Jesus told the disciples why he taught them using parables.

Matthew 13:10-17

10 We disciples approached Jesus and asked him, “Why do you use parables when you speak to the crowd?” 11 He answered us saying, “God [EUP/MTY] is revealing to you what he did not reveal before, about how he wants to rule over people’s lives. But he has not revealed it to others. 12 Those who think about what I say and understand it, God will enable them to understand more. But those who do not think carefully about what I say will forget even what they already know. 13 That is why I use parables when I speak to people, because although they see what I do, they do not perceive what it means, and although they hear what I say, they do not really understand what it means. 14 What these people do completely fulfills what God told the prophet Isaiah to say long ago to the people who did not try to understand what he said,

You will hear what I say, but you will not understand it. You will keep seeing what I do, but you will not understand what it means [DOU].

15 God also said to Isaiah,

These people have become unresponsive [MTY] to what they see me do and to what they hear me say. They listen unwillingly [MTY] to what I say, and they do not pay attention to [MTY] what I do. If it were not so, they would perceive [MTY] what I am doing, they would understand [MTY] what I say to them, and they would turn away from their sinful lives and turn to me, and I would save them from being punished for their sins [MET].

16 But as for you, God is pleased with you because you [SYN] have seen what I have done and because you [SYN] understand what I say [DOU]. 17 Note this: Many prophets and righteous people who lived long ago longed to see what you are seeing me do, but they did not see it. They longed to hear the things that you have been hearing me say, but they did not hear what you hear me say.” [DOU]