Scripture Daily

Context No. 333 of 4322 · Matthew

Context · Reflection

Matthew 13:10-15: in context

10The disciples came, and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them. 12For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has. 13Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand. 14In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive; 15for this people’s heart has grown callous, their ears are dull of hearing, and they have closed their eyes; or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and would turn again, and I would heal them.’

The disciples ask Jesus a fair question: why do you teach the crowds in parables, in riddling little stories, instead of just saying plainly what you mean? His answer is unsettling at first. To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom, he says, but to them it has not been given. It can sound like arbitrary favoritism, as if God simply hides the truth from some. But the rest of his answer, and the passage from Isaiah he quotes, point somewhere else.

I speak in parables, he says, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear. Then he quotes Isaiah, and the wording matters: this people's heart has grown callous, their ears are dull, and they have closed their eyes. The dullness is something they have done to themselves. A parable meets a closed heart and a curious heart in completely different ways. To the person who has already shut their eyes, it is just a pleasant story to nod at and forget. To the person leaning in, willing to turn it over, it opens into treasure. That is why Jesus adds the strange law of spiritual attention: to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. What you do with a little determines whether you receive more. Receptivity compounds, and so does indifference.

That puts the weight back on the hearer. The same words that harden a closed person can flood a hungry one with light, and the difference is whether I lean in or shrug. When I hear something true, do I dig into it like someone who wants to understand, or do I take it as a nice story and let even that little be quietly taken away?

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