November 20, 2022
Gospel – 7/23/20 – Matthew 13:10-17
The disciples approached Jesus and said,
“Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?”
He said to them in reply,
“Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven
has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.
To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;
from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
This is why I speak to them in parables, because
they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.
Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:
You shall indeed hear but not understand,
you shall indeed look but never see.
Gross is the heart of this people,
they will hardly hear with their ears,
they have closed their eyes,
lest they see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their hearts and be converted
and I heal them.
“But blessed are your eyes, because they see,
and your ears, because they hear.
Amen, I say to 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.”
Call it selective hearing.
“You shall indeed hear but not understand,
you shall indeed look but never see.
Gross is the heart of this people,
they will hardly hear with their ears, . . .”
I’m as guilty as anyone who hears what he wants but the other stuff just doesn’t stick.
There was a duo who were popular when I was young, Simon and Garfunkel. Paul Simon had written the lyrics to “The Boxer”. In it, he has the line, “a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.”
Paul Simon was talking about us. Isaiah and Jesus were talking about us.
We don’t like hard messages. If, we could handle hard messages, we wouldn’t be experiencing the pain we have today.
You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.
God can give us Living Water but he can’t make us drink.
At least that’s what I heard Him say…
What I Heard Him Say 