Passing thoughts on God making it pretty difficult to understand what's going on

to others I speak in parables, so that “looking they may not perceive,
and listening they may not understand.” (Luke 8:10)

In chapel this morning we read part of Luke chapter 8 and I spent quite some time in our moment of silence thinking about Mary Magdelene and the women who followed Jesus and the disciples and "who provided for them out of their resources". So much for our ideas about ancient societiesand women's role in them, the women following Jesus obviously had access to money and know how and knew how to make provision for the whole group. Interesting.

But the verse I read several times is the one at the top of this post - Jesus has been asked by the disciples for the meaning of the parable of the sower, he tells them that they have been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven and then he offers this pretty gnomic utterance. John Muddiman suggests that this means that Jesus used the parables to create discernment in some but to harden the heart of others.

I suppose in some ways it just throws me back to ambiguity, God wanting to be ambiguous, to not be fully understood even? Perhaps it could almost be about Jesus not pinning down or reducing interpretation to one single way of seeing things ... or perhaps that's just me pushing my own line!
Anyway it gave me more than pause for thought this morning and I'm glad I've revisited the verse at the end of the day.

The Parable of the Sower Explained