answering the disciples’ question, and so explaining the rise of that form of instruction in which, as in all that He did, He showed himself a perfect Master. The whole thing turns on the distinction between earnest inquirers and careless hearers. There must have been many of the latter in His audience, for this was no selected company, like that which listened to the Sermon on the Mount. The earnest inquirer has ears to hear; the other has not. The difference this makes is most strikingly set forth