In a little village in a
little church in Isabel in the Solomon’s, the children and their Sunday school
teacher were talking about Jesus. “Did Jesus speak English or the language of
the Bugotu area?” the children wanted to know. For the most part, their parents
speak the language of the Bugotu area as their “first” language. Their
teachers, for the most part, speak English. The kids are pretty good at both
languages. So they could only imagine that Jesus must have spoken one or the
other, or maybe even both.
That living 2,000 years ago
and in a faraway place, Jesus might have spoken some other language, had not
even occurred to them. They found it incredible, literally, when the teacher
told them that Jesus didn’t speak English or the language of the Bugotu area.
He spoke Aramaic, and some Hebrew, she said, at least while he was living on
this earth.
Although this did not fit in
with their world view, the children were relieved to learn that Jesus did,
however, understand all languages and that they could talk to him in English or
the language of the Bugotu area (or for that matter, in any other language),
and he would know what they were saying. “Lord, hear our prayer,” is a familiar
petition used in our prayers. In fact, God has no trouble hearing our prayer.
There is nothing wrong with God’s hearing. God has no need for a hearing aid.
We’re the ones who need the
hearing aid when it comes to hearing God’s voice. In today’s Gospel story, on
this “Good Shepherd Sunday,” Jesus is comparing two sets of people: those who
belong to his flock of sheep, and those who don’t. Obviously, we would all want
to believe that we are among those who are part of that flock, who belong among
those sheep! But if that is the case, it appears that we had better be able to
hear God’s voice—and that is where we might need a “hearing aid,” or, perhaps,
a “listening aid.”
The most obvious “listening
aid” is simply to pay attention. God isn’t likely to address us in a booming
voice coming out of the sky. God is, however, always trying to get our
attention, so a little alertness is called for. Let’s start by giving God a
chance to be heard. We might do this by “switching off and tuning out.” There
are some fine programs on television and the radio can also be good company and
even help us stay awake when we’re driving. Surely we can turn them off for a
while, and listen to some good old-fashioned silence.
Some of us are afraid of
silence. Maybe that’s why we have to have some “background noise.” What could
it be that we are afraid of hearing? Hmm, do we really want to hear what God
has to say? May we really don’t want to hear that “still small voice from
within that is the voice that god uses.” But turning off the TV and the radio
and other mechanical devices isn’t enough. We also have to tune out that
internal noise. This is even harder. What about that running commentary that is
always going on in our head? Can we shut that up for just a few minutes? This
is harder than it sounds.
You’d be surprised at what
God might be saying to you. Of course, God doesn’t only speak to us in
scripture and prayer. Look around you at the beauties of nature. Listen to the
voices of your brothers and sisters. Pay attention to the happenings of your
daily life and think about what they might mean.
You will find that most of
what God is saying is about love: “I love you, Jack. See that great sunset?”
or, “Mary, I love that little child; be kind to her; or, maybe, “Henry, that
old man needs help; please go and help him because I love him;” or, “Did you
hear
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