Passage
Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.
John 8:43 (LSB)
Nearby Context
John 8:41 You are doing the deeds of your father.” They said to Him, “We were not born of sexual immorality; we have one Father: God.”
John 8:42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come of Myself, but He sent Me.
John 8:43 Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.
John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
John 8:45 But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "understand", "saying", "hear", and "word". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "understand" and "saying", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 42's "Jesus said to them If God were..." into verse 44's "You are of your father the devil...", so "understand" and "saying" belong inside that flow. In John context, the local focus is the identity of Jesus, new birth, eternal life, and belief and unbelief.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "understand" and "saying" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.