"If anyone has ears to hear¡K" A phrase of Jesus, which also puzzled His disciples. They too didn't always understand the meaning of the stories He told. So, they asked Him afterwards. (And that, in itself, is a cue or encouragement for us now in our prayers really to ask Him about scriptures we don't understand). His disciples also didn't understand why He spoke in parables and metaphors and stories that seemed to make His message more obscure rather than clearer.

Story-telling has an important place in all our human cultures and one of its functions is to challenge people to think more deeply about basic things in life. That's why great stories have many layers of meaning and allow us always to learn more.

Jesus, seems to suggest that though we have ears to hear with (and eyes to see), there are many things we don't actually listen to (many things we don't actually see). To be able to hear (and to see) beyond the surface level of what's happening around us is a grace and gift of God which not everybody has. If we have ears that can hear, Jesus calls us to listen to what He's been saying through that seemingly simple and obvious image: you take a lamp or a light into a room to put it somewhere where it can shine and throw light into all the room. The presence of Jesus means there's nothing that can be hidden or kept secret, no darkness to be afraid of. And that is liberation.