What does it mean to have ears to hear?
Quick Answer
In the Teaching, genuine hearing goes beyond sound: the hearer receives, seeks, understands, and responds to Yah’s word.
Key Scriptures
Matthew 10:13-17 – Yeshua answers why He speaks in parables and describes seeing without perceiving.
– Matthew 13:18-23 – Yeshua explains wayside, rocky, thorny, and good soil and their responses.
Detailed Biblical Study
Matthew 13 contrasts hearing with understanding. The speaker insists passive listening is not enough; the heart must be open to learning and acting. This application runs throughout the sections on the four soils.
– Matthew 13:10-17 – Yeshua answers why He speaks in parables and describes seeing without perceiving.
– Matthew 13:18-23 – Yeshua explains wayside, rocky, thorny, and good soil and their responses.
Related Teaching
Parable of the Sower – Revealing The Mysteries
The teacher begins a series on Yeshua’s parables by asking why the Messiah taught the crowds through simple but layered stories. Reading Matthew 13 alongside Psalm 78 and Isaiah’s prophecy, the Teaching argues that spiritual receptivity is central to understanding the mysteries of the Kingdom: the same spoken word can be heard without being perceived or welcomed with an open heart. The speaker urges believers to seek understanding rather than treating spiritual knowledge as passive listening. He then moves to the Parable of the Sower, presenting the sowing of seed as a picture of widespread sharing of Scripture and connecting it to the command to make disciples in Matthew 28. Each soil represents a different response: wayside incomprehension, stony enthusiasm without roots, thorny distraction and the deceitfulness of riches, and good soil that hears, understands, and bears fruit. The discussion links understanding to obedience (Deuteronomy 4; James 1), worldly desires to Genesis 3 and 1 John 2, and lasting fruit to abiding in the true vine (John 15). The closing fellowship considers whether a person’s “soil” can change through maturity, regression, patient encouragement, and continued sowing. The broader purpose is to encourage attentive Bible study, practical obedience, and fruitful disciple-making.