Q: In Matthew 13:10-15, Jesus explains to the apostles that the reason he speaks in parables is so that no one will understand him: I speak to them in parables . . . lest they should see with their eyes and understand with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them. Isnt it unjust to blame people for not learning what Jesus intentionally made unlearnable?
A: I can see how this appears difficult to modern readers. See the yet-to-be-written (as of Sept. 9, 2005) comments on the parallel-passage in Mark 4:10-12. Short answer: the parables shine the same sunlight on the entire crowd, both the clay and the wax, so to speak. But while the wax is softened, the clay is hardened. The parables filter the crowd, separating those who have come to Jesus in a casual way or due to idle curiosity, from those who come hungry and thirsty and desperately conscious of their need for Gods truth. Lackadaisical listeners will accept the parables at surface-level without studying them; meanwhile the desperate truth-hunters will think about the symbolic meaning of the parables and realize that there is more to them, and to Jesus, than meets the eye and ear.
A listeners response to the parables indicates whether or not his heart is receptive to seek more truth by looking beyond the surface-level of things.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
A: I can see how this appears difficult to modern readers. See the yet-to-be-written (as of Sept. 9, 2005) comments on the parallel-passage in Mark 4:10-12. Short answer: the parables shine the same sunlight on the entire crowd, both the clay and the wax, so to speak. But while the wax is softened, the clay is hardened. The parables filter the crowd, separating those who have come to Jesus in a casual way or due to idle curiosity, from those who come hungry and thirsty and desperately conscious of their need for Gods truth. Lackadaisical listeners will accept the parables at surface-level without studying them; meanwhile the desperate truth-hunters will think about the symbolic meaning of the parables and realize that there is more to them, and to Jesus, than meets the eye and ear.
A listeners response to the parables indicates whether or not his heart is receptive to seek more truth by looking beyond the surface-level of things.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
