Are you puzzled? Did you wake up a bit baffled? Are you mystified by the morning, perhaps a bit perplexed? If so, you woke up in the right mood to celebrate today because this is National Puzzle Day!
If you are a puzzle person, you know that puzzles come in many forms. It could be the standard jigsaw puzzle with 1,000 pieces. Maybe you’re more into word puzzles so crosswords, cryptograms, and seek-a-words are your thing. People who enjoy a good puzzle involving numbers absolutely love Sudoku and it’s different variations. Then, there are the brain teasers. There are mechanical puzzles like a Rubik’s Cube or puzzles that must be disentangled. Another type of puzzle are riddles, syllogisms, truth-tellers and liars. These all provide you with a conundrum to contemplate.
Supposedly, puzzles are a good thing for you. They keep the mind active and agile. It’s also been found that puzzles and games help ward off the advancement of things like Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Puzzles can also be a great teaching tool. Jesus used a form of those called parables. A parable is simply an earthly story with a Heavenly meaning. The earthly story could be grasped by anyone, but its meaning was often a mystery.
One day, Jesus had taught the parable about the sower and the soil. Immediately afterwards, Matthew 13:10 records, “And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?” The “them” in their question was the great multitudes that had followed Him down by the sea shore. Jesus got in a boat and sat, teaching the crowd while they stood on the shore.
The answer to the disciples question was simple. Jesus said in Matthew 13:11-15, “… Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. (12) For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. (13) Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. (14) And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: (15) For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”
I have to admit that at first, I’m puzzled by Jesus’ response. Doesn’t He want the people to know the truth? GotQuestions Ministries writes, “Because of the condition of their hearts, the people who lacked faith were unable to comprehend the meaning in the parables. However, the people of faith had received God’s gracious favor and the ability to understand the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. Unbelief will cause a person to hear the truth and yet become more and more shrouded by his choice to disbelieve. However, those who receive and respond to God’s Word with an open heart will discover ever-broadening insight and revelation into spiritual truth.”1
The following comments are made in the Enduring Word Bible Commentary: “Jesus explained that He used parables so that the hearts of those rejecting would not be hardened further.
“The same sun that softens the wax hardens the clay; and so the very same gospel message that humbles the honest heart and leads to repentance may also harden the heart of the dishonest listener and confirm that one in their path of disobedience.
“The parable conceals truth from those who are either too lazy to think or too blinded by prejudice to see. It puts the responsibility fairly and squarely on the individual. It reveals truth to him who desires truth; it conceals truth from him who does not wish to see the truth.” (Wm. Barclay)
“Thus the parables spoke to the crowds do not simply convey information, nor mask it, but challenge the hearers.” (D.A. Carson)2
Some people seem to have a knack for solving puzzles regardless the style of the puzzle. However, understanding the puzzles and mysteries of the Word of God has nothing to do with our sleuthing skills or logical abilities. 1 Corinthians 2:7-11 gives us this powerful, concluding thought: “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: (8) Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (9) But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (10) But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (11) For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.”
1https://www.gotquestions.org/riddles-in-the-Bible.html
2Guzik, David; Enduring Word Commentary, e-sword.net module
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