“Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?” (Mark 8:18).
In this passage, our Lord Jesus rebuked His disciples for their continued lack of spiritual discernment after cautioning them about the “leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod” (Mark 8:15). They had completely missed the point of Jesus’ warning. This was a spiritual admonition, not a reprimand for not having enough bread as they surmised.
Earlier the disciples had asked how a crowd of 4,000 men (plus women and children) could be fed with only seven loaves of bread and a few small fish. They asked, “From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness?” (Mark 8:4). It seems inconceivable that this question would be posed by the disciples after they witnessed the feeding of the 5,000 (with only five loaves and two fish) just days before! What happened? Perhaps the answer is in Mark 8:17, where Jesus asked the question, “have ye your heart yet hardened?”
Our Lord Jesus challenged the hearts of His hearers several times throughout the New Testament. When He was explaining the ministry of John the Baptist coming in the spirit of Elijah, He declared, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:15). Christ ended all seven letters to the churches in Revelation with “He that hath an ear, let him hear.” He also used the phrase “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 13:9) after many of His parables, referring to those who were “to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 13:11).
As we read God’s Word, may we have eyes to see and ears to “hear what the Spirit saith” (Revelation 3:6), so that our hearts will be open to faithfully respond when we “hear His voice” (Hebrews 4:7).
