As you've noticed on this thread, not EVERYONE 'gets' the parable, and some are even upset that there IS a parable!
Mark 4
33. With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand.
34. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
Mark 4
9. Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
10. When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.
11. He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables
12. so that, "`they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!' "
13. Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?
Matthew 13
34. Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.
35. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: "I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world."
36. Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."
Matthew 15
15. Peter said, "Explain the parable to us."
16. "Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them.
Matthew 21:45
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking about them.
Mark 4:30
Again he said, "What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it?
Luke 8:9
His disciples asked him what this parable meant.
Luke 12:41
Peter asked, "Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?"
Luke 19:11
While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once.