We have entered that long, green Season after Pentecost, also known as Ordinary Time because the Sundays are counted with ordinal, sequential numbers. Whereas Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, and Easter focus on the major events of Jesus’ life, this season focuses on the life of Jesus and what we can learn to inform us and become better disciples. Which, again, is why this season is green – because that color symbolizes growth.
As we begin our journey of discipleship it’s important to listen to what Jesus is saying. In the Farewell Discourse, that long monologue of Jesus that runs from the time Judas leaves to when the boys go to the garden, Jesus tells the eleven, “I do not call you servants any longer, but I call you friends.” He says this because there is a recognition on his part that he has taught them all he can and they are now ready to become the teachers. But that’s at the very end of his ministry. For now, though, we are at the beginning. Both we and the disciples are once again students, learning what Jesus has to say to us.
As students, as disciples, we need to pay attention to what Jesus is doing and saying. Little children learn by watching and listening to what parents and other elders do around them. That’s how they learn to walk and talk. And sometimes they hear and do things we wish they wouldn’t – like the time my very young sister, on a visit to our mom’s office, wanted to know if the guy we were talking to was the one who never did any work. But getting back to listening . . . in school we listened to our teachers, instructors, and professors. We learn first by listening. Grandma always said, “God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason.”
In both the lesson from 1 Kings and the gospel from Luke, we have stories about listening.
The lesson from Kings tells part of the story of the feud between Ahab/Jezebel and Elijah. In the story we hear, Elijah’s life is in turmoil. He has just had a showdown with the prophets of Baal and killed 450 of them. Jezebel has placed a bounty on his head, promising to have him killed in the same way he killed the prophets of Baal (who also worked for King Ahab and Jezebel). He literally runs for his life, ending up in a cave on Mount Hermon, where he encounters God.
Elijah’s life is in tumult. He is surrounded by noise – the noise of mass murder, the noise of the aftermath of those killings, the noise of Jezebel’s threats, the noise of being a fugitive, and the wind, earthquake, and fire up on that mountain. In all of this noise Elijah is looking for God. But it’s hard to hear God amidst all that noise. It wasn’t until Elijah heard the sound of the sheer silence that he was able to hear God.
In the gospel we hear the story of the man possessed by a legion of demons. I’m not going to say anything about mental health or illness here other than this: mental health or illness, like physical health and illnesses, requires professional help. If anyone uses this passage as a reason to keep people from getting the professional help they need, don’t listen to them.
Regardless of whether this was a case of mental illness or actual demonic possession isn’t the issue. The issue is that this man was hearing voices that controlled him physically, mentally, and spiritually. I can’t even begin to imagine what this person lived with on a daily basis having a legion of voices screaming in his head. It reminds me of the Grinch who hated Christmas – all that noise, Noise, NOISE!
Into that cacophony of voices steps Jesus who heals the man in a rather unconventional way. It’s only when the voices have been driven out that he is able to hear Jesus. When the villagers see the man, he is sitting at the feet of Jesus – the traditional place for disciples to learn. There, sitting at the feet of Jesus like Mary, in his newly acquired silence, the man can hear Jesus.
Our lives today are similar to Elijah on the mountain and the Gerasene demoniac. We are surrounded by noise. Every day there are outside forces screaming for our attention. We hear the tempest howling around us from political and social unrest to natural disasters exacerbated by our mistreatment of creation. There is a legion of voices we hear via social media, politicians, and our general phone addiction that provides no room for quiet. Everything is condensed into soundbites that clamor for our attention. It’s a noisy world we live in.
In this noisy world, where do we hear God? And not those who claim to speak for God who just add to the noise; but where do we listen for the voice of God?
Where is a place you can escape to and listen for the voice of God in the sound of the sheer silence?
How do you silence the legion of outside voices so that you can sit peacefully listening to Jesus?
We have entered that long, green Season after Pentecost where we move from focusing on the major events of Jesus’ life to focusing on the life and ministry of Jesus. It’s during this time that we seek to become better disciples. But to do that, we need to listen intentionally in the sheer silence and with the legion of voices exorcised from our presence.
In this season of discipleship, find time to listen.
Amen.
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