Ears to Hear

You’d think that since we are talking about a blind man who receives his sight this weekend, that I’d title this “Eyes to See.”  But no, it’s about ears.  And not because that it the repeated statement by Jesus in the gospels.  Well, ok, partly because that is the repeated statement by Jesus in the gospels.  He spends a lot of time healing the blind, and only a little bit of time on the deaf.  But he talks about hearing as though it was a choice more often than either of them.  

Let those who have ears to hear, hear!  That’s what he says over and over.  Like it is a choice, a decision we make or don’t make.  Like we enter into the words and move around in them.  Like we try them on for size, checking the fit.  Is that me he’s talking about? We can wonder.  Where am I in this story?  Who am I in this teaching?  Jesus never forces us to understand, he just offers the opportunity and then leaves it up to us.

That’s why I titled this study the way I did, because I choose to listen this week.  Usually I’m doing the talking.  But this week Pastor Chris is preaching and so I get to listen.  And I am reading and preparing enough to be present in the hearing.  I’m trying to have ears to hear.

The danger is that I’ll sit there thinking, that’s not how I would have said it!  Or sometimes it’s “I wish I had said that!”  But this time, it is my intent to just listen.  To hear, to see.  

Mark 10:46 - 11:1   They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside.  47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"  48 Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"  49 Jesus stood still and said, "Call him here." And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; get up, he is calling you."  50 So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.  51 Then Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man said to him, "My teacher, let me see again."  52 Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.  

They told him to be quiet.  They told him to keep to the margins, to stay away, to not interrupt.  But he kept on shouting.  But here is the amazing part, Jesus asked him what he wanted.  I know, you’re thinking, what is so amazing about that?  He was shouting for attention.  Of course he is going to know what he wanted.  But I have found that that isn’t always true.  Sometimes the loudest shouters don’t really know what they want.  They only know that they aren’t happy, or aren’t getting their way, or are forced into some change, some position that they don’t want.  So, they may be able to answer Jesus if he asks them “What don’t you want?”  Or “Why are you unhappy?”  But Jesus doesn’t tend to ask what is wrong, he asks what would make it right?  What do you want me to do for you?

Bartimaeus didn’t hesitate.  Let me see again.  Not, solve all my problems, or make bad things or bad people go away.  Let me see again.  Then from there, I’ll follow you.  For there I’ll let your will become my will as I daily search out the path that you would have me walk.  Let me see again, so that I can be about the business of opening eyes to who you are and what you have to offer this world that clings to its blindness.  Let me see again, so that I can find you whenever I need to.

That’s my prayer this weekend.  Let me see again.  Let me hear again.  I come to sit at your feet, Jesus.  Join me.

Shalom, 

Derek