Two Ears, One Mouth
"Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. They came to Philip...with a request, 'Sir,' they said, 'we would like to see Jesus.'"
At Jesus' birth Gentiles, magi, came seeking him. Now, as a kind of bookend, Greeks--Gentiles--came once more just before Jesus' death, also seeking him. "Sir, we would like to see Jesus." What powerful words!
Their words have more than one meaning. On a literal level, they requested an audience, an appointment, a little time with Jesus. On another level, "We would like to see Jesus," is to say they want to become disciples of Jesus. We want to see and follow him. And at an even deeper level, they are saying we want to have a spiritual blindness healed and truly to see.
Perhaps not in so grand a way as this, but many of our words and conversations too have layers and levels of meaning. There's the literal level. But often there's more, much more. Do you listen for "the song beneath the words" in the words or requests of others? Do you listen to the longing which our own words, as well as the words of others to us, both hide and reveal? Have you experienced being heard, deeply and truly, by another human being? It's an incredible experience. Whan it happens, it feels holy. We feel that we have been in God's presence, that in some way we have seen and been seen by Jesus himself.
Okay, Lord, two ears, one mouth. Now I get it, listen twice as much as you speak. Help me hear, really hear, someone today. Amen.
Anthony B. Robinson, a United Church of Christ minister, is a speaker, teacher and writer.
To say that "God exists" is the greatest understatement ever made across space and time.
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