Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Men, we probably shouldn’t let our wives make “playdates” for us husbands.  The women will work out all the specific details and inform us when, where and what time. The problem, I discovered yesterday, they actually think we listen when they tell us those precise details. They actually believe we hear, retain and will show up on time at the right place on the right day at the right time and do what we are told.

What could possibly go wrong with that plan?

              Less than a week ago, our friend Nola called Susan and set up a coffee date between her husband, Ron, and myself.  I heard “Tuesday… 2:OO P.M… at Tim’s”.  She may have said some other stuff but who really knows?  It might have been pertinent but I had the main points.

                At 2:15 P.M. yesterday, my wife phones in a panic to see if I had remembered the date. Yes, of course - just then! So, I quickly zipped over to Tim’s where Ron was patiently waiting.  I think I should get a few extra marks for, at least, remembering which Tim Horton’s it was. We had a great, leisurely visit.  When I came back from the washroom, Ron was standing up as if to go.  I asked where he was going as Nola hadn’t arrived yet to pick him up. He told me that I was driving him. Fine with me. We went to the car and got in. Then, now thinking that I was driving him to where Nola was waiting, I asked him, “Where to?” He gave me a puzzled look and said, “Home”.  Why doesn’t somebody tell me these things?

                I really should listen better. I bet those bits of information were in the other stuff that Susan told me. But if I start listening now, I set a whole new precedent…

                The other day, I made a doctor’s appointment. I am terrible at getting the information correct when making appointments.   So, this time I made a point of carefully listening as she clearly gave me the date and time, and instantly got up and wrote it on the calendar. I was very proud of myself. I was only out by a week.

                Sigh!

                Jesus was always trying to get people to listen. One of his favourite phrases was, “Whoever has ears, let them hear,” (e.g. Matthew 11:15).  But he also recognizes that the human spirit can stubbornly resist the message, even if it is Good News: “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.” (Matthew 13:15).

                When we read the stories of Jesus healing a deaf person, it represents more than just a wonderful miracle story. It is a sign that someday the Good News of God’s Reign of Love (i.e. Kingdom Life) will be heard and received and understood and a message to live by, once and for all.

For instance, in Mark 7, “Some people brought a man who could neither hear nor speak and asked Jesus to lay a healing hand on him. He took the man off by himself, put his fingers in the man's ears and some spit on the man's tongue.  Then Jesus looked up in prayer, groaned mightily, and commanded, ‘Ephphatha! - Open up!’ And it happened. The man's hearing was clear and his speech plain - just like that. Jesus urged them to keep it quiet, but they talked it up all the more, beside themselves with excitement. ‘He's done it all and done it well. He gives hearing to the deaf, speech to the speechless,’” (Mark 7: 31 – 37, The Message).

We live in a very noisy day and age. We are bombarded with information. We are flooded with texts and cyber “facts”.  There are many opinions, ideas, and varieties of worldviews. There is an endless variety of messages,  twitters, and face-book postings to try and keep up with.  It has become so hard to sift fact from fiction. “Fake news” is the new catch phrase of our time.

In the midst of this cacophony, I catch the words of Jesus and I hope, I trust, I believe, I respond: “the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them,” (Matthew 11:5)

This is Good News worth listening to!

Dale