Reading the Gospel of Luke a week and a half ago, I saw something that I can’t get out of my mind. In Luke 8:18, just after explaining the parable of the sower to the disciples, Jesus says “Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them.”
Long story short, I’ve always wondered what in the world Jesus was talking about. What does one person have? What does it mean that whoever “thinks” he has will lose what he has? Weird, right? Then I realized (about 30 years late…) that Jesus ends the parable of the sower with this exhortation: “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear!”
...and when asked to interpret the parable, He said: “‘The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’”
I’ll get right to the point: Jesus is saying that we’d better have ears to hear and understand what he says to us. Further, he promises that if we listen in such a way as to understand, we will be told more. Frighteningly, if we think we have some divine understanding but we actually aren’t listening, Jesus promises to take away what we mistakenly think we have.
That’s one really encouraging promise and one super-scary promise sandwiched together.
Jesus doesn’t leave this there, though. He puts a finer point on it. The next scene is Jesus’ family coming to take him away. He doesn’t go with them, but instead says: “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.”
Having ears to hear is so important to Jesus that it elevates you to the level of immediate blood relation. Intense. But who is eligible for that? Anyone? Oh yes, friends. Anyone.
Later in the same chapter, Jesus casts a legion of demons out of a violent, creepy, naked guy. Afterwards, this happens: “Jesus sent him away, saying, ‘Return home and tell how much God has done for you.’ So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.”
Did you see it? He heard. He obeyed. He will be given “more” and is now Christ’s brother. We should expect no less, if only we have ears to hear. Really, that’s all I want to say: pray for ears to hear and a heart to obey. The rewards are great. The alternatives are dismal.