10And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?"
11He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:
| "Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; 15For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.' |
16But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; 17for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
This seems a good question by the disciples. Up till now, Jesus was very straight forward, even blunt, in His preaching. He taught of right and wrong, where problems were with the Law they were trying to follow, and the problems this evil generation will face. But now He started speaking in parables. Why?
Hearing the parables, you do not always see their beauty. You have to think about them for awhile before you can see what their meaning might be. I can understand Jesus' part of the explanation where He said "seeing they do not see and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand", for some parables are hard to understand.
But why make them hard to understand? Wouldn't it be easier to make them understand straight talk? There are three things that bother me about this text: when Jesus says "more will be given", when He says "what he has will be taken away from him", and when the quoted scripture says "Lest they should see... Lest they should understand... So that I should heal them."
The first one seems a little reasonable. I believe He is saying here that the more you see, hear, and understand, the more you will be given to understand. But why only to those whoever has? And has what? Does Jesus mean more will be given only to those to whom it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven? Who has it been given to? How do you manage to be counted as one of the lucky ones to whom it has been given?
And what about the poor souls to whom it has not been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven? I didn't think Jesus excluded anyone from a hope of learning. And why take away from them what has been given?
I just did a quick check on the text in Isaiah that this scripture is based on. Isaiah 6 is when Isaiah sees a vision and is called to be a prophet. Here is the full chapter:
1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3And one cried to another and said:
| "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!" |
4And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
5So I said:
| "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts." |
6Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7And he touched my mouth with it, and said:
| "Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged." |
8Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:
| "Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?" |
Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."
9And He said, "Go, and tell this people:
| "Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' 10"Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed." |
11Then I said, "Lord, how long?"
And He answered:
| "Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, The houses are without a man, The land is utterly desolate, 12The LORD has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. 13But yet a tenth will be in it, And will return and be for consuming, As a terebinth tree or as an oak, Whose stump remains when it is cut down. So the holy seed shall be its stump." |
The previous chapter of Isaiah talks of the faithless children of Israel, and God's judgment of them. Yes, the holy seed shall come from the few children of Israel that would remain, but their hearts would be dull, their ears heavy, and their eyes shut. The key word I see in this scripture in both Isaiah and quoted in Matthew is "Lest". My dictionary says lest means "for fear that". I don't think it means that God was the one who feared that they would see, hear, and understand, and return to be healed, but that the people feared it. The people liked their evil ways, liked being in control and thinking they were wise. They were not interested in letting God take charge. They probably feared they would have much to lose if they tried really hard to understand God's desires.
So even if they had an inkling of understanding of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, in their stubbornness to maintain their faithless lives, they would have to ignore anything they would be taught of heaven. Even the little they have would be taken away from them.
Understanding the mysteries of heaven is a gift. It is nothing you earn, or learn or discover strictly through your own means. It is presented in parables so you can take it to heart, examine it, try to learn from it, or you can harden your heart and not see anything of use in it. It is given freely and offered to all. But to those who reject it, the gift of understanding will be taken away.
Note, it is the gift of understanding that is given or taken away. One of the beauties of the parables is the fact that they are stories that can easily be enjoyed and remembered even if you are not ready to understand them. But then they will be with you when you are ready to understand them. The stories are given to all, but understanding only to a few.
Jesus had angered many Pharisees and scribes. There were many followers who were anxious to learn more. But there were many others who would find objection in anything Jesus taught. But in the parables they would be able to find no objections.
Blessed are they who see, hear, and understand. Many prophets and righteous men had desired to understand such truths but were unable because God commanded that the Children of Israel's hearts would be dull, that their ears would be heavy, and that their eyes would be shut. Jesus came to open up those who were ready to overcome their fear, to let God help them understand the error of their ways, and to let God heal them. Yes, God is the one who gives or takes away understanding, but it is our own fears that make it so.