Hear and Understand
Today's entry into our list of Fifty Things comes from Matthew 11:15 where Jesus makes this interesting statement
"Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!"
Matthew 11:15
Now you may have grown up hearing something more along the lines of
"Whoever has ears, let them hear."
Matthew 11:15 (NIV)
or
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear"
Matthew 11:15 (NKJV)
So there's obviously something going on here with this statement. This isn't just "listen up." This statement that Jesus says here implies that not everyone who is listening will understand. Not everyone who hears what Jesus says will "get it." Not everyone who has ears actually has "ears to hear." Not everyone who hears it, or perhaps in today's day and age reads it, will UNDERSTAND it.
So #36 on our list of Fifty things is
HEAR (AND UNDERSTAND)Now, Jesus winds up saying this same phrase a number of times throughout the Gospels besides in this passage in Matthew 11 which we'll be coming back to. He says it immediately after sharing the Parable of the Sower and in the case of Mark 4:23, the Parable of the Sower is attached to the analogy of hiding your light under a basket.
Matthew 13:9, Mark 4:9, Mark 4:23, Luke 8:8
We see Jesus use the phrase
"Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand"
Matthew 13:43
after explaining the parable of the wheat and the weeds, or the wheat and the tares.
And Jesus once again says the phrase after using a salt analogy saying that flavorless salt
"is useless either for the soil or the manure pile, so it is thrown out. The one who has ears to hear, let him hear."
Matthew 13:43 (NASB)
Now, we hear this phrase, we read this phrase, and maybe we think "well, this is pretty easy. This is pretty self explanatory. "Seems pretty easy. Just gotta listen to Jesus and pick up what He's laying down." Simple.
Is it though? See - the whole reason we're looking at these Fifty Things - not only are they the commands that Jesus gave to His followers, not only are these the examples that Jesus lived out for us. But these are the things that can transform our lives if we actively put them into practice. But even when they sound easy, sometimes they're not as easy as we might expect them to be.
"Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!"
Matthew 11:15
There's a difference between having ears… and having ears to hear…. And that's the difference between physical hearing and spiritual hearing… the difference between receiving the sound waves somebody else produces, and understanding the heart and the intention behind what is said.
Does anybody want to admit to having selective hearing? I think most of us, if we're honest, we can be 'selective listeners.' A couple of nights ago, we had a movie night at the house, we were watching the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. And you know, my daughter's hearing was perfect all night. You want dessert? No problem hearing and understanding. You want some hot chocolate? You want me to show you the end credit scene when the movie is over? No problem hearing and understanding. But then the movie was over. The credit cookies are over. It's time to clean up and go to bed. So I turned to my loving, cuddly daughter who had been tuned in to what I was saying all night and I said, "Okay, kid. It's time to go get pajamas on and get ready for bed." And I kid you not - do you know what she did? She stuck her fingers in her ears. And had the audacity to say "What dad? I can't hear you." No matter how loud I was. No matter how many times I called her a punk." Couldn't hear me. I'm sure if I had said, "Hey, let's stay up late and have ice cream" she would've heard me no problem. But my daughter didn't hear me… because she had selective hearing. She literally did not WANT to Hera what I was saying.
Now we're not little kids. Most of us. I'm guessing most of them are in Children's Ministry right now. We're not little kids. But we can do the spiritual equivalent of sticking our fingers in our ears if there's something we don't want to hear.
Let's face it - far too often… we hear what we WANT to hear. We hear what confirms what we already believe. We hear what supports our preferences. We hear what makes us comfortable. We hear what benefits us.
When Jesus says
"Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!"
