Big Buts of the Bible

“But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.” — Matthew 13:16

There are moments in life when someone says something so profound that everyone in the room suddenly grows quiet.

Not because they understand it completely. But because they know they’ve just heard something worth pondering.

Jesus had a way of doing that.

Matthew 13 marks a turning point in His ministry. Up until this point, Jesus had spoken plainly and directly. Now He begins telling stories—simple stories about farmers, fishermen, seeds, pearls, bread, and nets.

At first glance, they seem almost ordinary. But they aren’t. They’re invitations.

Invitations to slow down. To think. To wrestle. To look beneath the surface.

More than once Jesus ended a parable with the same challenge: “Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

Not everyone did. The disciples eventually asked the obvious question: “Why are You speaking in parables?”

Jesus’ answer surprises us.

He quotes the prophet Isaiah, describing people who hear without listening and see without truly seeing. Then He turns to His disciples and says one of the most beautiful buts in all of Scripture:

“But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.”

Those words are easy to misunderstand. Jesus wasn’t congratulating them for being more intelligent. He wasn’t rewarding them for solving spiritual riddles. He was celebrating something far more wonderful.

They had come to know Him. That is the greatest miracle in this chapter. The blessing wasn’t merely that they understood the stories.  

The blessing was that they knew the Storyteller.

Think about that for a moment. The God who spoke galaxies into existence; the God who breathed life into Adam; the God who parted seas, thundered from Sinai, and spoke through prophets … was sitting in a fishing boat telling stories to ordinary people.

And they were beginning to recognize Him. Wonder of wonders.

Throughout Scripture, knowing God has always been presented as His gracious gift before it is ever our achievement. Moses knew Him because God revealed Himself. Isaiah saw Him because God opened heaven. The disciples followed Jesus because He first called them.

Even today, every person who comes to know Christ does so because God, in His grace, opens blind eyes and awakens hungry hearts.

That’s why Jesus called them blessed.

Not because they had figured everything out. But because God had lovingly made Himself known.

The older I get, the more comforting I find that truth.

There are still passages of Scripture I don’t fully understand. Questions I can’t answer. Mysteries that remain just that—mysteries.

But I know the One who wrote the story. And somehow that changes everything.

It reminds me that Christianity is not primarily about mastering information. It’s about knowing a Person. The more we know Him, the more the pieces begin to fit together.

Not all at once. But faithfully. Patiently. Graciously.

Perhaps that’s why I love Jesus’ parables so much. They’re less like locked doors … and more like open invitations.

Every story whispers:

“Come a little closer.”

“There’s more to see.”

“Keep walking with Me.”

And every time we do, we discover that the greatest treasure was never simply understanding another parable.

It was walking beside the One who told it.

Wonder & Awe?

The greatest miracle isn’t that we finally discover God. It’s that God, in His love, chooses to reveal Himself to us. “But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.”

May we never lose the wonder of knowing the Storyteller.