Jesus tours towns and villages, along with his posse, heralding the blistering good news of the kingdom of God. Crowds press from every direction, sad there’s no ability to take selfies.
Yet Jesus cloaks his teaching in mystery.
He tells stories through parables—cartoons of the absurd, tales of enigma, riddles of old to unveil the kingdom of God.
Jesus tells a parable of a farmer scattering seed. At the time the story was told, plowing followed the sowing of the seed. Ponder that for a moment.
But perhaps there’s something more.
Today, we continue the #LentChallenge with Luke 8-9. To download the free 40 Day Lent reading guide, click here.
In the story of a farmer scattering seed, Jesus says the pregnant kernels of faith in our life remain unharvested because:
The desire to accumulate more
The desire to experience more
The desire to control more
More makes us less.
More crowds out the room for the nutrients, water, and sun in season will make us mature and fruitful. Yet those who hear and cling to it will produce a bumper crop.
Less makes us more. Indeed, God’s kingdom swims upside down.
This idea is reiterated in the story of the spotlight. Jesus commands:
“So pay attention to how you hear” and “My mother and brother are all those who hear God’s Word and obey it.”
After hearing Jesus, we must respond to Jesus, then we must obey Jesus.
Jesus’ emphasis isn’t on what we hear (which surprises me!) as much as how we hear.
Our response…
Our obedience…
Then the Gospel of Luke shocks us:
Demons hear Jesus quite well, and respond with quick obedience.
While I’d never say we should be like the demons, perhaps they’re on to something.
They set the stage from for who walk in obedience.
The sick woman who hears Jesus syllables of healing and shalom.
The dead girl who hears Jesus command to “Get up!”
The disciples who obeys Jesus instruction to proclaim the Kingdom of God.
The Gospel of Luke keeps pounding us with example after example of those who hear, listen, and obey.
The holy exclamation point arrives when James, Peter, John, Elijah, Moses, and Jesus find themselves on a rocky mountain side, a holy voice echoing a familiar refrain:
“This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him.”
Chores. Duties. Tasks. Expectations. And more. All get in the way.
We hear, but fail to take heart.
Perhaps that’s why Luke 9 ends with two men who bare a strange resemblance to the seed from Jesus’ early story of the farmer.
Both use the phrase, “First let me….”
They plan to follow Jesus later.
Later has a way of making us deaf.
Later has a way of making us unresponsive.
Later has a way of making us disobedient.
What do I most need to hear but least want to read?
I’ve not been careful in how I’ve listened.
I’ve told God, “Later” far too many times.
Forgive me, Lord. Make me quick to hear, quick to respond, quick to obey.
Let me ask you:
Why is it important to learn to listen well, be responsive, and obey quickly?
Which of these do you tend to struggle with more? Why?
What do you most need to hear and least want to read?
Responsiveness for sure…I’m always trying to process if what I think I heard or learned was a promoting from the Lord and the longer I take in doing that it’s urgency subsides…and end up doing nothing. I’d too distracted trying to figure out if I’m doing the “right” thing.
Honestly, even if it’s not from Him, what harm am I doing to act on what I’m feeling prompted? (Assuming of course its is in line with the Word)…my delay usually comes with thoughts like, am I enabling the this person, do they deserve this (I mean they made a bad decision to get where their at) or is this going help them change/Soni even think they can change. Basically I’m casting my judgement upon them…and it stops me from responding and obeying the prompting. :/
Listening well……
I’m working on this.
Thank you for your sharing.
As an introvert, I tend to get stuck in responding or the obeying stage, as I ponder…. A full schedule makes it easy to delay my response, as well!
I think the busy schedules definitely pull us away from that quick obedience. Thanks for reading, Jean!
Huge hug, Brandi!
You are not the only one! May we become people who respond in bold and quick obedience.
Dear Margaret,
The thought of demons has always terrified me- especially after my son was murdered. I was at church one day – and even after the pastor said no casting out of demons in the church because no one had been trained – some ministers tried to do it and I and some other prayer ministers ran out of the room (okay so we were chicken Christians).
What can I do to get past the fear.
When the man that was healed from the demons begged to go with Jesus and he told him to return home and tell how much God has done for you…wowsa! I find myself wanting to sit at his feet, read his word, and enjoy my time with him. While this is very important, I too need to go out and tell others “how much God has done for you”.
That is why it is so important to be obedient immediately to what he is leading us to do…otherwise it is off to the next task and oops..what was that God was telling me this morning. I am praying for awareness throughout my day to respond and act on what he is teaching me!!
Thanks for your honesty and tough questions to make us think!!
JUST THIS MORNING responsiveness was an issue… I woke and knew the Lord wanted me in my bsf lesson … but my agenda wanted to go through my lent reading, my lessons I’m writing for the mission group headed to South Dakota … I persisted in my own agenda, determined to get to the bsf homework … but Matthew 7 was the focus … wide is the path to destruction, narrow it’s the way of life … and my mind pondered … I know the way it’s narrow, but it says it’s also hard … wonder what kind of hard the Hebrew there is referring to … so … I look it up to discover THE ONLY OTHER PLACE THAT WORD IN HEBREW FOR PATH IS USED … Numbers 22 …
My BSF reading for this week??? Numbers 22 … oh my stars … when will I learn to listen to that still small voice!!!