Matthew 11:15
He is talking about something deeper. And most of us - when we don't have the ears to hear…
WE DON'T HAVE A HEARING PROBLEM
WE HAVE A LISTENING PROBLEM
And ultimately that's because
WE DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH OUR EARS
WE HAVE A PROBLEM WITH OUR HEART
When Jesus speaks and shares or demonstrates through His actions something that challenges us on a core level - a truth that is difficult for us to accept - do we have a heart that is open enough, humble enough, courageous enough to hear and understand the truth even when it makes us uncomfortable or turns our world upside down? Do we have a heart to listen and accept when what Jesus says puts us in close proximity to things we don't understand or like? Do we have the heart to apply what we hear from Jesus when doing so would mean that we would have to admit that we were wrong on some previous level? Can we hear and assimilate a truth of Jesus when it costs us personally - when it means I may not get something I had my heart set on.
Of course communication from Jesus isn't the only communication that can affect our hearts.
We hear so many voices every single day. Sincerely. We are exposed to so many forms of communication - tv, radio, internet, conversations, the written word, advertisements. There's an inundation of information. But there's a difference between the information that we hear, and the information that we let go to our hearts. Because that's the stuff that really matters. Because the information and communication that we allow into our hearts is what causes transformation. For good and bad.
And we have a choice in the matter of what we listen to and take in and accept. In fact, if we are followers of Christ, we have a responsibility to be aware of what we let into our ears and our hearts. We cannot feign ignorance. Jesus says in John 10:27
"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me."
John 10:27
We need to know His voice. You know why? Because there are a lot of voices claiming to speak for Jesus. A LOT. And some of you may be sick of me saying stuff like this, but it's so important. We HAVE to know our Shepherd's voice. Because everybody's got a podcast. Everybody's got a YouTube channel. Everybody's got a social media presence. Everybody's got a 'hot take. Everybody's got something to say and some of them sound NOTHING like Jesus.
And if you're mad about me saying that… ask yourself 'why?'
And while we're asking important and introspective questions, let's ask this one - why is it so hard to hear Jesus' voice sometimes? Why is it so hard to hear and understand? Well, there's some hints in Matthew chapter 13. After saying
"Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand."
We read
"Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?" He replied, "You are permitted to understand the secrets ('mysteries' in Greek) of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. That is why I use these parables."
Matthew 13:9-13
The more we make an active effort to listen TO JESUS. To UNDERSTAND JESUS, the more understanding we're gonna get. The more knowledgeable we will be when it comes to following Jesus and understanding His will and His ways. But that means, we gotta want it. We gotta want the pure, unfiltered, wisdom and understanding of Jesus straight from the source - not run through somebody else's filters, not added to or things taken from. We gotta want and desire and drink that 100% Jesus Water of Life.
You know, we covered this earlier in the series - but Jesus said in Matthew 7:7-8
"Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened."
Matthew 7:7-8
If you are asking for and seeking for understanding of the heart of Jesus Christ, you will find it. If you want to know Jesus and want to know how Jesus would act or respond in a given situation that you may find yourself in - you will find it if that's what you're truly looking for. But the question we need to ask ourselves is - IS THAT WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR? Are we really looking to know and understand Jesus on HIS terms - or are we looking for confirmation bias? Approval for what we already believe… Are we seeking the will of Christ… or our own will? Are we looking for the truth? Or are we looking for excuses not to apply the truth? Are we looking for ammunition we can use against other people? Cause if that's what we're looking for, then we are only half-heartedly seeking to know and understand Jesus. As I said earlier -
WE DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH OUR EARS
WE HAVE A PROBLEM WITH OUR HEARTS
Jesus affirms this. Continuing on in Matthew 13
"For they look but they don't really see. They hear, but they don't really listen or understand. This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says, 'When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes- so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.' "But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear."
Matthew 13:13-16
Their hearts are hardened… maybe OUR hearts are hardened… because of what we've let into them over the years. Pride hardens our heart. Fear hardens our heart. Prejudice hardens our heart. Preconceived notions harden our heart.
And here's the HARD truth about hardened hearts… if we were being brutally honest with ourselves… sometimes we hear, but we don't listen… we don't accept what Jesus is saying and apply it to our own lives… because we don't want to. We don't want to model what Jesus is teaching for a variety of reasons. Cause change is scary. Cause we don't want our ego to be bruised by admitting we got it wrong for a long time. Cause what Jesus asks us to do is uncomfortable or hard. The truth is that our hardened hearts often reject truth, not because we don't understand it, but because we don't like where it leads. And that's the hard truth about hardened hearts that each of us ought to take a hard look in the mirror and be honest with ourselves about.
