quoted this passage he was likening himself to Isaiah the prophet; he was essentially saying that the nation of Israel was in the same condition as when Isaiah the prophet was living. Jesus was bringing a message to repent, just as Isaiah was. Just as the people refused to listen to Isaiah’s message, they would refuse to listen to Jesus’ message. His point was not that he didn’t want people to understand.

Kovacs even seems to degrade Jesus’ method of communication. He wrote, “Of course, since nothing is too hard for God, He could have been the greatest communicator in history. He could have clearly explained everything He said. Instead, He chose to speak in coded fashion to confound the mysteries of the kingdom for those at that time. He prevented the information from being crystal clear, the direct opposite of what many people today claim is the reason He spoke in parables.” I agree with Kovacs that Jesus didn’t proclaim his message with extreme clarity, but Jesus also didn’t speak it in terms that people would never understand. The whole scenario the Kovacs references in Matthew and Mark is also recorded in Luke. However, he chose not to include this in his chapter. The passage in Luke records that Jesus spoke in a parable, his disciples asked him about its meaning, he quoted the same thing mentioned above, told them the meaning of the parable, and then Jesus said, “Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.” Jesus intention was to make his message difficult for those who were not truly seeking the kingdom of heaven. However, for those who truly wanted to understand his message, it would be revealed to them.