You can see from my outline that these seven parables in chapter 13 (and the Olivet Discourse in chapters 24-25) follow Israel's rejection of Messiah's identity, credentials, and principles presented in chapters 1-12.  Beginning in chapter 13, Jesus begins increasingly talking in parables to deliver hidden truth to his disciples while deliberately hiding such truth from those having already rejected the Truth.  He privately explains some of the meanings to his disciples as he prepares them for his coming death, resurrection, and temporary departure--and these explanations serve as a guide for interpreting those parables which He didn't explain.

There are three ways one can interpret chapter 13.  Amillennialists and pretrists, and some other groups believe there's absolutely no prophetic significance to these parables at all, and that they should be studied purely for their great moral lessons.  Not surprisingly, these people usually interpret very allegorically, believe all believers of all time are all meshed together in one homogenized group, and totally ignore any specific application to the nation Israel.

At the other end of the spectrum are those who do recognize those distinctions but believe all these seven parables relate to the nation Israel during the last week of Daniel's seventy weeks.  This group totally ignores any present application to the church or this present age, and could rightly be called ultra-dispensationalists.

Somewhere between these two extremes is the true dispensational approach based upon the belief that while the parables can be used to teach spiritual lessons, they do prophetically represent events during this inter-advent period--and picture the evolution of the King's visible earthly kingdom while the King is away.

It is important to remember that the King's rejection by Israel was not unanticipated by the omniscient God.  Messiah appeared to be King of Israel as promised in the Old Testament.  Israel exercised their choice, but God's foreknowledge took that rejection into account when he fashioned His ultimate plan which also included the redemption of gentiles and the formation of the church.  The apparent delay in Jesus assuming King David's throne and establishing the kingdom promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants is only apparent from human prospective.  

It’s also important to understand that up until Messiah's resurrection even his own disciples had absolutely no clue as to what was about to happen.  Despite Jesus' explanations and blatant warnings that he was going to die and go away, they were shocked and frightened when their Messiah was crucified.  Scripture clearly reveals they did not anticipate the resurrection, and even had a difficult time later accepting their "Jewish" God would extend His salvation to the Gentiles.  They had no conception of any mystical spiritual union comprising both Gentiles and Jews as the very body of Messiah on earth. 

This is the key distinction of premillennial dispensationism—the distinction between Israel and the church in Scripture.  The church—as a united body of both Jew and Gentile indwelt by God (Colossians 1:27) and sealed with the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14;4:30)—didn’t exist while Jesus ministered on earth, or during Old Testament times.  Jesus was still speaking of it in future tense in Matthew 16:18.  The church was still a mystery to the disciples too.  They didn’t understand it until they WERE the church.