In the light of today’s Gospel, we wonder if we would accept Jesus the way most of the Jewish authorities did, or the way the disciples did. Most of the authorities rejected him, and so Jesus’ teachings to them remained “parables,” that they could not understand or appreciate the meaning of. When the eyes, the ears, and the heart refuse to listen or pay attention, whatever is said, no matter how beautiful or noble, remains a “parable.”

On the other hand, for those who have open minds and hearts, like his disciples, his stories and preaching, as well as his works or deeds, are understandable and meaningful and fruitful. That is why Jesus declares them truly blessed, they who are so privileged to have heard and witnessed the things Jesus said and did. There are many others who do not have (and will not have) the privilege or the luxury of hearing or seeing these things.

Indeed, when we realize that as Christians we have received so much from the Lord, or come to know him, even if only glimpses of him, we cannot but be truly grateful and feel blessed. Imagine, for example, if we have remained Godless, agnostic, or even anti-God! Let us therefore contemplate and treasure our blessings as Christian believers and disciples.

This word of the Lord came to me: Go, cry out this message for Jerusalem to hear! I remember the devotion of your youth, how you loved me as a bride, following me in the desert, in a land unsown. Sacred to the Lord was Israel, the first fruits of his harvest; should any presume to partake of them, evil would befall them, says the Lord.

When I brought you into the garden land to eat its goodly fruits, you entered and defiled my land, you made my heritage loathsome. The priests asked not, “Where is the Lord?” Those who dealt with the law knew me not: the shepherds rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after useless idols.

Be amazed at this, O heavens, and shudder with sheer horror, says the Lord. Two evils have my people done: they have forsaken me, the source of living waters; they have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water.

The disciples approached Jesus and said, “Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?” He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.

Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and be converted and I heal them.

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2026,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.