“Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?”
Why not just be straightforward about the message? If he wanted them to get it, why speak about it obliquely? If he didn't, why teach the crowds at all? Even though the disciples often heard the parables explained in private they still made it clear that they found the teaching style of Jesus to be difficult. When they finally heard something that sounded simple and direct they got excited, saying "Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech!" (see John 16:29). It seemed easier to respond when Jesus was more direct. The disciples in that particular scene from the Gospel of John seemed to believe that they had attained the next level of faith. But it didn't actually help them remain faithful when they were tested during the hour of Jesus.
The parables, by contrast, required an investment of effort that was less likely to lead to overconfidence or arrogance. Even with the full explanation one was never quite sure he understood how all the pieces fit together. Even in the parables that seemed simple one was never certain he had exhausted all of its possible applications or ramifications. What means Jesus used to teach in a particular instance, understanding was not an automatic result in his listeners. Whether he spoke in parables or directly his words required the Spirit to create true understanding in his listeners. The Spirit was the one who enabled eyes to truly see and ears to truly hear. But the advantage of the parables was that it kept the limits of the understanding of the audience at the forefront so they would know their need to look to a deeper level for enlightenment.
In a way, the parables were so close to the crowds, drawn from the examples of daily life. But this was similar to Jesus himself, who, though close to them, contained hidden depths. If one explained those depths too directly the risk was that people would think they got it before they really opened themselves to understand. Jesus held back the fact that he was the messiah for similar reasons. It wasn't always helpful to just state the fact without the Spirit to aid in understanding.
Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven
has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.
To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;
from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
When one was willing to open himself to understanding (that is, standing under, rather than above) the parables, he had a starting place from which to grow. It required and therefore demonstrated docility before Jesus the teacher. The parables required a posture of humility that was off-putting to the experts but often amicable to the unlearned. Can't those of us who are somewhat educated imagine that difficulty accepting a popular movement of this kind? How could such rabble think they understood better than ourselves with our college degrees? Nowhere else in society would we be happy to see such a reversal. But Paul made it explicit, writing, "God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise" (see First Corinthians 1:27).
By contrast, those who try to pierce the parables with their own intellectual prowess would find themselves repulsed by their own effort. The more they tried to master them the more they would be rebuffed. They would find them overly simplistic, stating in a convoluted way that which could have been said directly with more clarity. They seemed to put a mask of mystery over what need not be complex. More to it, the evident solutions didn't even line up nicely with the imagery. They just never seemed to work in a way that was entirely satisfactory to the intellect. They were, in a way, like the koans of Buddhism. They called for transcendence more than a correct answer.
It's no wonder that many people encounter the teachings of Jesus with some initial curiosity but end up looking elsewhere, just as many people did in the time of Jeremiah. The risk of forsaking the source of living waters is ever present. The Spirit himself is the living water whom we must not forsake. So let us instead run to him, and drink deeply of the only source that can truly satisfy our thirst.
Two evils have my people done:
they have forsaken me, the source of living waters;
They have dug themselves cisterns,
broken cisterns, that hold no water.
Vineyard Music - The River Is Here
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