10 Jesus’ disciples came and said to him, “Why do you use parables when you speak to the crowds?”
11 Jesus replied, “Because they haven’t received the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but you have. 12 For those who have will receive more and they will have more than enough. But as for those who don’t have, even the little they have will be taken away from them. 13 This is why I speak to the crowds in parables: although they see, they don’t really see; and although they hear, they don’t really hear or understand. 14 What Isaiah prophesied has become completely true for them:
You will hear, to be sure, but never understand;
and you will certainly see but never recognize what you are seeing.
15 For this people’s senses have become calloused,
and they’ve become hard of hearing,
and they’ve shut their eyes
so that they won’t see with their eyes
or hear with their ears
or understand with their minds,
and change their hearts and lives that I may heal them.
16 “Happy are your eyes because they see. Happy are your ears because they hear. 17 I assure you that many prophets and righteous people wanted to see what you see and hear what you hear, but they didn’t.
Reflection
In today’s scripture, prior to our reading, Jesus had told the crowd the parable of the farmer sowing seeds. If you are unfamiliar with the story, you might want to read the story in Matthew 13:1-9, as it helps us understand the disciples’ questions to Jesus. The disciples are asking Jesus why he is using parables to teach the people who come to hear him. So why was Jesus teaching in parables and what is a parable?
A parable is a story using every day items and experiences to explain spiritual truths about the Kin-dom of God. In the parable of the farmer, Jesus is using farming, which would be familiar to all people, to explain that the gift of the good news of God’s salvation falls on everyone’s ears, just as seeds fall on all types of soil. But that good news of salvation may not be received by everyone, it may be rejected outright, such as with the religious authorities, because they have hardened their hearts against Jesus. It may be received with apathy by those who don’t want to change their hearts and lives or it may be perceived as weakness and foolishness by those in power. But to those that receive the good news of Jesus with open hearts, they will be
happy because they will be able to really see, and hear and know that the Kin-dom of God has arrived.
by Jeneene Reduker
For Pondering and Prayer
This parable contains a warning and a challenge. The warning is that we need to be vigilant so that we don’t become desensitized to the injustice in the world, by closing our eyes to what we don’t want to see, and not listening to cries of those in need. Jesus is saying that once we open our hearts to the grace of God, we can no longer act as if we are blind and deaf to
injustice. Our challenge is to keep our hearts open and to respond to God’s grace by following Jesus. The Spirit is at work in us to grow us in our love of God and our neighbor, so that God’s Kin-dom may come so that all the world will be transformed by God’s love.
If we all examine our hearts, we know there are areas of injustice where we have hardened our hearts, or closed our eyes and ears to each day. Sometimes we feel overwhelmed and just want to shut it out. Let’s ask God for forgiveness and to open our hearts to receive God’s transforming love and grace.
Prayer: Holy and Loving God, we confess that we have hardened our hearts to others, closed
our eyes to injustice and refused to hear the cries of those in need. Forgive us and open our hearts to receive your transforming love and grace, so that we may follow Jesus so that your Kin-dom may flourish and grow to transform the world. Amen.
