Not Everyone

Again He began to teach by the sea. And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea. Then He taught them many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching:

“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. And He said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so that

‘Seeing they may see and not perceive,

And hearing they may hear and not understand;

Lest they should turn,

And their sins be forgiven them.’” (Mark 4:1-12)

Is it true that Jesus wanted to keep the truth away from some of the people he talked to? Jesus explained that his parables fulfilled the words of the prophet Isaiah, that the people would hear and still not understand, because if they understood, then their sins would be forgiven.

When Jesus said that people would “hear but not understand,” he was not explaining the purpose of his parables. Rather, he described how parables actually worked out in practice. Despite the fact that many people seemed to be listening, the reality was that they weren’t listening to be changed, or to find the truth. They were listening for justification. If people could actually hear with understanding, then they would be changed. But as it was, that rarely happened.

The sad truth is that many people will never believe the gospel message, no matter how clearly it is explained. Not because it’s hard to understand, but simply because they choose not to. Our job as Christians is merely to tell people about Jesus. What they do with our words is up to them.

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