John 10:6

This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake to them.

This parable ... The word thus rendered here is [@paroimia], sometimes translated "proverb"; but it may be logically viewed as an extended metaphor, or comparison. The Pharisees whom Jesus had already called "blind" (John 9:39f) did not have the slightest idea about what Jesus meant by these teachings. Two months later (John 10:24) they seem to have caught on to at least a part of what Jesus meant; but in this scene they remained oblivious to his meaning, even after he repeated the metaphor and embellished it.