“That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.”
So that they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven — the Isaiah 6:9–10 citation is among the most difficult sayings in the Gospels. The purpose clause so that appears to make concealment God's intention. But the logic is better understood as the judicial hardening of those who have already rejected the prophetic message — God giving people over to the condition they have chosen. The otherwise they might turn and be forgiven anticipates the repentance and forgiveness that the parables make impossible for those who have settled into hardened resistance. The parables do not create the hardness; they reveal and confirm it.
Church Fathers on Mark 4:12
Although the Lord appears in the transactions mentioned above to neglect His mother, nevertheless He honours her; since on her account He goes forth about the borders of the sea.
For if we look into the Gospel of Matthew, it appears that this same teaching of the Lord at the sea, was delivered on the same day as the former. For after the conclusion of the first sermon, Matthew immediately subjoins, saying, 'The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea-side.'
But He began to teach at the sea, that the place of His teaching might point out the bitter feelings and instability of His hearers.
Read all 22 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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