Listening to God by Howard E Butts

Listening to God
8.15.08

Jesus had an amazing way of responding to people's questions. His answers often pierce through what's being asked to more important matters: what's on the person's heart and Jesus' own identity and mission .

For example, when a man asks Jesus to tell his brother to divide the family's inheritance with him, Jesus cautions the man to be wary of greed. Then he tells the story of the Rich Fool who dies on the very night he's contemplating his windfall profits (Luke 12:16-21).

When a Pharisee invites Jesus to dinner, a prostitute interrupts the decorous occasion by washing Jesus' feet with her tears, drying them with her hair, and anointing them with perfume. The Pharisee believes the woman's actions prove Jesus cannot be a prophet, because a prophet would never let a prostitute touch him (Luke 7:44-47).

In reply to the Pharisee's unspoken doubts, Jesus tells the story of the money lender who forgives two debts, one for five hundred denarii and the other for fifty. He then asks which person will love the money lender more.

The Pharisee replies the one who had the bigger debt canceled (Luke 7:42).

Then Jesus speaks to the Pharisee's discourteous reception of him and the Pharisee's doubts, which lie behind his behavior. He points out that the Pharisee has totally neglected the common courtesies extended to dinner guests. He has supplied no water for Jesus to wash his feet, he did not greet Jesus with a brotherly kiss, nor give him oil for his head. But the prostitute has transformed these common courtesies into profound acts of love. "Therefore I tell you," Jesus says, "her many sins are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little" (Luke 7:47).

Jesus not only answers the unspoken question of the Pharisee—"Is this man a prophet?"—by intuiting what's in the man's heart; he proclaims that he is more than a prophet by forgiving the woman's sins. In the process, he lets the Pharisee know that his own hardness of heart keeps him from being forgiven.

This pattern of questioning and transcendent response is found again and again in the Gospels, from the woman caught in adultery (John 8:3-7) to the Pharisees' question about paying taxes to Caesar (Matt. 22:17-22). Jesus knows the unworthiness of the woman's accusers and the power politics behind the tax question, and he points out to both groups that they should be most concerned about their own relationships with God.

The answer Jesus gave to the most pointed question he was ever asked contains the secret of his incomparable ability to answer the question behind the question.

In the eighth chapter of John's Gospel, the Pharisees are haranguing Jesus, questioning his authority on various grounds. Finally, in their perplexity, they come right out and ask, "Who are you?"

"Just what I have been claiming all along," Jesus replied, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be, and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him" (John 8:28-29).

I do nothing on my own, Jesus says. I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. Jesus proclaims here that his entire ministry—everything he taught, every answer he gave to a question—originated in his communion with the Father. The Son listened to the Father, communed with the Father, and out of this communion Jesus taught. Out of this communion he answered questions spoken and unspoken.

We usually think of Jesus' communion with the Father, his prayer, in terms of specific, dramatic instances. We remember Jesus' Temptation in the Desert, his retreats to the Galilean hills, the ecstasy of the Transfiguration, and the agony of Gethsemane. But in Jesus' replies that pierce peoples' hearts and proclaim his identity and mission, we overhear another aspect of his prayer: his continual communion with the Father—his prayer without ceasing.

We might say that Jesus never had a simple, two-way conversation. The Father and the Holy Spirit were always there as well. Jesus' conversation had a Trinitarian character. He brought the Father and the Holy Spirit's witness into the midst of every conversation.

As we pray, as we listen to God, we need to bring God's presence in Christ into the midst of our own conversations with other people. And into every circumstance, as well. We are not on our own; God is with us, but God cannot make his presence felt unless we invite him into the midst of our lives.

I find that when I keep soaking myself in Scripture, consulting with Christian friends, and prayerfully waiting on the Lord, he keeps clarifying what I need to do to make my relationships right with other people. He gives me insights into troubling situations I would never have otherwise.

from howard e butts