Reading: Luke 8-9, Psalm 116

The book of Luke is turning out to have a lot to say about hearing and seeing, as well as not hearing and not seeing. In Luke, the blessings and woes are spoken to those who hear or do not hear. Those who hear and do Jesus says are building their homes on a deep foundation of stone, while those who hear and do not do are building on wet ground. We are told that those who accepted the John the Baptist’s call to repentance are able to hear and believe the call of Jesus.

We come today to yet more messages about hearing and doing. Particularly it seems that Jesus wants his listeners to understand that instruction is not enough, you must have follow through. The parable of the four soils and the sower is both a demonstration and a lesson in this. When asked what the parable means, Jesus says that to you it has been given to know the secrets of the Kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. He explains that the parable is about the possible responses to the message of God. Some hear but go nowhere, because the word is snatched away. Others may hear and appear to have accepted, but in the end give it up and go back to the way they were. A third kind may hear but get distracted. It is the fourth that hears, commits, goes deep, and finally grows and multiplies. Jesus continues his thought on multiplication by talking about setting a light on a stand. For nothing is hidden that will not be revealed. So take care then how you hear. Jesus wants his disciples to understand that it is as important how you hear as that you hear. The first three soils produced nothing and are no better off than ground with no seed. Only those prepared to hear and commit to do what they have heard find new life.

The following passages recount many of the miracles we have read about in Matthew, Mark, and John. It is beyond doubt that the word of God is being presented. Jesus is going all over the place proclaiming the Kingdom of God, and actually bringing it to the world by healing the sick, making the disfigured whole, feeding the hungry, and raising the dead. It is the parable of the soils playing out right in front of us. Jesus brings the message to all kinds of people, but it is not heard by everyone in the same way. The disciples hear it enough to be sent out to multiply the message in the towns of Israel. When the disciples start duplicating Jesus’ message and healing, it gets the attention of powerful people. One might think a confrontation and perhaps even a revolution are on the horizon.

But that is not what Jesus has in mind. At least, not yet, and not in the way anyone else expects. Right as the message he is preaching begins to multiply and be heard by the powerful, Jesus starts talking about death. He talks about carrying a cross. He challenges his followers to confront the reality of who he is while dragging into the light the cost of their belief and commitment to it. Jesus is not a consumer Messiah. He does not act in accordance with anyone else’s intentions. He is the active party, the mover of events. Nothing happens to him, he happens to everything.

I’m getting ahead of myself. Today Jesus is still talking a great deal about hearing. When he tells his disciples, for the second time, that he would be delivered into the hands of men, he says something rather interesting. Luke tells us that they did not understand what Jesus was saying, which we can hardly fault them for, since this is the guy who has been doing things like telling a storm to be quiet and it obeys. Who could possibly be a threat to him? But I don’t think Jesus expected them to understand. He uses the phrase let these words sink into your ears before his prediction. I do not think he is telling them to understand it, but to accept and remember it. To hold it in their ears until they do understand it. This is instructive for everything that Jesus says. The Scriptures are not always for right now. They are not always understood in the moment. But the word of God is never spoken casually or without cause. If allowed to sink into your ears, like a seed into soil, the meaning will be revealed at the appropriate time. It is the parable of the soils yet again. The disciples are willing to commit to words they do not understand, allowing the word of God to define what is good and bad for them. This is being careful how we hear. This is hearing, committing, and doing the word that is given. And we will see tomorrow that the result is quite astonishing multiplication.