If they saw, they heard, they understood, and repented

"If they saw, they heard, they understood, and repented" - Matthew 13:9-17 Jesus concluded the parable with this critical admonition: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." In the parable He was communicating an important message to the crowd and a different message to the disciples. No one should miss the meaning of His words.

I. The Purpose of Parables (Matthew 13:10-19)

A. "The disciples" were perplexed (confused, amazed) that the Lord spoke to the people with the veiled language (information that has been "covered" by someone to prevent others from accessing it) of the parables.

1. So, they asked Him to explain His method.

2. In His answer, Jesus distinguished between the unbelieving crowd and the believing disciples. (11).

3. The multitude, which was to constitute a cross-section of the nation, was evidently rejecting Him, "though this rejection would not be consummated until the cross".

4. They would not be allowed to know "the (secrets) mysteries of the kingdom of heaven," while His true followers would "be helped to 'understand.'"

5. In the New Testament a mystery is a reality never before known to man, and which man could never come to know except by divine revelation, but which has now been revealed to him.

6. "The mysteries of the kingdom" are truths that had not been known until then, about the kingdom in its inner form (by the absence or lack of another, supplant), had been a secret until then.

7. The parables describe some of the characteristics of the kingdom during the time when the King was to be absent.

8. Some people, therefore, call this "the kingdom in its mystery form”, not that there is anything mysterious about it, but simply that it had never been so made known until that time.

9. (12) It may seem arbitrary (unjust) that these secrets were hidden from the crowd and revealed to the disciples.

10. But the Lord explains: "For whosoever hath it shall be given, and he shall have abundantly; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away."

11. The disciples had faith in the Lord Jesus; therefore, "they would receive capacity for more".

12. They had accepted the Light; therefore, they would receive more light.

13. Instead, the Jewish nation had rejected the Light of the world; therefore, not only would it be prevented from receiving more light, but their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, they would also lose what little they had.

14. "The rejection of light entails" the denial of light.

15. (Matthew 13:13) M. Henry compares "the parables" to the pillar of cloud and fire that illuminated Israel while confounding the Egyptians.

16. The parables would be revealed to those who were sincerely interested, but they would prove to be "only an invitation to those who were hostile to Jesus."

17. So, it was not a matter of whim on the part of the Lord, but simply the application of a principle that is manifest in all aspects of life: "Willful blindness is followed by judicial blindness (to judgment, administration of justice)”.

18. This is why He spoke to the Jews in parables.

19. (H. C. Woodring) "Because they did not have the love of the truth, they would not receive the light of the truth: "blind and do not hear."

20. They professed to see, that is, to be acquainted with divine truth, but the embodied truth was in their midst, and they flatly refused to see it.

21. They professed to hear the Word of God, but the living Word of God was in their midst, and they were unwilling to obey Him.

22. They were not willing to understand the wonderful fact of the Incarnation (the Word of God as God the Son became incarnate in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit); therefore, their ability to understand was taken away.

23. (Matthew 13:14-15) They were a living fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 6:9, 10.

24. Israel's heart had become "thickened" (fattened) and their "ears" were insensitive to God's voice.

25. They deliberately refused to "see anything with their eyes."

26. They knew that if they saw, heard, understood (understood, learned), and repented, God would heal them; but in their sickness and need they refused His help.

27. Therefore, their punishment would be that they would hear, but they would not understand; they would look, but they would not see at all.

28. The disciples enjoyed a great privilege, for "they were seeing what no one had seen before." The prophets and righteous ones of the Old Testament had longed to be able to live when the Messiah came, but their desire had not been fulfilled. The disciples had been favored with being able to live in the moment of crisis in history to see the Messiah, to witness His miracles, and to hear the incomparable teaching that proceeded from His lips. Amen.