Is Anybody Listening?
Notes
Transcript
Do any of you know what it’s like to have a one sided conversation with someone? Like they are there. You are talking to them. But whatever is happening to the words you are saying once they leave your mouth is not accomplishing the goal that you had hoped for them.
Yeah everyone with any age child knows this right? It’s like either the words aren’t heard at all, or whatever happens between the person’s ears is such a mess that they simply do not understand what you are trying to communicate.
There is literally nothing more frustrating right? Like hello! Is anyone home in there? I’m pretty sure that this is how Jesus felt for like 90% of his ministry, because it’s really really hard to bring new ideas to people — especially when they aren’t ready to hear them.
I think that this is a core reality for us today in our lives and in our society. We talk a lot. Like so much. I think that there is more and more human communication now than ever before. And I’m pretty sure that it’s become even harder to get anyone to actually listen. And that’s a really sad place to live as a society, and an even more lonely place for us to live as individuals.
If we have been raised with a healthy experience and understanding of the importance of relationships and human communication and then one day realize that it seems like no one is listening then that can really mess with our ability to trust and relate to our world in a way that God wants us to.
What can happen is that our hope that people care about us and our lives begins to give way to despair and loneliness. Like no one cares. No one is listening. No one is hearing me. That’s a frustrating and painful place to live.
We are in a sermon series called Hope and Despair where we are looking at some of the final teachings and days of Jesus’s life and seeing how when our hope gives way to despair, that we can follow the example of Jesus to find new hope in his grace and love.
Now like I said, Jesus was pretty well misunderstood by a lot of people. Even his closest friends didn’t really fully understand all of the things that he was saying and trying to communicate to them about what was soon to occur when they entered into Jerusalem for the final time. They heard his words, but something was not quite computing. Which sometimes — like I’ll give this to them — sometimes Jesus spoke in such a way that it was really really hard to understand just what exactly he was saying. If you’re reading the Gospels with us this year you have experienced this reality. So cut the disciples a small break here. Sometimes even when Jesus seems pretty clear, there’s another message just beneath the surface, a message that people don’t really want to hear.
A certain ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.
You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother.’ ”
He replied, “I have kept all these since my youth.”
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
But when he heard this, he became sad; for he was very rich.
Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!
Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”
He replied, “What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.”
Then Peter said, “Look, we have left our homes and followed you.”
And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God,
who will not get back very much more in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”
Now listen. I don’t think any of us actually want to hear this. Because we like our stuff and our security. So maybe you’ll like to hear this from me…
I don’t think Jesus is actually demanding that you sell all of your stuff and give the proceeds to the poor. I mean, if you want to, that can be arranged. But I’m not really sure that he actually wanted this rich young ruler to do that. Jesus is trying to get his attention. Jesus got asked a lot of questions, and most of the questions were actually the wrong question, and that is what Jesus is taking exception to.
Jesus I’m assuming has gotten a bit frustrated with the fact that people are clearly not listening to what he is teaching, because of the questions that they are asking him. They are clearly either not listening at all or they are hearing his words and interpreting them to say what they want him to be saying.
Have you ever experienced this? I know that I have. One of the most fun parts of preaching and communicating is talking to people afterward and hearing what they heard you say. Sometimes it’s a bit more like whisper down the lane. But that’s besides the point. The point here is that, once again, Jesus’s message is not heard.
This guy comes and he’s like hey Jesus what do I have to do to inherit eternal life.
And I think Jesus has gotta be shaking his head. Like what do you do… to inherit? These are two ideas that are fundamentally at odds with one another. You don’t do anything to earn an inheritance other than outlive your parents. Like you inherit based on your status as a child, not based on any work that you do.
So the question is flawed. And Jesus exploits that flawed question in order to teach a very important kingdom ethic. Eternal life isn’t something that you inherit by virtue of anything that you do. But what you do is a pretty good tell when it comes to determining if you’ve inherited eternal life or not.
You see, what the rich young man wants to know is “am I good to go?”
And Jesus says, “put your money where your mouth is. Literally”
Now without getting too terribly in the weeds here, what Jesus’s point is is that eternal life is already ours, but it isn’t some far off distant future. Eternal life begins here and now, and the fruit of that life is how we live and how we leave a lasting legacy on this world.
But listen, that was a little aside. The point here for this sermon’s sake is that Jesus is pretty well acquainted with what it feels like to be misunderstood or misrepresented to the world. And honestly Jesus is still pretty well misunderstood and misrepresented to the world. There’s brands of Christianity that teach that the Christian life can be measured by material success, and the Jesus of Luke’s Gospel is pretty clear that this is just not so. The measure of the Christian life is solely based on our willingness to love sacrificially.
But if you need a little further confirmation of the misunderstood nature of Jesus’s life, lets read the next 4 verses:
Then he took the twelve aside and said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.
For he will be handed over to the Gentiles; and he will be mocked and insulted and spat upon.
After they have flogged him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise again.”
But they understood nothing about all these things; in fact, what he said was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.
Even Jesus’s closest friends didn’t understand the reality that they were soon to come face to face with. They were either unwilling or unable to hear the truth. And Jesus must have been left so frustrated and feeling so alone. Even his closest friends, who he lived with for years did not have the ears to hear.
And listen, I wish there was some super clear direction and example from Jesus on this topic. Like people didn’t understand Jesus so he made them understand using more convincing arguments, or Jesus helped them hear by using small words or only communicating with them via text message or didn’t try to communicate with them which they were doom scrolling on facebook. But there is no clear resolution to this problem as Jesus experienced it.
The reality is that the hope that Jesus had that people would hear and respond to his message was largely left unrealized. And so what good does that do for us?
The greatest gift that we find in this world of grief and struggle is the gift of empathy. One of the reasons that counseling and support groups have an amazingly high success rate is that for many people these are the spaces where they are truly heard for the first time, and typically they are heard by people who have similar experiences and emotions to them. The ability to hear and to feel the pain that a person feels is one of the greatest and most comforting gifts that we can give to another human being.
I do a lot of work with people in recovery groups, and what I have repeatedly heard and experienced for myself is that this is the first safe place that some people ever know. It’s the first space where they can be seen and heard and know that the people that are listening are actually hearing their cries for help. They can find the support that they need. One person who has struggled helping another person who is struggling is the heartbeat of empathy.
And it’s the heartbeat of the Christian life. You see what we find when we look to Jesus in those moments in time when it seems like no one hears us, when it feels like no one is listening and no one cares is that we have a God who knows exactly what that feels like. We have a God who understands human ignorance and who has fully experienced the weight of it.
And this is a reason for us to find a renewed glimmer of hope when we find that we are alone in this world. Because if God can understand us, then surely God will lead us to people who will understand us as well.
It’s my firm belief that God does not want us to go through this life feeling alone and misunderstood. If you do feel that way, I really really really hope that you will find people who will actually hear you. They might be right here in this church, I believe they are. I’ve seen this church show up and care for one another. But maybe you need specialized help. If you do, I want to help connect you to that help. I want you to feel the deep relief that happens when you are heard. When you know in your soul that someone out there is listening and that you are known by them, just as you are known by the God of the universe.
