Week 37 Matthew 13
Jesus knew some of his stories were hard to understand but he said that: anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand. So ‘willingness’ was part of the mix. He said ‘openness’ was too (if people are open to my teaching more understanding will be given). Willingness & Openness.
He had already said that the disciples had been permitted to understand the secrets but that other (people) had not.
I wonder about why some people were ‘permitted’ to understand but others were not (it almost makes it look like the Lord is a Big Secret Keeper and he only lets a few select insiders in on the secret). But I figure it’s just as likely (and makes pretty good sense) that the ‘insiders’ were the ones who were Willing & Open. If that’s true then the ‘outsiders’ were likely Unwilling & Closed.
On one side: to people who are open to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge.
On the other: to those who are not listening, even what they have will be taken away from them.
Personally I think it would be nice if everyone was an insider. A kind of inclusive big-tent universal admission to knowing. But what if I was a person who didn’t want to a) hear or b) listen or c) understand? Would I even want to be an insider?
Note: quotes from Matthew 13:9 12 11 (NLT)