20260723 THE INABILITY TO HEAR THE WORD OF GOD
23 July 2026, Thursday, 16th Week in Ordinary Time
First reading |
Jeremiah 2:1-3,7-8,12-13 |
I brought you to a fertile country and you defiled it
The word of the Lord was addressed to me, saying, ‘Go and shout this in the hearing of Jerusalem:
‘“The Lord says this:
I remember the affection of your youth,
the love of your bridal days:
you followed me through the wilderness,
through a land unsown.
Israel was sacred to the Lord,
the first-fruits of his harvest;
anyone who ate of this had to pay for it,
misfortune came to them –
it is the Lord who speaks.”
‘I brought you to a fertile country
to enjoy its produce and good things;
but no sooner had you entered than you defiled my land,
and made my heritage detestable.
The priests have never asked, “Where is the Lord?”
Those who administer the Law have no knowledge of me.
The shepherds have rebelled against me;
the prophets have prophesied in the name of Baal,
following things with no power in them.
‘You heavens, stand aghast at this,
stand stupefied, stand utterly appalled
– it is the Lord who speaks.
Since my people have committed a double crime:
they have abandoned me,
the fountain of living water,
only to dig cisterns for themselves,
leaky cisterns
that hold no water.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 35(36):6-11 |
In you, Lord, is the source of life.
Your love, Lord, reaches to heaven;
your truth to the skies.
Your justice is like God’s mountain,
your judgements like the deep.
In you, Lord, is the source of life.
O Lord, how precious is your love.
My God, the sons of men
find refuge in the shelter of your wings.
They feast on the riches of your house;
they drink from the stream of your delight.
In you, Lord, is the source of life.
In you is the source of life
and in your light we see light.
Keep on loving those who know you,
doing justice for upright hearts.
In you, Lord, is the source of life.
Gospel Acclamation | Ps94:8 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Harden not your hearts today,
but listen to the voice of the Lord.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Matthew 13:10-17 |
Prophets and holy men longed to hear what you hear
The disciples went up to Jesus and asked, ‘Why do you talk to them in parables?’ ‘Because’ he replied, ‘the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are revealed to you, but they are not revealed to them. For anyone who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. The reason I talk to them in parables is that they look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding. So in their case this prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled:
You will listen and listen again, but not understand,
see and see again, but not perceive.
For the heart of this nation has grown coarse,
their ears are dull of hearing, and they have shut their eyes,
for fear they should see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their heart,
and be converted
and be healed by me.
‘But happy are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear! I tell you solemnly, many prophets and holy men longed to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.’
THE INABILITY TO HEAR THE WORD OF GOD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [JER 2:1-3,7-8,12-13; MT 13:10-17]
In the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans, he addresses the question of Israel’s rejection of the Gospel. He writes: “But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed, they have; for ‘Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.’ Again I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, ‘I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.’ Of Israel he says, ‘All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.'” (Rom 10:18, 19, 21)
Clearly, Israel has heard the Word of the Lord and known Him, yet they remained defiant, disobedient, and self-willed in their conduct before God.
This is what the Scripture readings seek to explain as well. When the disciples asked Jesus, “Why do you talk to the crowds in parables?”, Jesus replied, “Because the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are revealed to you, but they are not revealed to them. For anyone who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” The question is, why the Lord treats the disciples differently from the crowd. This may not seem fair because they do not appear to be on a level playing field. Yet is this truly the case?
The truth is not that God refuses to give us the grace to respond to His Word, but rather that the barrier is on our end when we refuse to hear or accept the truth of what is spoken. As the Lord said: “So in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled: You will listen and listen again, but not understand, see and see again, but not perceive. For the heart of this nation has grown coarse, their ears are dull of hearing, and they have shut their eyes for fear they shall see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and be converted and be healed by me.”
They had no intention of changing their lives or their views about the law. This was certainly true for the scribes and the Pharisees, who were intent on finding fault with Jesus and getting rid of Him. Indeed, when Jesus was in the synagogue, “a man was there with a withered hand, and they asked him, ‘Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath?’ so that they might accuse him” (Mt 12:10). And when Jesus healed the man, “the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him” (Mt 12:14).
