Listen Up!

I love the sun. In fact, I think I may be solar powered – I need the sun. But there are some things that look better when the sun is not shining on them – like a dirty car, a dusty room, mismatched clothing, etc. The bright light from the sun brings to attention things that need attention. So it is with God’s light. “For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Therefore, consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.” Luke 8:17-18 What an interesting combination of sentences in one paragraph!

Because God’s light will bring things out into the open, consider carefully how you listen. Apparently, there is more to listening than… listening. What different ways of listening could there be? Since we have just been talking about types of soils and planting seeds earlier in the chapter, I wonder if different kinds of listening might be related to that. There is a listening that really isn’t listening at all – you are in the same room where the words are being said, but nothing is going into the brain. That would be the hard path. Then there is a listening when you are sort of trying to listen, but there are a thousand distractions pulling your brain in other directions. That would be the rocky soil. And there is a listening where every idea being presented is met with resistance and argument. That would be the thorns and weeds. And there is a listening where there is direct eye contact, the head is going up and down and the brain is tracking and thinking hard about what is being said. That would be the good soil, prepared and ready for seeds. Yes, apparently there are different ways to listen.

The next interesting part of this paragraph says, “Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.” Luke 8:18b In the context of this paragraph, this does not seem to pertain to worldly wealth. We haven’t been talking about earthly possessions here. What do we have that we will get more of if we listen the right way and will lose if we don’t? I’m thinking things like real knowledge and wisdom. Just like any relationship with another, if we listen carefully and try hard to understand another person, we will gain more knowledge about that person and wisdom about how to relate to that person. And so it would be with God – as we listen carefully to his words, as we study them intently with a heart open to learning from him, we will gain more and more knowledge of him and wisdom from him. But those who refuse to listen will find that even what they thought they knew will be less and less and in the end, they will be totally separated from God.

While Jesus is teaching, his mother and brothers arrive and are having trouble getting close enough to him to be able to talk to him. Someone tells Jesus they are there and his response is a little disconcerting to some of us. “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.” Luke 8:21 Why wouldn’t Jesus stop what he was doing like any good son and go give his mother a hug and say hello?

Maybe my problem is that I am reading too much into this. We don’t know if Jesus said those words as he was walking out to greet his mother or if he refused to go greet his mother. So maybe rather than jumping all over this comment, I need to have grace with the writer giving him the benefit of the doubt and understand he couldn’t include every word and every detail of every interaction with Jesus.