The prophet Jeremiah, speaking on behalf of the Lord in Jeremiah 29 says this to the exiled Israelites, but it is a protracted truth that is applicable to all who call Christ their Lord
"If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you," says the Lord."
Jeremiah 29:13-14"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV)
We'll listen and understand - we will have the ears to hear… we will be transformed when we seek after Jesus with our whole hearts. Will we do that? As individuals? As a church? Or will we acquiesce to the inner Kindergartner in all of us and stick our fingers in our ears and go "La, la, la, la la, I can't hear you, Jesus." Or "I'll only hear you when you say the stuff I like, Jesus."
You laugh, but we as adults do that all the time. We're just more sophisticated about it. We don't stick our fingers in our ears. We scroll until we find the article that agrees with us or makes us feel better about our beliefs or actions. We rationalize. We find echo chambers - friends and teachers and 'authorities' who tell us exactly what we want to hear.
Folks, the ultimate authority is Jesus. And just so you know - pretending you didn't hear or understand His message, doesn't change the reality of His message.
By the way, let's talk about the conveyance of messages for a bit. The very first time we see Jesus use the phrase
"Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand"
Matthew 11:15
it is directed toward a crowd which represents the behavior of an entire generation… and quite frankly that behavior is still alive and well today in this generation, though we do not have the blessing of having direct contact with John the Baptist and Jesus. And Jesus basically says, "no matter who delivers the truth, you will outright reject it like a child if you don't like it. Not on the basis of the reality of the truth. But for superficial reasons. Here's what Jesus says in Matthew 11:16-18
"Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand! "To what can I compare this generation? It is like children playing a game in the public square. They complain to their friends, 'We played wedding songs and you didn't dance, so we played funeral songs, and you didn't mourn.' For John didn't spend his time eating and drinking, and you say, 'He's possessed by a demon.' The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, 'He's a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!' But wisdom is shown to be right by its results."
Matthew 11:16-18
See, once again, "Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand" is an invitation to a type of spiritual listening. It is an invitation not to be bound by the literal words that are said, but to connect ourselves to and humbly accept the point of the words, the power behind the words, the Spirit of Christ. Cause let's face it, the nature of words and phrases is that you can read into them. You can insert your own meaning or understanding into a piece of text whether it is what the author intended or not. We can parse texts or what people say down to the single word, take it out of context, accuse someone of saying something or meaning something they didn't intend. But if you hear the heart behind the message - if you understand the life of the one delivering the message - then you can move past getting hung up on an individual word or sentence, and compare it to the body of the rest of the author's works or better yet, their actions.
But in Matthew 11:16-18 that's not what's happening. Jesus is criticizing and taking to task those who are playing little games with both the message and the messengers. Jesus basically lays out a scenario where, in modern terms, we would say "you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't." "You can't win." Jesus says - "Hey - John was pretty extreme. He's out in the wilderness, an outcast, eating locusts and honey, he dressed in weird animal skins, and he was a voice crying in the wilderness both literally and figuratively. And Jesus says to these people - that you called John the Baptist nuts. You said "He's possessed by a demon." On the other hand, Jesus says that He's pretty much the opposite of John the Baptist. He is actively engaging in community. He eats and drinks and goes to sinner dinners, hangs with tax collectors and prostitutes and he even goes to weddings and makes more wine for people who are already hammered. He's relaxed and welcoming and forgiving and less likely to preach woes and doom and gloom unless you're a holier than thou Pharisee, in fact Jesus modeled grace and joy… but the people reject Him too. They call Him a rule-breaker. A sinner. A heretic. And essentially Jesus is saying in this passage, "if people don't like the message, they'll pick up on some attribute of the messenger or the way the message is delivered in order to reject the message entirely and metaphorically stick their fingers in their spiritual ears."
