And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Mark 4:9(NKJV)

And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

One of the things that stands out to me about Jesus' ministry style is that He didn't go around trying to be "culturally relevant" and He didn't go around watering down the message to make it easier to understand so that more would become Christians.  As I read Mark 4 it seems to me that Jesus purposely made the message a bit hard to understand.

Mark 4:10-12(NKJV)

But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. 

And He said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, 

so that      ‘Seeing they may see and not perceive,     And hearing they may hear and not understand;     Lest they should turn,     And their sins be forgiven them.’” 

Now we know from other Scripture that Jesus wants all to be saved.  So why would he purposely make it harder to understand? 

I think the reason is that if things are too easy people don't value them.  It's kind of like the seed that is planted but there is no root.  It doesn't last.  By making people work a little bit to understand I think makes the understanding more valuable and long lasting.