Therefore I speak to them in parables, – Christ answers, –

that when they see they do not see, and when they hear they do not hear, and they do not understand. They are neither blind nor deaf, but, corrupted by their false teachers (the scribes and Pharisees), they have almost lost the ability to understand the signs they saw and the teaching they heard.

And the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled over them, which says: "With your ears you will hear, and you will not understand, and with your eyes you will see, and you will not see: for the heart of these people is hardened, and with their ears they can hardly hear, and their eyes are closed, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and yes

they shall not be converted, that I may heal them" (Matt. 13:14-15; Isaiah 6:9-10). The depravity of most of these people is so great that they deliberately turn a deaf ear to the word of truth and close their eyes to great signs, as if fearing that otherwise they will probably turn to God and be saved by Him. But Christ does not push them away from Himself; no, He teaches them His teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven, but only in an allegorical form, allowing them to think it out for themselves, if they wish

to the meaning hidden in parables.

Whoever has a sincere desire to understand the meaning of the parable and the teaching of Christ,

this understanding will be given to him, and

he will multiply in him;

and whoever does not have such a desire will remain deaf to the teaching of Christ, even if it were not set forth in parable form; even that knowledge of God which all people have, no matter at what stage of religious development they may stand, will not benefit him;

with him it will fall away of itself as useless for him, as if