WHY WE DON’T LISTEN

“Let anyone with ears listen,” (Mt. 13:9) Jesus says to the people as he tells them a parable. Why did he have to say that? Didn’t they specifically come out to listen to what he had to say? Why would they not be listening? Even more, why would he have to say the same thing to us today were we the audience? Don’t we all have ears? Don’t we all listen? Obviously not.

It is just as obvious why we do not. We not listen because, deep down, we really do not want to hear what is being said. We do not want to hear what is being said because we do not want to do what we are being told we must do. Then when we do not hear what has been said, we somehow believe we have an excuse for not having done what we know we should have done in the first place.

But we have no excuse. That, I think, was part of Jesus’s message from Day One. Those who heard him whenever he spoke had no excuse for not understanding what he was talking about. What he was saying was not rocket science even if there was no such entity back then. The Gospel message was clear and to the point. The only excuse they would have was that they were not willing to listen to his words. They were not willing to take his message to heart and make it their own, make it part of their own lives.

We truly have to listen to the Gospel message. We have to be open to what is being said and willing to make it personal and take it personally. That is the first part of Jesus’ message. The other part is that what is heard takes work to be understood. Jesus wants us to not only listen and listen closely to what he says, he wants us to think about it and think about it deeply, in the recesses of our minds and hearts.

The parables are not simply good stories, and interesting ones at that, fine word pictures. They have a deep meaning. But to discover that meaning we have to think about what has been said, what the words mean, how they apply to our personal lives, what we are to do with what we have learned, and so forth.

Of course, the final part of Jesus’ message is that we have to actually do something. We have to put into action what Jesus’ words are calling us to do. That, I think, is the real reason why we don’t listen to that message: it isn’t easy to live out in our daily lives. It takes work, often hard and demanding and sacrificial work. And we are not always that willing to go that far.

Jesus did not tell parables just to hear himself speak. He spoke so we could hear and listen, could understand ourselves better, could learn how to live our lives to the fullest. None of that comes from a simple hearing of a parable. It comes from a life-long listening, listening to and hearing the message again and again and again, learning something more each time and putting it into practice each day.

That will never make the sometimes-difficult task of living out our faith easier, but it will make worthwhile, as we have all discovered.

SEEING THE KINGDOM OF GOD/HEAVEN

Every once in a while as I am driving somewhere I come across a sign that tells me in King James English or a more modern translation that unless I am born again, I’ll never see the kingdom of God, and by that I know the sign-posters mean I’ll never get to heaven when I die. They are wrong of course both about what it takes to get to heaven after death and about what the kingdom of God is all about.

First of all, there is nothing they or anyone else can do or has to do to get to heaven upon death. Heaven, the life to come, is God’s free gift to each and every one of us. Whether, upon death, we accept that free gift is up to us. We will still have the free will to decline the invitation. I can’t imagine anyone doing so, but there you go. Some fool might but I know I will not.

Second, I am born again every day. Every day is a new day to live the life I know God calls me to live and every day I know, at the end of the day and, in all honesty, at times during the day, I do not live the life I should. In other words, I sin. But come the next day, I can be born again to do better today that yesterday. I’ll never get it totally right, imperfect being that I am. That is no excuse. It is simply the truth.

And, third and finally, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, is not some place out there. It is where each one of us lives and moves and has our being. The problem of course, and the reason I think the sign-makers get it wrong, is that this world is certainly no one’s idea of what heaven is to be like. As wonderful as it is at times, in all reality it is a mess and often a colossal mess. And it is no one’s fault but our own.

Jesus came among us not to show us how to get to heaven but to make this earth, the kingdom of God, into what God created it to be in the first place and which it is now not. And he showed us how to do it even if we already knew how to do it. Jesus’ message was nothing new. If we would only love God above all us and on another in the same way, including ourselves, as the Old Testament prophets said we should, we would bring in the kingdom in its fulness. We haven’t so far.

