Hearing is Believing

Deuteronomy 6

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one . 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

INTRO

Found out this week a name for a favorite type of humor... Paraprosdokians are figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected and is frequently humorous.

• In the morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas, I don't know. ―Groucho Marx
• Where there's a will, I want to be in it.
• Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
• If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.
• Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
• In filling out an application, where it says, "In case of emergency, notify... I answered " a doctor."
• I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure.

Deuteronomy chapter 6, is the beginning of the Shema, the great prayer said every day morning and evening by the Jewish people! Why is it called the Shema? That is the Hebrew word at the very beginning, translated Hear!

As we've discussed before, the ancient language of Hebrew had many fewer words than English does. So one word may have several meanings, that are related, that give depth to our understanding of the scriptures. The first word, shema, we usually translate “hear.” But the word shema has a much wider, deeper meaning than “to perceive sound.” It encompasses a whole spectrum of ideas that includes listening, taking heed, and responding with action to what one has heard.

So this prayer says, Hear, listen, understand! The Lord our God, the Lord is ONE God, the Only God! (don't listen to those people around you who are praying to gods of harvest and rain and the sun god that got covered up the other day by the moon god!) The Lord our God is THE ONLY God, love the lord with all your heart and soul and might! In other words love God with all your being! And tell others, especially your family! Morning and evening, and when you are walking down the road to your work or to get water or to go worship. Put God first, and help others to do so as well.

This is the core of the life of faith. Maybe we should pray this every day!? And of course Jesus quoted this when asked what is the greatest commandment! When properly understood, we find the greatest commandment is actually a call to commit ourselves to the one true God.

And that when we do, an action should result from what is in our minds. If you “remember” someone, you will act on their behalf. If you “hear” someone, you will obey their words. If you “know” someone, you will have a close relationship with them.

When in the Psalms, we find “Hear my prayer” the psalmist is not asking God to merely hear the words. The plea is for God to hear and comprehend the meaning behind the words, the reason we pray! And to answer, to give a response to the prayer. (of course, God's answer is often not what we expect!)

Jesus used this word Shema when he taught. He often taught using parables, stories that he shared. These stories were often something that may or may not have happened, but it was a story that his listeners could relate to. When he talked about the Samaritan helping a Jew beaten up on the Jericho road, everyone know that road was steep, winding, and treacherous! They could picture it! When he told about a lost sheep, his listeners, living in an agricultural society, knew that sheep do stray, and are quickly in danger!

But his stories, the parables were often challenging, because his stories changed up the ideas that folks usually had. A shepherd likely would not leave 99 sheep to go after 1, because then the whole flock was vulnerable. Jews and Samaritans hated each other, so the likelihood of the only help available coming from a Samaritan was a surprise twist! So even though Jesus used contemporary, familiar images in his stories, his listeners were still often stumped by exactly what he meant in the telling.

So our Gospel lesson is from Matthew. Jesus is explaining why he used parables that were so tricky to understand.

READ GOSPEL LESSON

Matthew 13 The Purpose of the Parables

10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

“‘“You will indeed hear but never understand,
and you will indeed see but never perceive.”
15 For this people's heart has grown dull,
and with their ears they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them.’

16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.17 For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

The New testament was written in Greek, and the Greek words in this passage for Hear and hearing, mean to hear the wisdom. To hear wisdom, we have to pay attention, don't we! We can't just let the words, let the sound waves bounce off our eardrums and go away! We need to pay attention, and to be receptive! To allow the words -the thoughts and ideas- to come inside. When we are receptive, we can learn, we begin to learn a new idea, or learn something about a neighbor that we didn't know, and then begin or deepen a relationship.

And relationships are what it's all about! Author Barbara Brown Taylor who was the keynote speaker at our National Annual Meeting in June, said there that God is interested in the business of making Christians one-not alike!” Put another way, God is less interested in our having the right view than he is in our having the right relationships.”

As I said, this Gospel was written in Greek...but Jesus spoke to the Jewish people in their own language. For a long time, it was thought that this was Aramaic, a from of Hebrew, but recent scholarship, from study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and other recent archaeological findings, many scholars now say Jesus spoke Hebrew. He probably also spoke Greek, which was the language of the whole middle eastern area, after Alexander the Great conquered everything. The Greek language & culture then spread. But for the Jewish people living in the region, while they spoke Greek, also, they spoke Hebrew. So when Jesus said “hear”-he said Shema! Our wonderful word that means to hear, to listen, to understand, and to obey!

Author Anne Lamott: “Once during a children's service at my church, St. Andrew Prez, my pastor had the four children close their eyes and be still and listen, as a way to God. After a while, she asked them to keep their eyes closed and to tell us what they heard. They shared that they heard a police siren, and birds, and the shuffling sounds of the grown ups. But this one boy, a four year old named Tom, said, solemnly, “I hear the sound of water at the edge of all things.”

(Anne continues) I thought, Who is writing your stuff, kiddo? And, being a writer, May I use that?

My pastor and I still talk about this moment, ten years later, shake our heads, and laugh. Laughter saves us. ...What the children hear will save us. They accidentally blurt out the truth, the scariness and beauty of these times, the sirens and the birdsong, and that they need us to stay close by. Listen.”

There's a difference between hearing and listening, isn't there? if you have raised kids, you probably had a time or two when you said something, giving some instructions, like pick up your toys or get ready for bed...and the child did not do as you asked. And you may have said, “Did you hear me!”? Your words were likely heard, but not listened to. They may have been understood, but not obeyed. So you see the difference between hearing and listening? Hearing is just the words, the sound waves hitting our eardrums. Listening is paying attention. Understanding is to comprehend what's being said, the meaning perhaps behind the words! To understand scripture means-ideally- to know what it meant then, but even more importantly, for us to know how God's word relates to our lives today. And when we do understand, when we get it, then we live it. We obey. We truly become followers of Jesus. We trust God's love because we have the knowledge that Jesus shared.

We live our faith in many ways. We pray for one another! We pray for organizations who feed, clothe and shelter our neighbors in need. And we help out those organizations, don't we! But we live our faith in other ways too.

In yesterday's Upper Room was this: The 88-year-old woman had come to the soup kitchen for her supper. She seemed to be the life of the party at her table, encouraging everyone around her. Apparently hard of hearing, she talked loudly, which allowed many people to hear the “Bless you!” that she said to those who stopped by to greet her.

Prior to the meal, many of the people who entered the dining area looked downcast and seemed ashamed to be there. However, the Spirit of God, working through this positive and joyful woman, seemed to change the atmosphere of the whole room. In no time, the laughter and relaxed fellowship at her table had spread to all the other tables.

Serving the Lord with gladness is contagious and brings joy to the heart. It helps us to understand that no matter our circumstances, we can be agents of God’s blessings.

Bringing joy into a room with your own upbeat self is living your faith. And it spreads like ripples on a pond!

Hear, oh people of God, hear, Listen, Understand, obey! Love God and Love your neighbor. That's all we have to do! Is it always easy? no. Is it worth it? YES always!!