Skip to main content

My Ears Do That!


‘He who has ears, let him hear.’
 
I always thought that was an interesting statement made by Jesus. I have ears. Doesn’t everyone? I don’t think I know of anyone who doesn’t have ears. I guess some people are deaf, which is something my dad would accuse me of being.

In my more dense moments as a child, my dad would also accuse me of lacking for brains. Apparently there was this assembly line for handing out brains. He may have insinuated that I heard 'train' and assumed I was going on a trip somewhere. He also said I had a brain like a strainer, which I didn’t get for the longest time, but that may have been proving his point.

Before you think my dad unkind, let me assure you I am glad he said stuff like this to me. Otherwise I might not have anything to say to my kids when I am most dumbstruck by some of the things they do.

But what’s most interesting to me is where I recently found a similar line from Jesus regarding the having of ears. To be sure, he said it a few times as He preached. But in this one instance, He said it after explaining a parable. All my dad wanted was for me to understand the words coming out of his mouth. I imagine God wants us to understand His Word, and His heart, as well.

Perhaps you are like me and have laughed along with pastors as they talk about how dumb the disciples seemed at times. They could often be seen arguing about who was the greatest, or getting scared out of their mind, all while in the presence of Jesus. Or they would ask questions that we would know better than to ask God.

At times they would just come right out and tell Jesus they had no idea what He was talking about. It had to be a real face-palm moment for the Son of God. But the disciples would be honest and ask for explanations. One example is recorded in Matthew 13:36-43, where Jesus does explain the Parable of the Weeds. And Jesus ends it with, ‘He who has ears, let him hear.’

I get that Jesus is talking about understanding, something He also compares with our eyesight. ‘Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?’ (Mark 8:18). The great irony is we can have working eyes and ears and yet fail to understand the bigger picture of what God is accomplishing.

If the great irony is having the correct equipment without the ability to use it, the great shock would be to not even comprehend the answer when it is explained to us. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Accountable

I recently officiated a wedding. The ceremony was simple, lovely, and ended with another couple professing to keep the covenant of marriage. But it all started with a clarification...from me. At our first premarital counseling session, as I have done with every couple I have agreed to marry, I clarified a couple of matters. First, I officiate Christian weddings, where both spouses-to-be are professing Christians. I firmly believe that marriage is difficult enough, without adding disagreements about God into the mix. Second, as a minister of Jesus Christ, I believe the pastor’s role in a wedding is to represent the blessing of God on that union. So we have several sessions of premarital counseling where we discuss married life. It’s not that I have this imaginary card in my head, with a picture of me on the front and my stats on the back. (You know, like a baseball card.) Ok, I do picture cards. Pastor cards! And being a competitive guy, I want my stats to look good. The number of coupl
Post a Comment
Read more

Patience

I am more than halfway through the last year of dropping one of my children off at school. It's my eighth grade daughter, for anyone keeping track of my family.  See, next year she will be at the high school, and her brother will drive her. He says that it's not cool for seniors to drive their freshman sister to school, but I bet it's cooler than being dropped off by your mom in a minivan.  So rather than groan about this daily responsibility, I've been reminiscing about what the drop-off line used to look like, way back in elementary school. Once our children were about halfway through their elementary years, the drop-off line became a test of patience.  Do you know which group you do not want to get caught behind in the parent drop-off line at an elementary school? The kindergartners. These little ones are barely able to walk, but now we put them in the high-pressure situation of trying to unbuckle their seat-belt, grab their backpack (which might be as tall as they a
Post a Comment
Read more

Jury Duty

I was recently summoned to jury duty. I know, groan. Except I didn't. I had never experienced it before and was curious to see what it was like.   When the day to report arrives, they separate you into groups, asking various questions to decide if you will be selected to serve. Do you know the accused? Do you have conflicts that would keep you from serving? Can you stay focused?  I wanted to answer well, if only because my kids kept wishing me luck the day before, telling me they hoped I made the team. After all, who wants to be rejected? It occurred to me that there are things you probably shouldn’t say right away if you’re wanting to serve on a jury. I know, I know, people don’t typically want to serve on a jury. But that list didn’t seem nearly as humorous to me. Here are the things you probably shouldn’t say if you want to be selected for jury. I hold myself in contempt. You can’t handle the truth. We find the defendant guilty. I believe the judge looks pretty in his robe. I’d
Post a Comment
Read more