Resolve to Hear

Jesus used familiar imagery to tell his stories that we know as parables. He used stories about the natural world to illustrate spiritual truths…

Here is a story about his stories describing what can happen when we thirst for God’s Word.

As the Sea of Galilee lapped against Jesus’ floating “ pulpit,” (Mark 4:1-2) interruptions rippled through the expanding crowd. The disciples glanced at one another.

Couldn’t Jesus see that his stories were falling on deaf ears?

He seemed to have heard the disciples’ thoughts, and he stood tall in the borrowed fishing boat anchored very near the beach. His voice rang out, “He who has ears let him hear!”

 For a few seconds, the crowd on the shore quieted. Jesus’ forceful plea had saturated the strand.

His appeal rose from the depths of God’s heart, echoing across millennia.

“Hear…!”

The crowd milled about like seabirds. They  hoped for the rabbi to unleash wonders—while miracles were occurring out of sight, inside his disciples.

The Master Storyteller called his disciples close. “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God have been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, ‘ though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’ (Luke 8:10 NIV)

For the disciples who hung on Jesus’ every word, God opened the door to their spiritual comprehension. Jesus called the experience: “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God.”

In our distracted, busy lives we must reach deep for the resolve to hear the voice of Jesus. His Spirit is our Counsellor and imparts the “secrets of the Kingdom of God” to us if we hunger for a deeper connection with him.

The door opens here:

But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. (Matt. 6:6)vv