Jesus Christ, Esotericist?

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One figure Melzer cites to show the prevalence of esotericism is Jesus himself. And he quotes some New Testament passages that seem to back him pretty strongly, e.g.:

"To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given... That is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand." (Matt. 13:10-12)

Or:

"To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of god, but for those outside everything is in parables." (Mark 4:11)

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