Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 13:10-16

"And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? And he answered and said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables; because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And unto them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise understand; And seeing ye shall see, and shall in no wise perceive: For this people`s heart is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes they have closed; Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And should turn again, And I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear." — Matthew 13:10-16 (ASV)

And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

A judicial blindness and deafness of heart had come over the nation of Israel, so that even when the sun shone in its strength in the person and teaching of Christ, they could not see. And when God spoke more plainly than he ever spoke before, by his Son, yet they could not hear so as to understand. I sometimes fear that some measure of this judicial blindness has happened to many in our Land. Those who take the metaphors of Scripture, and interpret them literally, and dare to take from the old law excuses for ritualistic observance—what can we say of them but that this people's hearts have waxed gross?

God has done very much for our country.

He has seeded it with the blood of martyrs. The scars of martyrdom have hardly passed away. And, after all this, if people go back to the follies of popish ceremony—if they reject the blessed light of the gospel of Jesus Christ—rest assured, God will give them up to some kind of hardness of heart, so that they will plunge from one superstition to another, and their end will be worse than the first.

But blessed are they who, being taught of God, can perceive the spirit beneath the letter, and do not confuse the emblems which the Saviour used, but suck out the meaning from them as bees do the honey from the flowers.