"Those Who Have Ears, Let Them Hear"
Jesus often uses these words to end a parable.
These challenging words come just before the well-known Parable of the Sower:
The disciples came to him and asked, 'Why do you speak to the people in parables?'
He replied, 'Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables:
'Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:'
"You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them."
But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
Matthew 12:10-17 [NIV]
As a child I would often be accused of not listening. Indignant, I would repeat back what had been said, for I had heard, but I had not always acted, hence the charge of not listening. I did in fact have undiagnosed glue ear – but that didn't excuse all of my inattention. Although the ears are better now, I often hear, but don't listen - words that are said float over me, like water off a duck's back and do not lodge in my mind or are not acted on. This is what Jesus warns against here. It is as if we "close our ears" to the truth.
What a shame, because we are privileged to have access to the truth. Why would we ignore it?
Mairi Mowbray | |
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