“Whoever has ears, let them hear.” Matthew 11:15 NIV
In our text today, just one simple verse, we have Jesus using what is known as the third person imperative. It is a concentrated, powerful and passionate utterance used to convey urgency and gravity. In other words, what He is saying is, “Whoever has ears had better listen and understand!” Or “Are you listening? Really listening? You had better be!” Most of our modern English translations make this sentence sound like a permissive suggestion instead of the demand that it really is. So, are we listening? This particular phrase only occurs fourteen times in the entire Bible. Two of these are in the Old Testament and are in the negative. Both times, God is speaking to His people about not “having ears to hear” because of their rebellious hearts. The rest of the occurrences of this phrase are in the New Testament and all of them personally uttered by Jesus Christ. It is here that it occurs for the first time. The first question we need to ask is, “Is Jesus trying to get us to focus on what He has just said, what He is about to say, or both?” I am going to say “both.” Jesus has just let everyone within earshot know that prophecy is being fulfilled in that very hour, and it all has eternal significance for each of them. He also denounces the hard-headedness and stiff-necked attitude of most of the people of that day. They had their idea of what the Messiah was going to be like and what His coming would mean and there was no changing their minds. Don’t we like to think that we would have recognized Jesus, we would have responded differently than those foolish people did back then. Maybe not! Do we have ears?
PRAYER THOUGHT
Lord Jesus, through Your Holy Spirit, give us ears to hear You.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Lord, so often we have our own ideas of what You, the Messiah should be, and what Your coming into this world would mean. Give us ears to truly hear You and recognize You for who You really are. AMEN
INTERNATIONAL BIBLE READING ASSOCIATION (IBRA)
Matthew 21:1-11
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