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Matthew 13:13-15
Jesus begins Matthew 13:13 (NKJV) with the word “Therefore,” and is a key word that He is about to give reasoning for what has previously been stated or explained. In reference to the question from His disciples as to “Why do You speak to them in parables?” (Matthew 13:10b), Jesus now begins to explain His reasoning for speaking in parables. He states in Matthew 13:13, “Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” This is a direct quote from Isaiah 6:9-10 as Jesus further explains in Matthew 13:14-15 declaring, “And 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;
For 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.’”
The key to Jesus quoting this Old Testament Scripture passage, I believe, is in the mission of Jesus to reach the hearts of the people – to help them see that becoming or being a child of God is not about going through the motions of following rituals, but that it is the condition of one’s heart that God desires to be His – that one’s heart is seeking God in their life. This is why Jesus declares in Matthew 13:13, “Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” God sent Jesus, His only begotten Son, to be the Savior of the world, and salvation is a changing of one’s heart – the true feelings and beliefs that are found in the center of the soul. For those who refuse to put God first in their lives and accept Jesus as the Savior of the world, is an ability to see and hear from a physical standpoint, but their hearts are closed to see and hear what God is speaking to them spiritually – in their hearts.
This is an example of the spiritual blindness that is a reality for those who do not put God first in their lives.
There is a simple hard truth in which we must face in the world today: If you do not believe in the Word of God – the Bible, then you have simply not put God first in your life. Jesus, being God in human form, gives us His definition of the greatest commandment of all in Matthew 22:37-40 as He proclaims in His quoting of Deuteronomy 6:5, and Leviticus 19:18, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” You might ask, “What is the common denominator in this teaching?” It is the heart. Where does believing in God take place? It is in our hearts. Why does Jesus teach in parables? Because the hearts of the people had grown dull. Why does Jesus quote Isaiah, and why does Isaiah prophesy something that Jesus would later use to teach? Because the hearts of the people had grown dull. And what is the answer to the healing of the hearts of the people? That they would understand in their hearts and turn so that Jesus may heal them (Isaiah 6:10).
This teaching of Jesus is just as real for us today as it was for the people in which Jesus was teaching over 2000 years ago – that we would open our hearts to God – to believe – to put our faith in Him – in Jesus, the Savior of the world!
Dear LORD,
You are Almighty God. You created the heavens and the earth, and You created each of us – Your greatest creation of all so that You could have a personal relationship with each of us as we realize and understand with our hearts, that You have sent us a Savior in which we may be saved from sin, forgiven of our sins, and receive eternal life in and through Him – Jesus, that our hearts would turn from evil and worship You – in Christ! In Jesus name I pray, amen.