Have you ever watched a movie that had a very complicated plot together with a friend? Maybe you are both engaged at first, but the more twists and turns it takes, the less interested your friend is. You think it's awesome, soon they are bored.
Sometimes you try to explain it to them, but it's almost a letdown because you can tell the impact of the story is lost on them, they are listening only to be polite to you.
It is difficult to share something you are passionate about with someone who is only half interested in it.
Reading Matthew 13:10-15 (NIV) today,
"The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?"
He replied, "Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables:
"Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
At first it seems like Jesus does not want some people to know the truth about the Kingdom. But reading further reveals something of what is really going on here.
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
"'You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people's heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.
Some hear the words of the Lord, but they are simply not engaged enough to dig further. Jesus reveals more of his truth to those who are hungry for it, those who dig for it with passion. Some just get the story, others get the truth behind the story. But the lukewarm will never understand.
This is a lesson to us all. When we come upon a difficult scripture, do we dismiss it? Or do we stop, pray, ask the Lord to help us see and understand?
