Matthew 13: 10-17 "Listening Hearts"

I want us to take a moment and close our eyes and just listen to the sounds around us on this beautiful summer day?
What do you hear?

Possibly the sound of nature outside: the birds ,
the gentle breeze?
The movement of paper?
The quiet?
The humming of the air conditioning?
The breath of the person next to you?

Our human ears hear many sounds in the language of everyday events, like the ones we hear today.

 nature and creation
 movement
 the gift of life
 the peace in quiet and stillness

There is a deeper kind of listening that results in spiritual understanding. This is listening with our hearts.

This is what Jesus was talking about in today’s gospel, listening with our hearts  
to the word of God. The Spirit of God lives in each of us and this living spirit blesses us with a spiritual connection to understand the parables and the teachings of Jesus. Jesus tells us:

      “ to you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.”

“To you it has been given” is a big deal. This is a gift that Jesus freely gave to his disciples and to us.

Jesus was a great story teller. He was practical and he was smart.
Jesus uses parables in order to judge unbelief, as a fulfillment of the prophecy
of Isaiah, and to show forth the sheer grace of the gospel : To those who have some revelation, more revelation will be given.

 After many people began rejecting him as the Messaiah,
Jesus spoke in parables. He knew if he spoke directly he could have offended
 the leaders and been crucified almost immediately but by speaking in parables he could continue to instruct his followers who believed in his teachings , while at the same time  avoiding his opponents in parables, gave Jesus opportunities to illuminate the truth,
 not to hide it.

This is an important point . We need to remember that God is not trying to
make a relationship with Him  more difficult for us, he is not hiding from us . . .
He is present in all things  …in the good, the bad and the ugly.
He is here with us today.    

God is calling out to us to see if we can find him.  When we are open to the movement
 of the spirit,the message from God will become clear to us.

Jesus uses the ordinary in his parables ,

weeds

a Mustard seed

yeast

a hidden treasure

a pearl merchant

a fishing net

sheep and goats

a Samartian  

ordinary people and things revealing and doing extraordinary things.

Isn’t this what Jesus asks of us? To listen with our hearts to his word and let it

melt into every cell of our body, revealing what God intends it to, for each of us so

we too can live the gospel?
 

Sometimes it is hard to live the gospel when we may feel that God
 is far from us or we don’t understand what he is asking or doing
in our lives. It would be easier if God just gave us a straight answer instead
of what I call the gobbly gook…you know what I mean, the word and things
he asks of us that  sometimes challenge us, stretch us w-a-y out of our comfort zone  and confuse us.

Maybe things in your life have you confused right now.

Maybe you wonder if He cares, or if He even exists.

Jesus wants to help you find the truth/his love and promise through the
Word of God. He wants you to know that He loves you.

Does this mean life won't sometimes be confusing, frustrating and hard?  Not at all.

There are circumstances in life that challenge us and break our hearts.

the death of people we love

the breakup of relationships

a friend who hurts us

a child who doesn’t visit us as much as we would like
unexpected expenses that come like a tidal wave into our lives

illnesses and limitations that allow someone to exist but not to enjoy life

These things can baffle us, challenge us and break our hearts.  It is not that God

doesn't want us to understand, He does want us to understand . . . sometimes we

are unable to understand. We are unable to see the "big picture". We can't

comprehend what God is doing.

It is during these times that we must cling to God's track record, His character, and

His actions toward us in Christ, so he can work in our lives.  We must trust what

we do know and understand.   In that, in our faithful, loving, listening hearts God

will reveal more of his plan for our lives to us.

These words of  Mattthew’s gospel today also serve as a warning .  

It is possible to hear the truth, to listen to God’s Word , to hear God calling to us and yet ignore it.

It is possible to be surrounded with evidence yet refuse to acknowledge that evidence.  

It is possible to hear about the gospel all our lives and still not trust Christ.  

but when we embrace what Jesus tells us in today’s lesson:

 

“ to you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.”

we truly are open to this spiritual connection with deep listening hearts and

we learn to trust rather than worry

we learn to forgive rather than resent

we learn to give rather than accumulate
we learn to serve rather than demand
we learn to laugh rather than grumble
we learn to love

If we keep listening with our hearts and seek to follow where He leads us, if we

keep seeking to understand what He tells us, we will see Jesus more clearly .

“Blesssed are your eyes, for they see and blessed are your ears, for they hear”

Amen.