15th Sunday in Ordinary Time - The Ears of the Hearer

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.” Matthew 13.3b-9

I told a joke. The humourless man didn’t understand and failed to laugh. The timid boy laughed and then stopped because he wasn’t sure that he should be laughing at a time like this. The girl with her eyes on her phone didn’t hear the joke because her mind was focused on other matters. But the woman with a sense of humour, who listen carefully to the joke, laughed and laughed and laughed and couldn’t help but repeat the joke to everyone she met.

Christianity is not about glib, comfortable life lessons. It’s about what God is doing in the world today through his Son and what he wants us to do to bring about his kingdom on earth. The Parable of the Sower shows us how we receive his message and act (or failed to act) upon it. Let’s face it, there have been times when we have received God’s message in each of the four ways described in the parable. We have failed to hear it, or stumbled when things have got tough, or allowed the world’s attractions to distract us. At our best, we listen and learn and understand and our actions produce 30 or 60 or 100 times the results.

It is tough when we study scripture and try to reflect upon God’s work today, but it is our task to think it through and discover it for ourselves. How then do we bring folk to God? What stories can we tell that will encourage people to listen? Matthews’ Gospel is excellently set out to help us.

Whoever has ears to hear, let them listen and laugh and take part in the joy of heaven.

               Master, speak!  Thy servant heareth,
              waiting for thy gracious word,
              longing for thy voice that cheereth;
              Master, let it now be heard.
              I am listening, Lord, for thee;
              what hast thou to say to me?

               Speak to me by name, O Master,
              let me know it is to me;
              speak, that I may follow faster,
              with a step more firm and free,
              where the Shepherd leads the flock
              in the shadow of the rock.

               Master, speak: and make me ready,
              when thy voice is truly heard,
              with obedience glad and steady
              still to follow every word.
              I am listening, Lord, for thee;
              Master, speak!  O speak to me!

Frances Ridley Havergal (1836–1879)

The Methodist Church provides worship and devotional resources at www.methodist.org.uk