Thus, what we have to do is be born again every morning intent on doing all we can in every way we can, do our part in helping make this kingdom a reality. There is neither a magic formula nor a simple formula – like be baptized and profess faith in Jesus. What it is is hard work, sometimes really hard work. Sometimes pain and suffering are involved, maybe even death (see Jesus as an example).

When we awake each morning, born again to a new day, all we have to do is open our eyes and we will see the kingdom of God. It is a beautiful, messy, but hope-filled world waiting for us to do our part to get rid of some of the mess and help make it into what we know it can become. Or we can hide under the covers. The choice is ours.

RETROFITTED NOT RETIRED

There are times, not a lot, but noticeable, when I am standing in line waiting to be waited on. The person at the counter looks up and apologizes for the delay and tells me I’ll be taken care of soon. My response is always, “No problem. I’m in no hurry. I’m retired.” And it is never a problem because, well, I am retired. But, then, maybe not. Most people I come in contact with who are in the same position as I am – retired – all sing the same tune: We are busier now than when we worked.

Thus, the other day Arlena and I were talking and the word retired came up. She said that she didn’t like that term simply because of the busy lifestyles we now have. My response is that I would prefer retrofitted as a better way of understanding life now. And I think I am correct. The dictionary defines retired as “having left one’s job and ceased to work.” We may have left our jobs but we have not ceased to work.

What has happened is that in the process of moving from being paid for our work and into the volunteer field, we have been retrofitted to do some things we never did before or had time to do before. We, as the dictionary says, have been furnished “with new or modified parts or equipment not available or considered necessary at the time of manufacture.” I don’t know if that takes into consideration my two cataract surgeries and three hip replacements, but having been retrofitted with these new parts makes what I do now much easier.

The sad part is that I have known many people who have retired and never allowed themselves to be retrofitted. Quite a few died young because all they saw in themselves was who they once were, namely what job they had, and never considered what they could become. My Dad basically died with his boots on working on all the equipment on the family “farm” until his heart gave out. My Mom crocheted almost to her dying breath. Arlena’s Dad, a PTSD victim of WWII, worked till his lungs gave out. Her Mom finally stopped her needle work last month when she reached 98. The arthritic fingers quit working for her. Now she puts together jigsaw puzzles to keep her mind and fingers as active as possible.

We all have those stories. Many of us are those stories. We retrofit our lives to the circumstances around us – as we all are having to do in this time of virus crisis. We are finding new ways of being who we are and doing what needs to be done. There are those, of all ages and conditions, sadly and of course, who refuse to be retrofitted because change is too difficult or something from which they think they are to be exempted.

Our lives are being changed because of circumstances beyond our control, as they always have been, as they always will be, whether those circumstances are age, health, societal conditions, whatever. How we retrofit ourselves to those changes or refuse to do so defines our present and will decide and define our future.

STARTING SMALL

We are all aware of the truth that big things often come in small packages and that size is not always a measure of worth. In fact it almost seems that smaller is better and that less is more, or at least it often happens this way in life. There are thoughts to reflect on in every one of these truths to be sure. There is another truth about size and that is that if we want something to become great, we really have to start small.

Corporations do not begin as corporations. Often they begin as a one-man operation in the founder’s garage. The Ford Motor Company began that way. The telephone company began with one man and his associate. Microsoft began with two college dropouts and an idea. The list is long. The founders may have begun with big dreams but those dreams could only begin to come to fruition by starting small.

So with the kingdom of heaven, with the proclaiming of the Gospel message, with the church: the seed has to be planted and then take root before the tree can grow into a fruit-bearing plant. The yeast has to be mixed into the message so that the message can be expanded. The Gospel message is proclaimed one person at a time and the church grows one person at a time and we grow as persons one day at a time. We do not arrive in this world as adults. We grow into it and we grow up.

We often find ourselves impatient with the slow pace of things, frustrated with others because they are taking too long to catch on, angry because the situation is not going as planned. When that happens, what we need to remember is that growth always takes time and almost always takes longer than we had planned and certainly much longer than we desire. We want a solution to our problems sooner rather than later, now and not tomorrow, easier rather than more difficult.

