“He Who Has Ears to Hear, Let Him Hear”

Christ’s exhortation in today’s Parable of the Sower—“He who has ears to hear, let him hear”—seems self-evident: whoever has ears should listen. Yet the parable itself leads us beyond physical hearing. The question is what happens to the word of God once it has been heard: whether it is lost, remains on the surface, or takes root and bears fruit (Luke 8:5–15).

To understand this invitation, we need to remember the setting in which it is spoken. Jesus is addressing a Jewish audience and uses the biblical language of their own religious tradition. The imagery of hearing, the heart, and responding to God does not suddenly emerge with His preaching; it already holds a central place in Deuteronomy and the Prophets. Recognizing this continuity does not mean that every listener would have recalled particular verses. Rather, it means that Christ speaks within a familiar framework of faith and meaning, as a comparison of the relevant passages reveals.

In Deuteronomy, we encounter the foundational summons, “Hear, O Israel” (Deut. 6:4). This is followed by the command to love God with one’s whole being and the exhortation to keep His words in the heart. “Hear,” therefore, does more than…