Reflecting on Luke 8:4-15
"Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear." (Luke 8:8)This is a very familiar story to most Christians.
Its meaning seems obvious to me, not hard to understand.
But I have the advantage of having heard it explained many times.
So many times in fact, it does not grab my attention.
In a sense I don’t hear it anymore.
The disciples had the advantage of being with Jesus all the time.
He was teaching them, and they could ask questions like they do this time.
He had explained to them about God’s kingdom in multiple ways.
In this sense, they had the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom.
More specifically, they knew Jesus, the secret of God’s kingdom.
They had chosen to follow Jesus, to listen and learn and grow.
The parables were not meant to discourage people from following.
They were meant to make people think, to challenge their minds.
There was the risk that lazy people would walk away from the stories.
They would not try to understand, or would dismiss them as childish.
The reason was to get people to use their ears, their eyes.
They all had minds to think, but would they think?
When I first saw that this was the reading for today, I was a little disappointed.
It is so familiar, and I’ve reflected and preached on it many times.
What else can I say about it, what more is there to find?
But Jesus’s words about ‘ears to hear’ caught my attention.
It may take work, but if I have ears to hear, I can still hear something.
This is true for reading the whole bible.
It is also true for learning through life at my age.
There are always more secrets to discover, if I have ears to hear.
I am comforted by the depth and wonder of God’s love in Jesus.
“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19)
This love surpasses knowledge, yet I know something about it.
And if I have ears to hear, I can learn even more.
The compassion of God in Jesus are “new every morning!” (Lamentations 3:23)
I am convicted that my relationship with Jesus has become stale.
My heart and mind are not as engaged as they used to be.
I’ve been with Jesus and known the secrets so long, they don’t affect me as much.
I am compelled to increase my curiosity, and my desire to discover more.
‘Jesus, what does this mean for me, what can I still learn from this parable?’
This is what it looks like to have “a noble and good heart.”
To hear it, to retain (hang on to) it, and to persevere in it until it produces.
Someone described it like as like a dog with a bone.
It keeps chewing and sucking on it, looking for the deeper juices still in it.
There is always more with Jesus.
Persevere with Him, keep listening and learning, asking and applying.
Don’t let confusion or familiarity keep us from the treasure within.
Keep digging, and you will discover the deeper secrets of His love.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, I have ears, and I want to hear. Thank You for this nugget of encouragement today, inspiring me to keep on digging in to You and Your stories. Help me to understand what I already know, and to discover more of what I still need to know. I will never fully plumb the depths of Your love!