I sometimes think Jesus must have been impatient with the slowness of his disciples to catch on and with the reluctance of so many to even give him a hearing. But Jesus was not. He knew it would take time for his message to get through and that it probably would not finally sink in until after he was gone. And so it happened.

I think that is one of the reasons why he told parables about the growth of the kingdom. He did so to remind his followers that they should not become frustrated when it seemed as if they were failing and that they needed to just hang in there. The message would get through, eventually. And it did, as it always does. As it always will.

When we start small, as we must, patience is a virtue we must cultivate especially when if or when we find ourselves in over our heads with an issue, whatever the issue. We want a vaccine to kill the virus and we want it now; but it will take time. We want to get back to normal, whatever that is, but it will take time. Everything that is worthwhile takes time and usually more time than we would like.

In the meantime, whatever it is that we are awaiting, we do so knowing that all time is in God’s hands and in God’s good time all will be well.

IGNORANCE IS NOT, IF EVER, BLISS

What we don’t know can hurt us as we have all learned the hard way – which, unfortunately (perhaps) is the only way we seem to learn. What we do know can also hurt us if we ignore the truth, especially when it is right there in front of us, up front and personal. This is certainly true about the virus that is consuming the news, our world and each one of us personally.

I was reminded of this truth amid this pandemic when Arlena and I were out for a drive with her Mom. Nanny is 98 and doesn’t drive, but she has a 1999 Lincoln Towncar with 54,000 miles on it sitting in her carport that needs to be driven on occasion. She also needs to get out of the house on occasion. Thus, we merge the two needs and take her for a drive anywhere she wants.

The last time out we were turning onto a country road. There was a poster on the corner that announced a wedding and reception. The first words out of Nanny’s mouth: “They don’t know what they are getting into.” So true. For that couple, ignorance, at moment, is blissful. There will be unblissful moments to come when they learn how difficult marriage can be at times no matter how much they love each other.

Why? Even if they have lived together, marriage changes reality. Living together is usually a 50-50 proposition. That’s manageable. Marriage is 100-100. That’s difficult. Learning that the other always comes first is not always blissful. In fact, it can be painful even when what is done is done out of pure and total love. So, yes, Nanny is right. We really don’t know what we are getting into when we marry.

I dare say that the same would be true if we had to make a decision today whether or not we wanted to be a Christian. The same is true even as we have made that decision. We really don’t know what we are going to get into when our faith is put on the line, when we are called by circumstances to prove that we truly are Christians. As in a loving marriage, so in living out our faith: for the most part, it is not all that difficult. It can even be blissful.

We will never know what demands will be placed upon us as we live out our faith (or our marriage). That ignorance of the future can be blissful. Why worry about what might happen because it just as well might not? The point is that when the difficult demand does happen, when there is nothing happy or blissful about it, we need to remind ourselves that it goes with the territory, if you will.

The difficult and hard times come and they must be faced honestly and not with blissful ignorance. Otherwise we will indeed learn the hard way just as those who thought the virus is/was a hoax. Ignorance, especially chosen, is not and never will be bliss. It is always painful. So, as well, is the truth sometimes. We need to be prepared to face it.

WINNING IN LOSING

Over the years we all have lost a lot of battles we had hope to have won. We lost because we were up against something or someone superior. We lost because we went into the battle unprepared. We lost because of events or situations that were out of our control and which got the upper hand. No one is a winner every time out. We are all losers in one way or another. That is a given.

And that is okay. In fact it is good. We learn, or should learn from our defeats. If or when we do not, we set ourselves up for more defeats, more failures and, I dare say, more pain and heartache. When I was growing up, I played Little League baseball for one year. I wasn’t very good even though I thought I wasn’t as bad as I really was. When I went out for a second year, I didn’t make the team. What was worse, my skinny little brother made his. I was devastated.

