Day 5: Understand, Hear & See

Day 5: Matthew 13, 14, 15

Parables – it’s what Jesus used to proclaim His father’s will and direction.  As I read these parables, one by one, they were all familiar.  I remember listening to them during VBS as a child.  Upon re-reading, they have become clearer and make more sense.  But one may wonder, why does He speak in parables?

One of his disciples asked him that very question.  Christ answered in Matthew 13:14-15:
¹⁴In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
” ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
¹⁵For 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.’

I pray that my heart has not become calloused, that I may hear with my ears and see with my eyes – this is the one true way to healing.  What is the point of living like the false Pharisees, blinded by tradition and blatantly disregarding the actual teaching?  Christ points that out in Matthew 15:8-9.

⁸” ‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
⁹They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.

Seek to truly understand, see & hear.  It’s the way of life that Christ wants us to take.