Jesus’ Discourses

Seeing and Hearing

Photo of women covering their eyes, ears and mouth

Synopsis

In this learning unit we will study Jesus’ answer in Mk 4:11–12, when he says, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables; so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven.” This passage is difficult to understand, as it gives the impression that Jesus doesn’t want the people to be saved. However, he is quoting a passage from Isaiah, so to understand what he means we need to analyze this passage.

Mark uses the theme of seeing but not perceiving, hearing but not understanding as a leitmotif throughout his gospel. For him, it is not just Jesus’ enemies who are blind and deaf, for the apostles are so as well. However, we are healed by his cross.

Learning Objectives

You will have successfully completed this learning unit when you can:

Explain how Jesus’ statement in Mk 4:10–12 doesn’t contradict the fact that God wants all people to be saved.

Explain how seeing and hearing is a leitmotif throughout the gospel.

Seeing but not perceiving

When we studied the Mark’s structures, we saw how he “sandwiched” another story in between the parable of the sower and its interpretation. The following is story B:

And when he was alone, those who were about him with the twelve asked him concerning the parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables; so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven.” (Mk 4:10–12)

The amount of literature that has been published on this passage is disproportionate to its size. This is because scholars disagree on how to interpret it, since it appears as if Jesus doesn’t want those outside the group of his close disciples to understand him, convert, and be forgiven. Some even think the expression “so that” is a causal statement; that it, he taught in parables in order to harden the hearts of his opponents. However, this can’t be true as it contradicts other teachings in the New Testament. For example, Jesus tells us in the John’s Gospel that:

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. (Jn 3:16–17)

And Paul claims that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tm 2:4). So, Jesus couldn’t have taught in parables to prevent people from converting and being saved. What, then, could he have meant? The passage is very enigmatic. There are no easy answers, but the following ideas can help us understand it better.

First of all, the expression “so that” in verse 12 should be taken as an abbreviation of “in order that this statement from the Old Testament might be fulfilled.” It is used to introduce a quotation from Isaiah 6. Jesus’ statement is not original to him but comes from the Old Testament. So, to understand it, we need to look at its original context and meaning.

Isaiah

Isaiah chapter 6 gives us the prophet’s vocation story. You should read the whole chapter on your own because we will only look at parts of it.

And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

‘Hear and hear, but do not understand;

see and see, but do not perceive.’

Make the heart of this people fat,

and their ears heavy,

and shut their eyes;

lest they see with their eyes,

and hear with their ears,

and understand with their hearts,

and turn and be healed.” (Is 6:9–10)

God sends Isaiah to make the people’s ears heavy and shut their eyes so that they don’t understand, turn, and be healed. This just brings us back to our original question. Why would God apparently want some people not to be healed? When we continue reading this chapter, we see that the prophet asks, “How long, O Lord?” (Is 6:11a). God answers:

“Until cities lie waste

without inhabitant,

and houses without men,

and the land is utterly desolate,

and the Lord removes men far away,

and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

And though a tenth remain in it,

it will be burned again,

like a terebinth or an oak,

whose stump remains standing

when it is felled.”

The holy seed is its stump. (Is 6:11–13)

This reply is also mysterious and difficult to comprehend, but the fact that it begins with the word “until” suggests that this situation will only be temporary. The text speaks about the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile. Its context allows us to draw some interesting parallels. When Isaiah had this vision, he expected to die because he had entered God’s presence despite being a sinful man.

“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Is 6:5)

However, God purified him of his sin by burning his lips (the specific part of his body that Isaiah said was unclean) with a glowing coal.

Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven.” (Is 6:6–7)

Somehow, the burning pain this must have caused purified him of his sin.

Likewise, when the people broke the covenant by sinning against God, God punished them by destroying Jerusalem and sending them into exile. Once again, we see how suffering becomes a means of purification. God compares the exile to the felling of a tree. Even though the tree was cut down, God tells us that its stump is a holy seed; that is, it will come back to life and once again become a tree. This happened 70 years later, when the Jews returned from exile. The destruction and death they suffered became the seed of new life.

If God used the tree stump as an image of Judah’s exile, destruction, and return, this in turn became an image of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jesus took upon himself our suffering and death. Like the burning coal did to Isaiah, and the exile did to Judah, the cross purified us of our sins so that we could resurrect to a new life.

