<p>4:9 <i>And he said: Who has ears to hear, let him hear</i>-</p><p>Seeing that the next verses show the Lord considered Israel generally to no longer have ears to hear (see Matthew), this would seem an appeal to the disciples to perceive what He is saying, even though the majority of Israel cannot. Therefore He asks them later to &ldquo;<i>Hear</i>&nbsp;the parable&rdquo; (Mt. 12:18)- for He knows they do have ears to hear. But even they had to make a conscious effort to hear- those with ears are asked to hear. Understanding, in the sense Jesus uses the idea, doesn&rsquo;t come naturally but requires effort.</p><p>Luke adds: &ldquo;As he said these things, he cried: He that has ears to hear, let him hear&rdquo; (Lk. 8:8). The Lord so wanted their response. &quot;As he said these things, he&nbsp;<i>cried</i>, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear&quot; (Lk. 8:8 RV; Jn. 7:37). The very muscles of the Lords face, His body language, would have reflected an earnest,&nbsp;<i>burning</i>&nbsp;care and compassion. The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost; He put His whole personality into the task. And we beseech men &ldquo;in the face of Christ&quot; (2 Cor. 2:10 RV). We are to be&nbsp;<i>His</i>&nbsp;face to this world and to our brethren. With raised eyebrows, lines showing in our forehead, one eye half closed&hellip; our body language should reflect the depth of our concern for others. Having spoken of how our attitudes to God's word will elicit from Him varying responses, the Lord&nbsp;<i>cried</i>, loudly, &quot;he that hath ears to hear,&nbsp;<i>let him hear</i>&quot; (Lk. 8:8). There is then the sickening anti-climax of the next verse, where the disciples ask Him whatever His parable meant.&nbsp; One senses a moment of silence in which the Lord composed Himself and camouflaged the pain of His disappointment; and then His essential hopefulness returns in Lk. 8:10: &quot;Unto you it is given (potentially, anyway) to know (understand) the mysteries (parables) of the Kingdom of God&quot;. There is a fine point of translation in Lk. 8:8 which needs to be appreciated: &ldquo;<i>As</i>&nbsp;he said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear&rdquo; (ASV and Greek). It seems that the Lord was &lsquo;throwing out&rsquo; this challenge several times, as He spoke the parable. As the sower sows seed, so the Lord was challenging His hearers to decide what type of ground they were, as they heard the parable.&nbsp;</p>