Two views of why do the disciples refer to the parable of the sower as parables
(plural):
It is possible that the use of the plural (
parables
) refers to the different soils being compared in the narrative about the sower. That seems to be suggested in Matthew 13:3:he told them many things in parables, saying,
followed by diverse images relating to the seed.The Greek word parabolē is not, like the English word parable, a technical term that always means a complete narrative. It can also mean a single image or comparison (see Mark 3:23; Luke 4:23), so we may speak either of varied images or parabolē within the story of the sower (Matthew 13:3–10), or of the whole story as a single parable (Matthew 13:18). Thus, the disciples are not asking for the meaning of the story itself, but more for why Jesus uses these metaphors at all.
Interpretation 1:
It is quite possible that the use of the plural (parables
) here refers to the different soils that are compared with one another in the narrative about the sower—something that seems to be suggested in Matthew 13:3. There we read that he told them many things in parables, saying,
which is then followed by diverse images of comparisons concerning the seed.
Interpretation 2:
The Greek word parabolē is not, like the English word parable, a technical term that always denotes a complete narrative. It can also refer to a single image or a comparison (see Mark 3:23; Luke 4:23). We may therefore speak, on the one hand, of various images or parabolē contained within the story of the sower (Matthew 13:3–10), and, on the other hand, of the story as a whole as a single parable (Matthew 13:18). In that case, the disciples in Matthew 13:10 are not so much asking for the meaning of the story itself, but rather for the reason why Jesus is speaking metaphorically in the first place.1
10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”