How and why this works remains a mystery, but we can discover a pattern in these three examples. God’s reacts to our sin by purifying it through suffering. This may not be the answer we expect, but it helps put everything into context. God’s punishment is painful, but its purpose is to cleanse us of our sins, not destroy us.

Israel’s Blindness

If you read Isaiah, you will find that the theme of blindness appears throughout the whole book. Many of its chapters mention of it in some way. For example, Israel’s leaders are blind:

All you beasts of the field, come to devour—

all you beasts in the forest.

His watchmen are blind,

they are all without knowledge; …

The shepherds also have no understanding;

they have all turned to their own way,

each to his own gain, one and all.

(Is 56:9–11)

But so too are the people:

Therefore justice is far from us,

and righteousness does not overtake us;

we look for light, and behold, darkness,

and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.

We grope for the wall like the blind,

we grope like those who have no eyes;

we stumble at noon as in the twilight,

among those in full vigor we are like dead men.

We all growl like bears… (Is 59:9–11)

The Righteous King

Yet Isaiah also tells us that this blindness will be brought to an end by a righteous king who will come to take it away. Then, the blind will see, the deaf will hear, and the dumb will speak.

Behold, a king will reign in righteousness,

and princes will rule in justice.

Each will be like a hiding place from the wind,

a covert from the tempest,

like streams of water in a dry place,

like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.

Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed,

and the ears of those who hear will hearken.

The mind of the rash will have good judgment,

and the tongue of the stammerers will speak readily and distinctly. (Is 32:1–4)

Of course, he is speaking of Jesus. In fact, in another passage, Isaiah says that it is God who will come to save us.

Say to those who are of a fearful heart,

“Be strong, fear not!

Behold, your God

will come with vengeance,

with the recompense of God.

He will come and save you.”

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,

and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

then shall the lame man leap like a hart,

and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy. (Is 35:4–6)

And I will lead the blind

in a way that they know not,

in paths that they have not known

I will guide them.

I will turn the darkness before them into light,

the rough places into level ground.

These are the things I will do,

and I will not forsake them. (Is 42:16)

From Blindness to Sight

As you can see, Isaiah has lots to say about our spiritual blindness and deafness. Returning to Mark, we see that he takes this theme and uses it as a leitmotif throughout his gospel. The whole gospel can be understood as showing us how Jesus leads us on the way from blindness to sight. That is why the miraculous healings of two blind men (see Mk 8:22–26 and 10:46–52) and the deaf man with a speech impediment (see Mk 8:21–37) are so important.

For Mark, it is not just Jesus’ enemies who are blind and deaf, for the apostles, those in Jesus’ inner circle, are so as well.

Now they had forgotten to bring bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” And they discussed it with one another, saying, “We have no bread.” And being aware of it, Jesus said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?” (Mk 8:14–21)

Taken in its literal sense, an apostle is an emissary or messenger who is sent off to convey a message. Isaiah had already spoken of their blindness:

Who is blind but my servant,

or deaf as my messenger whom I send?

Who is blind as my dedicated one,

or blind as the servant of the Lord?

He sees many things, but does not observe them;

his ears are open, but he does not hear. (Is 42:19–20)

So, not only are Jesus’ enemies blind, but his apostles are as well. We shouldn’t, though, be too hard on them. How often are we just as blind! Jesus has come to save us all and cure our blindness. Remember what we said about the miraculous healing of the blind man at Bethsaida. His physical healing is an image of our spiritual healing. Just as his recovery took place in stages, so too will ours.

Jesus’ death on the cross is the light that will bring us to see properly.

And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” And one ran and, filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that he thus breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mk 15:33–39)

Did you notice it? When Jesus cries out, the bystanders “hearing it said, ‘Behold, he is calling Elijah… Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.’” They saw but did not perceive; they heard but did not understand. But “when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that he thus breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’’” The centurion saw, understood, and believed. He was no longer blind!

Assignments

Find at least five passages in Isaiah which speak of hearing but not understanding, seeing but not perceiving. Explain how they can help us understand Jesus’ statement in Mk 4:10–12.

Find as many passages in Mark's gospel that are related to the leitmotif of seeing but not perceiving, hearing but not understanding.

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