The point is that when our hearts are hardened to the voice of God, we cannot hear with our hearts even when the Word is spoken. In the case of Jesus, He is the Word of God. Rejecting Jesus is tantamount to rejecting the Word of God. Clearly, without a personal knowledge of Jesus and a personal relationship with Him, we hear His words with scepticism rather than docility and confidence — seeking to find fault with what He says and wanting to prove Him wrong.
This is often the case for those who do not know the Lord. Hence, we can appreciate why non-believers struggle to understand why some Christians are so committed to the Lord that they would lay down their lives and comfort for Him. When we have encountered His love and mercy and know that He is real in our lives, we can give ourselves completely to Him. This devotion is far greater than any ideology. People may live for a cause or an ideology, but when you live for a person you love, there is no limit to what you will give. It springs not from an ideology that changes over time, but from a personal relationship and a commitment of the heart, not just the mind.
Without a personal experience of God’s love, we can look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding. What God asks of us is to listen from the heart. This was why the Lord spoke to the crowd in parables — not to keep them from understanding the truth, but to help them connect with His teachings through everyday events and human experiences. Parables are an effective way to bridge daily reality with the deeper spiritual messages the Lord wants to convey.
It remains true that an abstract, rational presentation of truth might appeal to an intellectual mind, yet it rarely touches the heart. One might know all about God and theology, perfectly grasping the rational explanations of the faith, yet such faith will struggle to stand the test of time or the trials of life. When faced with suffering, pain, and death, dry intellectual concepts often evaporate. Only a personal experience of God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness can give us the courage to withstand life’s storms.
In contrast, the disciples were not intellectuals like the scribes and Pharisees. They were uneducated and unschooled in formal theology. Yet Jesus said to them: “But happy are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear! I tell you solemnly, many prophets and holy men longed to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.”
They were privileged because they were invited into intimacy with the Lord. They walked with Him, heard Him preach, witnessed His compassion for the poor, and saw His wonders — healing the sick, delivering people from evil, and demonstrating power over nature. As the saying goes, there is nothing like personal experience. For the disciples, no parable was needed to bridge their intellectual grasp with their personal experience of truth.
If that is so, how could the people of Israel — who had gone through the difficult journey of being liberated from Egypt and establishing their kingdom — forget the goodness of the Lord? This is what Jeremiah said of Israel. The Lord said to the people: “I brought you a fertile country to enjoy its produce and good things; but no sooner had you entered than you defiled my land, and made my heritage detestable. The priests have never asked, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who administer the Law have no knowledge of me. The shepherds have rebelled against me; the prophets have prophesied in the name of Baal, following things with no power in them.”
The tragedy of life is that even those of us who have encountered the Lord can fall into complacency and forgetfulness. When life becomes comfortable, we easily forget the One who blessed us. We become demanding and unappreciative. I have seen many poor families who were closely knit, spending simple time together at home or sharing modest meals. Yet when they became wealthy and the children succeeded, the family drifted apart. They rarely gathered and lost appreciation for all that their parents sacrificed for them. Instead of turning to God in gratitude, they stopped praying or attending church, believing their success was solely the result of their own hard work and ingenuity. Isn’t this what the Lord said of Israel? “I remember the affection of your youth, the love of your bridal days: you followed me through the wilderness, through a land unsown. Israel was sacred to the Lord, the first-fruits of his harvest; anyone who ate of this had to pay for it, misfortune came to them — it is the Lord who speaks.”
So let us not fall into a state of complacency where we can no longer hear the Lord. We must strengthen our personal relationship with Him and keep a pure, humble heart so that we remain attentive to His voice. The Lord warns us against such spiritual foolishness: “You heavens, stand aghast at this, stand stupefied, stand utterly appalled — it is the Lord who speaks — since my people have committed a double crime: they have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, only to dig cisterns for themselves, leaky cisterns that hold no water.”
We must not rely on the “leaky cisterns” of a purely intellectual faith, nor on our own strength and achievements, for these things cannot endure the storms of life. The responsorial psalm invites us to trust fully in God by remembering His enduring love and mercy: “In you, Lord, is the source of life. Your love, Lord, reaches to heaven; your truth to the skies. Your justice is like God’s mountain, your judgements like the deep. O Lord, how precious is your love.” Jesus is the fountain of life — the well that never runs dry!
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