Losing, losing out, always hurts. If it does not, then there is something wrong with us. What I learned back then, even though it did take time for the pain to subside and the learning process to take in, is that I have to be honest with myself, as painful as that can be. Thinking I am better than I am, that I can do something I really cannot and should not do, only gets me into trouble. That does not mean that I have never put myself into a situation where I was in over my head. I am still learning the hard way.

Aren’t we all? We are in a situation right now in our country where we are losing a battle to an enemy that, presently, is more powerful than we are. Many don’t believe that, much to their pain and suffering and, for some, even their death. For whatever reason, we, as a country, are not getting a handle on this virus, and until we do, sadly and tragically, more and more will die.

We will eventually win this battle. We will overcome. But will we have learned anything from it? My old history professor had a favorite line after every war we studied: Status quo ante bellum.  In other words, nothing really changed after the battles were fought. We learned nothing. That’s why history repeats itself. We think, even believe, we won’t make the same mistake the second time around or that others made, but we do.

We are presently learning the hard way as we continue to lose this battle. When we eventually win it, the question will remain: Have we learned anything? The losing side in all those wars in the past could have been real winners if they had learned anything from their defeat. But, as history tells us, for the most part they did not. They believed they were the exception to the rule, like those who flaunt the CDC guidelines today.

As we struggle through the days and months ahead, we have the opportunity to reflect on what we are learning from this battle we are presently losing. Will we turn out as winners who learned from our losers who will make the same mistake somewhere down the line?

STEPHEN’S EXAMPLE

Stephen was the church’s first martyr. We do not know very much about this man, this saint. What we do know is that he was one of the seven men the apostles chose to become the first deacons in the aspiring community. The seven were called to aid the apostles in their ministry. Stephen had to have been someone special to have received this calling, this honor. And, as the events in his life played out, he certainly proved to be not only someone very special but also very worthy of such a calling.

What it was that set Stephen apart in the first place, we do not know, other than he and the other six were full of wisdom and the Spirit – the only two requirements demanded by the Apostles of these men. Stephen was so full of God’s Spirit that he even worked miraculous deeds – which certainly attracted the attention of those in authority among the Jews and the Romans. Like Jesus before him, it was dangerous business to work miracles because miracle working attracted the attention of too many people.

Stephen, because of all the attention he was getting, like Jesus before him, became a threat to the authorities. And Stephen, like Jesus, was eventually put on trial because his good works were somehow perceived as a threat to both the Jewish nation itself and even more so to those in authority. The leaders tried to find fault with him. And when they could not and did not, they simply decided he was a blasphemer who should be put to death, just as their predecessors did with Jesus. And that they did. They killed him by stoning him to death.

Like Jesus, even in death Stephen could find a way to forgive those who were unjustly putting him to death. Both Jesus and Stephen are reminders that doing what we are called to do can get us in trouble with others. Goodness, like evil, always attracts attention. Granted, evil deeds gather all the headlines. Stories of people doing good rarely do unless it is the season – or the day – to report on such good deeds, days like Christmas and Thanksgiving. But the truth is we upset more people by our good deeds than we do by our evil deeds. That seems strange, even wrong, but it is true.

A doer of good, like Stephen, is a living, walking, waking reminder to everyone of what all of us are called to be and to do. The good deeds of others stand in contrast, often stark contrast, to the sinful deeds we do – and vice versa. No one likes to be reminded of his or her failings, especially by another human being’s actions. Thus, that living reminder is persecuted, like Stephen, because he is doing what he is supposed to be doing by those who know they are not doing what they know they should.

Human nature, to be sure, but unjustified, also to be sure. We are not called to be Stephen. He had his special call. But so do we. Stephen in his day was not more important than we are in or day. What Stephen did was use his God-given gifts to the best of his ability and then let the chips fall where they fell. We are to use our God-given gifts to the best of our ability and let the chips fall where they will fall. We cannot control the response of others. Only they can. What we can do and must do, and hopefully do, is live out our faith as best we can. That’s all God asked of Stephen and all God asks of us.