Then his disciples approached and asked him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" He replied, "To you has been granted knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. To the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance. As for the one who does not have, even what little he has will be taken away. The reason I speak to them in parables is that they see but do not perceive and they listen but do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:

‘You will indeed hear but not understand, you will indeed look but never see. For this people’s heart has become hardened; they have stopped up their ears and they have shut their eyes, so that they might not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and then turn to me, and I would heal them.’

"But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.