The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?" He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them." (Matthew 13:10-11)

Jesus had just completed the parable of the sower, one of my favorites.

Often the disciples respond to Jesus' teaching with as much - or more - confusion as anyone else.

But here Jesus suggests the disciples know something that the crowds do not.

The disciples know - ginosko - the mysteries - musterion - of the kingdom of heaven.

This is knowing as experience, as profound discernment, as being one with what is known. This is the same word used idiomatically for sexual intercourse.

Musterion literally means to shut the mouth. The disciples know what cannot be put into words.

The disciples know what it is to be initimate with Jesus. This is the secret of the kingdom of heaven.