Reflection - Listen

By Steve Hall

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http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/080120.cfm
Jeremiah 26:11-16, 24
Matthew 14:1-12

There is a rumor going around that I don’t always listen. May be! But then I have a multitude of justifications. A few years back everyone, including me, agreed that I would probably benefit from using hearing aids. That actually seemed to appease the complaining portion of the populace for a time, though it didn’t totally resolve the matter.

But, there were reasons.

Some would call them excuses.

Wearing hearing aids was problematic when putting on or taking off sunglasses as it was easy to displace the gadgets. Then too, some hats — particularly winter hats — complicated that same issue. Besides, I was getting older, and older people sometimes forget things, things like putting on hearing aids. So there you have it. And I thought I was done with it.

However, the entire matter has cropped up again with the arrival of Covid 19. It could have been Covid 18 or Covid 20, but Covid 19 will serve as a suitable example, or scapegoat if you so choose. In any case you have to confront the primary factor at play in the situation. Have you ever tried to determine a limit on how many things you can hang from your ears? No need, because I have. The combination of hearing aids, sunglasses, hat and face mask go beyond what is reasonable or even feasible. And if you think you are accomplished with the combo, try putting all four on and taking just one off — preferably the first one you put on. I’m pragmatic, so the hearing aids had to go. After all, they’re the ones that cost an arm and a leg. So, I’m back to square one.

Now the interesting thing about this viral exercise of ear decor, however, is that my listening skills didn’t change, not one iota, neither for better nor for worse. They were just as bad — or as good — as ever. So with regard to my skills at listening I can only say: “Who am I to judge?”

At this point you are probably wondering ‘how much longer is this going to go on?’ OR ‘What has this to do with the readings?’ The answer is eminent.

In John’s Gospel the evangelist quickly establishes the fact that there was growing friction between Jesus and the Pharisees. So when Jesus heals a blind man in chapter nine and the Pharisees find out that someone has done this dastardly deed (and it might be Jesus), they are more than a little irate as they fruitlessly question the formerly blind man about who healed him. They ask the man. They ask his parents. They ask the man again. Finally, in frustration, the man responds: “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again?” (John 9:27) Why indeed? Could it be that they didn’t like the answer and were hoping for a different one when they asked again.

Having lived a few decades, I have discovered that listening and hearing are not necessarily the same. I can listen to someone but fail to hear the message they are trying to convey. Similarly, I can hear what someone is saying and fail to listen to the context of the message. In other words, either listening or hearing can refer to the mechanics of receiving and understanding words. But either listening or hearing can also refer to receiving and understanding the person behind the words. You might call that listening or hearing with your heart as opposed to listening or hearing with your ears.

There are a multitude of possible reasons as to why someone does not hear/listen in the mechanical sense of the words. Maybe the ‘mechanics’ are too weak (as when I needed hearing aids). Maybe there is too much interference like background noise. Maybe the focus of the hearer/listener is attuned to something else. Maybe the words being spoken are just not of interest.

When I said at the beginning that hearing aids were beneficial to me it was because words were sometimes lost or misunderstood because of deteriorating mechanics. But hearing aids did not compensate for background noise. In fact they sometimes made the background noise worse. Neither did they automatically adjust my focus, nor change the fact that the topic (or its specifics) were of little interest. 

There are also reasons why someone may not hear/listen in the heart sense of the words. Maybe they are indifferent to or even threatened by the other person. Maybe they are unskilled at heart listening. Maybe they are too interiorly troubled or elated to hear another. Our Scripture selections tell of people who could not hear in the heart sense.

In the story of the blind man given sight it would appear that the focus of the Pharisees was so enchained by their personal vision of holiness that they could not comprehend the fact of God’s active presence. In today’s reading about Jeremiah it would appear that the common folk were more capable of hearing the sincerity, the authenticity, or the holiness of Jeremiah than were the priests and prophets who were adamantly attuned to their own understanding of the actions appropriate to the National situation. In today’s Gospel reading it would appear that Herod, who had imprisoned John the Baptist so he would not have to hear John’s accusations, was more agreeable to removing John’s head than removing the cause for John’s words of reproach.

By in large, the mechanics of understanding Scripture are not difficult. It’s not unusual, however, for a cultural practice to need explanation or for an idiomatic phrase to require contextual clarification. These, and other similar matters are easily within he scope of the mechanics previously referred to, though in these cases we’re speaking of the mechanics of the language. What is the more difficult is heart listening.

When I was first engaged in religious education in a parish, there were those in the parish who wanted a Bible study on a particular topic of Scripture. It happened to be one which my education had ill prepared me for. Consequently, I decided to let the Word of God speak for itself. I selected an appropriate Scripture passage and prepared questions for the group. They were questions for which I had no ready answer. It was up to the Spirit to lead the group to meaningful answers, not me. I simply facilitated and, when occasionally necessary, provided an orthodox background. Fortunately, many, maybe even most of the group members were heart listeners. They engaged the Scripture text with prayer, actively seeking the message that came from the heart of God to their own. As a group, we were not disappointed.

God’s Word is God’s Word to me; and it is important that I not only heart-listen to his word, but that I also share that heart-message with others. The word may come from one extraordinarily blessed, from a prophet, from the simple exclamation of one who is not afraid to expose the truth or from what is written in Scripture. The human author may give the word voice, but it is the heart of God which talks. And he’s talking to me.