Where's my secret decoder ring?

Here's this week's Bible study blog entry for i.ucc.org:

There are some things I really get about Jesus – he lives love and says that most important things a person can do is to love God and to love everyone else.

And there are some things I don’t think I’m supposed to get about Jesus – parables.

And I love that I can’t get the parables. Sure, there are the explanations of the parables that are either in the Bible or in commentaries or big Bible scholar brains. But ultimately – the parables are there to make the listener (or reader) think. I think that the parables work to confuse, anger and irritate the listeners and readers so that the conversations can either begin or continue.

In the parable of the sower and the seeds from Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23, I wonder if there’s any good at all with the seeds that fell on anything but the good soil. Can plants from rocky ground or from thorny ground be nurtured? Should they be transplanted? Or should the seeds that survive from the plants that are in the less desirable soil be planted in the good soil – bearing even more fruit because of the strength of the seed?

Sometimes I wish I had that secret decoder ring to unlock all the mysteries of the parables. But if all the mysteries were unlocked, what would be left to ponder?

There are endless more questions - what are yours?