May 11, 2025 Fourth Sunday of Easter
Readings: John 9:36-43, Acts 10:22-30
“Selective Hearing”
Selective Hearing, if that topic ain’t opening a can of worms, and especially on Mother’s Day, I surely have no idea what will! We have seen, heard and noticed that selective hearing manifests itself many times in families at various stages of life. I have yet to figure out if it is something that we learn from our children, or they learn it from us, especially fathers. I have been accused of having selective hearing. I have told some of you before, but I do have hearing loss due to the years in emergency vehicles. After a female supervisor accused me of ignoring her and wrote me up, I had my hearing checked. I have a loss in my hearing that is in the decibels of a female voice. You can laugh but I do have it documented. Dani has also checked my hearing, and I am on the border of needing hearing aids. However, if I am having a conversation with someone and they turn away from me, I’m unable to hear distinctly what they say. Husbands have been accused of having select hearing as long as I can remember. I heard of a couple who were having an argument about just that. They finally sat down quietly. He was watching television, and she was working on her crossword puzzles. She asked him for a three-letter word for female sheep, he responded ewe, then the whole argument stated again.
Have you ever noticed that our kids only pick up what they want to hear. We tell them something to do, and they only hear half of it. An Example, Empty the trashcans so it can be picked up at the curb for the truck tomorrow. You notice that the trash is out of the house but in the morning the trash truck passes by without stopping because the toter is still at the garage. Because we did not say empty all the trash in the house, take it to the toter, then take the toter to the curb, within reach of the truck arms so that they can haul away our trash. You must be exact and precise with your instructions. You cannot leave anything to common sense or chance. You must also be prepared to have precise examples of why it must be done a certain way. Our laws are the same, we must plan our laws and rules for any conceivable scenario. I’m sure you know a few adults that must be handled in the same caring ways.
Today we have in the Gospel reading, a problem with selective hearing. Jesus has been teaching these people for a while, and they are just not listening. They have the audacity of asking how long Jesus is going to bore them with stories, just say You are the Christ. They are not getting it. Jesus retorts with the fact He is telling them, but they do not want to believe. These people cannot get it through their thick skulls. I was asked this week, after all that has been written in the Bible and all this time that has passed since Jesus’ time, how come the Jewish people don’t understand that Jesus was and is the Christ, the Messiah? Remember even the Disciples questioned. Everyone was looking for a conquering hero to come and save them from the Roman rule. The Hebrew Nation is waiting for the coming of the Messiah. Are we not waiting for the return of Jesus the Messiah? Jesus’ only claim was the Son of Man, the Son of God. Jesus came not to free them from Roman tyranny but to save all of us, free all of us from our own selfish sinfulness and death.
The Disciples, and especially Judas and Peter wanted Jesus to announce to the world that He was the Messiah promised by the prophets. They were ready to take up arms and fight by Jesus’ side. That was not God’s plan and Jesus stated that He was here to carry out the plan of God. Jesus’ Disciples forgot, or didn’t listen when God stated, this is my son with whom I am will pleased, Listen to Him. The Disciple also failed to hear even when Jesus was plain. They fell asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane. A time when they were told to stay awake and pray. They did not listen. Nor was any of this what they wanted to hear. Are we any different? We do not like always what we hear in the pulpit, what we read in the Bible or what the Spirit has to say to us from God. I was recently told I needed to start preaching about only good things. We already know what we want to hear from God and that is the only thing we want to hear. We do not want to hear the guidance from God; we want what we want and nothing else. We talked about that this week in the Bible Study in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax collector. When we pray, we already know what the answer should be from God. We have forgotten that prayers should be first praises and worship to God, then we should petition God prayers of forgiveness for our sins we have committed and omitted. Next, petition God for needs that we have and lastly praise and be thankful to God for what He has done, will do for us in His love for His creation. Since we already know the answer we want from God in our prayers, why wait to hear His answer? We have all heard, be still and know that I am God. We then need to be silent and wait to hear the voice of God coming to us during our prayers. Another flaw we have, some say I will not move until I hear from God. I am waiting for God to speak. But we surround ourselves with noise, clutter and ultra-filled calendars. How is God able to get through to us when we are not attentive?
Be aware that God is not going to treat us like grandparents treat grandchildren. The way to get the attention of grandchildren is to bribe them with money and candy. Give them everything their little heart’s desire. Yes, we spoil our grandchildren. The curse of Mothers is true; that your children will grow up just like you. Dad’s curse is just as true. For every time you ran to your grandparents to get what they wanted, your children will run to their grandparents and be given money and fed chocolate, then sent home just in time for bed. Neither is helping the children learn to wait, be attentive, be thankful and love one another. Because it is all about me.
Today’s New Testament reading is a prime example of what can happen when we follow Jesus’ instructions to the letter. Peter may have made many mistakes in his time with Jesus. Even when he denied Jesus three times. This time, Peter remembered what Jesus did in raising the dead. What he did for the little girl, what Jesus did for Peter’s mother-in-law, what Jesus did for Lazarus. Peter put his faith in what Jesus had said, what he taught, and Peter listened. In listening to Jesus, Peter was able to do this miracle just as Jesus! Jesus said that if we listen to what He says, we will be able to do things greater than He. Now that’s something good to preach about. We can have the ability to do things greater than Jesus did. Mind you ON EARTH! Before that can happen, we need to listen to Jesus, listen for God, and feel the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Not until we listen, hear and obey the will of God can any of that happen. We must make our selective hearing be selected to God, not our own self. The Pharisee’s prayer was all about him and degrading all who were not like him. The tax collector was praying to God as to how unworthy he was to even look up to heaven. Jesus said the Tax Collector was justified. If we listen, hear and obey then we can be justified as well. Let us tune our hearing to God.
