What Are Ears For?

by David Gibson

Closed ears

One advantage of a hearing aid, they say, is that you can turn it off. But even a person with excellent hearing can easily tune out an unwelcome message.

Jesus said, “For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them” (Matthew 13:15). Note the progression: hear→understand→turn→be healed. Healing is dependent on hearing—receptivity to God’s message of grace, life, hope and peace. And some would close their ears to this?

Open ears

To His disciples, Jesus said, “For blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, for they hear” (Matthew 13:16). Then He told them, “... many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it” (Matthew 13:17). Why didn’t they? They died long before Jesus came, and therefore did not hear what the apostles were hearing. But they desired to, nonetheless (I Peter 1:10-12). By telling His disciples this, Jesus wanted them to realize just how privileged they were to hear God’s message.

Open or closed?

Jesus’ most often repeated statement is, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” The Bible records examples of both those who were eager to hear the gospel (Acts 8:30-39; 10:33; 13:42, 44; 17:10-12) and those who were not (Acts 13:44-46; 18:5-6; 19:8-9; 28:23-28). Of these two kinds of people—those with ears open and those with ears closed—which are we?