Text: John 11:1-45
Day: Lent 5A
Date: March 9, 2008
I don’t know if anyone else paid any attention to this short little article in Friday’s paper by Jim Belshaw. The article is entitled “Lend Me Your Ear, And Your Attention,” and I found it to be just fascinating. The author was apparently contacted by the soon-to-be President of the International Listening Association so that he might be notified that March is Listening Awareness Month. (I didn’t even know there was such a thing!) Anyway, the article explains a little bit about the International Listening Association and its basic premise: that we naturally spend most of the day in environments that require that we listen, but we don’t really know how to do it. Here are a few excerpts from this article:
It seems Americans value speaking more than they do listening. It’s a cultural thing…[Lisa Orick-Martinez, the First Vice President of the ILA] said America’s individualistic culture, especially when compared to cultures around the world, places a lot of importance on the speaker…Even when it looks like we’re listening, we’re often not. ‘A lot of time when we’re listening we’re actually formulating a response,’ she said. ‘We’re not totally listening.’
Interesting, isn’t it? We often pay so much attention to other things – our computer programs, our work, our school, our iPods, our chores – that we rarely take time to actually sit and just listen. And, among other things, that means that we usually don’t really hear what is being said to us that often. We might acknowledge that someone is saying something to us, but it doesn’t always get through these thick things we call skulls.
Now, this is just a hunch, but I would be willing to be that Jesus would have loved to have read this article…especially given what happens in today’s Gospel story. Everything in this story seems to hinge on listening.
The story begins with Jesus receiving word that Lazarus was sick. Now, I’m sure that Lazarus’s sisters would have expected some response after hearing this news. They would have expected Jesus to come quickly to his beloved friend’s aid. But instead Jesus stayed where he was for two more days, while explaining to his bewildered disciples that this sickness is for God’s glory.
After a few days had passed he called his disciples to his side and told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” On hearing this, the disciples respond with furrowed eyebrows, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be alright.” But Jesus becomes a bit exasperated with them at this point because they were not really listening to what Jesus was saying. So he responds, “Lazarus is dead, you idiots!” (That’s my translation!) And with that (and a few other words that I didn’t really listen to) they head off to Judea to ‘wake Lazarus up.’
Now by this point in the Gospel Jesus has had to put up with a lot of people who haven’t really listened to him. Nicodemus was befuddled when Jesus told him that one must be “born from above.” The Samaritan woman at the well failed to really listen to Jesus as he talked to her about “living water.” The crowd that follows Jesus doesn’t really listen to what Jesus is saying when he identifies himself as the “bread come down from heaven.” Over and over again throughout his ministry Jesus says things that seem to bounce right off these old, thick skulls and, while people acknowledge that he is speaking, no one really listens to what he is saying.
I have to admit: I am among those who haven’t been able to fully listen to Jesus, especially when it comes to the Jesus we meet in the Gospel of John. It’s not that I plug my ears to what Jesus is saying. I gladly and joyfully look forward to the words that Jesus will speak. It’s just that sometimes my thick skull gets in the way of what Jesus is saying, and I cannot understand him. And, I bet if you’re honest, you don’t either.
For example, in today’s story Jesus eventually makes his way into Judea to wake Lazarus up from his deep sleep and he has a conversation with Martha. And during this conversation he boldly tells her, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Now, I hear those words. I know that these words are packed with meaning and deep theological truths, but my mind just cannot understand what Jesus is trying to say.
And this, of course, is not the only instance when this happens. I don’t understand it when Jesus says, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once” (John 13:31-32). Or, “On that day, you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:20).” I listen to these things, I really listen intently, but in the end I still am left confused and wanting to say, “What???” Anybody else feel this way, too?
Well, there you have it. Here we sit on a beautiful Sunday morning, trying our best to let those words of Jesus soak through these thick skulls, yet finding ourselves unable to accomplish even that! Here we sit, reading some great profound text from the Bible and several people – including the Pastor! – cannot understand what Jesus is saying.
Well…I guess that’s it then! (Throw manuscript in the air and walk away as if I’m finished.)
Okay, okay. I suppose I can say a little bit more about this text. You know that Jesus eventually makes his way to the tomb where Mary and Martha have laid the body of their dead brother. Well, they roll away the stone that blocks the entrance, and once that deadly stench begins to stifle the air Jesus looks upward and begins to pray, “Father, I thank you for having heard me.” And by listening to these eight simple words we come to understand something very profound: that though the disciples, nor Mary, nor Martha, nor the religious authorities, nor anyone in the crowd really listens to what Jesus is trying to say…the Father does. And that makes all the difference.
The Father listens to Jesus. The Father hears him and his pleas. The Father’s ear is always tuned in to his Son. The Father can hear the inflections in his voice, his tone, his tenor. The Father really listens to Jesus, even when nobody else does.
And after this simple prayer, Jesus cries out with a loud voice: “LAZARUS, COME OUT!” And here is the real miracle of the story: he listens. The dead man listens. The man who had been dead for four long days listens to Jesus. The man who stank to high heaven listens to Jesus. The beloved friend of the Lord listens, wakes from his sleep, and walks out of the tomb, still bound with bands of cloth around his hands, feet and head. Of all people, it turns out that this is the one person who actually listens to what Jesus says.
And though we struggle to listen as easily as this dead man did, the good news is that Jesus doesn’t stop trying to get his words through our thick skulls. Jesus keeps speaking to us, trying to get through, trying to find a way into our very being so that we, too, might be able to really listen to him. Jesus still speaks to us, even though we don’t understand what he is saying many times. We strain our ears to listen as he would want us to. We try our best to wrap our minds around his complex images and phrases. We do what we can to try and hear what Jesus is saying.
So, we come here week after week to try and listen to Jesus through the caring touch of our close friends and family. We come here week after week to try and listen to Jesus as we gather around this table. We come here week after week to try and listen to Jesus through song, prayer and praise. We are all constantly striving to listen to what Jesus is saying. And though we may not ‘get it’ very often, we can be thankful that Jesus never gives up on us. Jesus just keeps on speaking.
Thanks be to God!
0 comments:
Post a Comment