They will attack the character of the messenger so they can reject the message and still feel good about themselves. They slandered Jesus. They slandered John. And these were people who were supposedly looking for and waiting for the Messiah.
I think we all know this to be true whether we want to admit it deep down or not - if we don't want to be challenged or convicted or confronted with something that calls into question our own beliefs and worldviews and actions, then it is easier to find some superficial thing to be offended by so we can dismiss the message. We will reject the truth for superficial reasons. It happens all the time even today. Pick a superficial reason to reject the message - the lights, the sound, the music, the hair, the dress, the gender, the way somebody delivers the messages, the choice of words, the tone.
And Jesus compares these people that play these games, to children… playing a game in the public square. They will not be happy, no matter what. They will find fault with what their peers do, no matter what. If you acquiesce to their wishes, they are a moving target and will change what they are looking for. And we have all seen situations like this - if somebody wants to complain - you can't win. If somebody wants to label you. You can't win. If somebody decides - I don't like what you're doing, or I don't like you - you can't win. Jesus said the problem wasn't John. The problem wasn't Him. The problem was the listeners. Because people determined to reject a message will always find something to criticize. You simply can't please some people.
But you want the good news? We're not called to please people. It is our job to please Jesus and model our behavior after His examples. It's our mission to love God and love people to the best of our abilities. And everybody's approach is gonna be a little different. Or radically different. Man will criticize - because too often we're focused on the outward appearance. But as we read in 1 Samuel 16:7
"The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
1 Samuel 16:7
You're never gonna get it right in everybody's eyes. But Jesus says something at the end of his chastising the people in Matthew 11 He says
"But wisdom is shown to be right by its results."
Matthew 11:19
Wisdom is proven by its results - not by superficial complaints from those unable or unwilling to hear and listen and understand.
Some earlier manuscripts of Matthew 11 and Luke 7 had it like this
"Wisdom is vindicated by all her children."
Luke 7:35 (NASB)
What a powerful statement. Wisdom is known to be right by what its followers do. Kind of reminds me of what we were talking about two weeks ago
"You can identify them by their fruit"
Matthew 7:16
So - how do we make sure that we get it right. How do we make sure that we have ears to hear and listen and a heart to understand and accept? Our results are going to be a good indicator. But if we're ever confused - and it is possible to be confused with the sheer amount of competing ideas and agendas out there - then Jesus is our Rosetta Stone.
The Rosetta Stone was an ancient Egyptian stela carved in 196 BC. It had the same decree in three scripts - Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Ancient Greek and Everyday Demotic Greek. It unlocked understanding. It cleared up confusion. Well, Jesus is our Rosetta Stone. Shortly after Jesus says
"Wisdom is shown to be right by its results."
Matthew 11:19
in Matthew 11, Jesus says
"No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him." Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light."
Matthew 11:27-30
If you really want to hear and you're seeking after Jesus with all your heart, and you still feel like you're lacking understanding - look at Jesus. Look TO Jesus. Read the Gospels. Read what Jesus actually does. Look at who He spends time with. Take notice of who He confronts. Be aware of who He defends. Learn who He welcomes. Know who He loves. Which is everybody. Unconditionally. Most of all- look at Jesus' actions. Not somebody else's version of Jesus. Not somebody else's politics. Not somebody else's culture war. Not your own or somebody else's tradition. Look at Jesus' actions. The real Jesus. Not a Jesus made in our own image. Not a Jesus who already agrees with everything we think and never challenges us. A Jesus that only convicts other people. But look to the real Jesus and His actions. And ask yourself if you're willing to accept what He says. Something that Jesus says to the same crowd in Matthew 11:14.
We can either willingly accept in our hearts the heart of what Jesus says and models and be focused on maturing in Christ and living out His will daily… or we can waste our time parsing words, slandering messengers, rejecting truths for superficial reasons and playing childish games you can't win that only serve ourselves.
The choice is yours. Anyone with ears should listen and understand.