He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

 

 Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God.  And the twelve were with Him, and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities -- Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.  

And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable:  "A sower went out to sow his seed.  And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it.  Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture.  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it.  But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold."  When He had said these things He cried, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

Then His disciples asked Him, saying, "What does this parable mean?"  And He said, "To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that

'Seeing they may not see, 

And hearing they may not understand.'

"Now the parable is this:  The seed is the word of God.  Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.  But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.  Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.  But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience."

 

- Luke 8:1–15 

 

Yesterday we read that one of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him.  And he went to the Pharisee's house, and sat down to eat.  And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.  Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, "This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner."  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you."  So he said, "Teacher, say it."  "There was a certain creditor who had two debtors.  One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.  And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both.  Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?"  Simon answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more."  And He said to him, "You have rightly judged."  Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman?  I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.  You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in.  You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil.  Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much.  But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little."  Then He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."  And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"  Then He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you.  Go in peace."

 

  Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God.  And the twelve were with Him, and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities -- Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.   These women mentioned here by Luke would prove to be faithful to Christ until the end (23:49, 55).  They were the first to receive and to proclaim the news of Christ's Resurrection (24:1-10).  In the Scriptures, my study bible says, seven frequently symbolizes totality and completeness, here indicating that Mary called Magdalene had been thoroughly given over to darkness before her healing.  

And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable:  "A sower went out to sow his seed.  And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it.  Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture.  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it.  But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold."  When He had said these things He cried, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"  Then His disciples asked Him, saying, "What does this parable mean?"  And He said, "To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that 'Seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.'  Now the parable is this:  The seed is the word of God.  Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.  But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.  Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.  But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience."  Jesus begins speaking in parables here in Luke's Gospel.  As in the Gospel of Matthew, He begins with the parable of the Sower.  Note that regarding this "new" mode of preaching in parables, Jesus quotes from Isaiah 6:9.   On today's entire passage, my study bible comments that, as the sower in the parable, Christ fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah 55:10-13.  It says that while some suggest that a person is permanently saved from the moment there is a profession of faith -- and this is a view that was never held by the historic Church -- the teaching of Jesus is clear from the parable that some may believe for a while and then fall away.  When Jesus speaks of the mysteries of the kingdom of God, He isn't speaking about obscure intellectual concepts, but rather the presence of the kingdom of God which cannot be defined.  My study bible says that a person's unwillingness to understand Christ's parables is due to a rejection of His Kingdom.  St. John Chrysostom teaches, "If the blindness were natural, it would have been proper for God to open their eyes; but because it was a voluntary and self-chosen blindness, God does not overthrow their free will."  To do so would have been not only to "no advantage for them, but an even greater condemnation."

With this step in His ministry, where Christ has preached extensively throughout Galilee, and now there are greater crowds which are gathered to Him (a great multitude), He begins to teach in parables.  Jesus says, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" bringing to mind Isaiah's language regarding a particular capacity to hear the words of the prophet, the call of the Lord.  As my study bible suggests, there is a kind of talent (if we can put it that way) or capacity which lies within each of us, but it may be dormant due to lack of use or lack of care.  The parables are designed to provoke a response from those whose capacity for hearing is not shut out or stopped up, for those in the crowds who really desire what Christ offers.  Of course, in the Gospel, we reach Christ's private explanation to His disciples.  Perhaps what is most striking about Jesus' explanations -- regarding those by the wayside who hear, but then the devil snatches the word out of their hearts, or those on the rock who  receive the word with joy, but have no root and so fall away in a time of temptation, or the ones falling among thorns are those choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and so bring no fruit to maturity --  is just that all of these things can be part of the struggle with faith at any time.  That is, these different failings of faith can be part of the journey at any time -- they may come to trip us up.  They are not, as they might appear, three separate groups of people, but rather different times of hearing the word, different possibilities that come up.  We can at any time find ourselves choked with the cares of the world.  Or possibly there is the evil one at work who desires that we might not be saved.  We might spend too much time obsessing about riches or pleasures to heed what Christ would sow in the heart, or our own shallowness renders us unrooted and easily swayed off course.  But to bear good spiritual fruit, He is clear, takes a consistent sort of rootedness, and, we can infer, a way to constantly make certain that our soil is in good shape -- healthy and weeded, properly watered, nurtured with all that it needs, with stones plucked out and possibly new topsoil when necessary, and all the things we can understand about what it takes to make things grow and to produce good fruit.  Each of these things can be clear metaphors for different times of our lives, and there is good reason why so many of Christ's parables focus on common themes of farming that were known to all people.  Anyone with a garden who has tried to coax good growth can also understand -- even that there are times to prune back what hasn't worked, so our "tree" has more energy it can devote to flowers and fruitfulness.  There are any number of ways that Christ would offer to us through this parable to understand a picture of what it means to be on our own journey of faith, cultivating our garden, growing whatever it is that He has given us to grow and to tend.  But it all takes focus, purpose, care, and a steady devotion to the things we really need to pursue.  It requires a constant state of attention, and nurturing as well through the Word and the influence of the Spirit, the tending of the heart.  Let us note in this context the passage on the faithful women, who travel with His ministry from Galilee, "nurturing" through their own means this growth, and will stay steady, faithful, supportive throughout -- and play such a vitally important role in the Resurrection.  They give us an important picture of the journey of faith:  of constant support, vigilance, and simply staying by rooted where they are supposed to be, indispensable to the fullness of Easter.  Let us pay attention, and be like them, the ones who hear the good news.