Listen Closely
Ps. 66:8-20; 1 Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-21
Rev. Tiare L. Mathison, Pastor & Soul-Tender
(Pink Martini - Ps. 19:14 - Elohim)
Obey. God wants us to obey Him. Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep or obey my commandments. What gets conjured in your minds and hearts when you hear the word obey? Or obedience? Follow the rules, stay in line, do what you are told? In Hebrew and in Greek, the word obey means TO LISTEN CLOSELY. (Repeat)
What does this phrase conjure up? For me, it makes me lean in a little closer, to get quiet and to take time, as much as needed, to really hear the voice of the Lord, the voice of people in pain, the voice of the earth crying out. “If I have listened closely and heard you well…” is a phrase I learned when I was in Ghana, for the gathering of the World Council of Reformed Churches. A practice of Reformed Church members from all over Africa, it came out of the severe disruption of discourse in South Africa and the practices of apartheid.
It is a model of respect and reciprocity, especially if you are in tough negotiations or trying to talk about a topic that is very controversial. Or even if you are having a disagreement in your marriage or with close friends: or other church members:) “If I have listened closely and heard you well…”
We are called to obedience in Jesus Christ, following The Way. This call comes out of God’s amazing love for us. God loves us, period. Bottom line. This is no transactional kind of love, quid pro quo, you do this for me, I’ll do that for you. Rather, its an extravagant, full-out, flow of love that never stops, no matter what. It is the root of our forgiveness, found in Jesus Christ and it is the formative structure of our faith. She loved us first and always, now we are asked to listen.
Obedience = to listen closely
Quick - what are Jesus’ commands? (Wait for an answer)
The originals - the ten - would be what first pops to mind, as Jesus was steeped in Torah, The Law and the wisdom of the prophets of Israel. Yet as He sat table with His precious disciples on this last night, they are not thinking of those. Rather, front of mind is an encounter, where some stranger came up to Jesus and asked in a loud voice, “What is the greatest command?” As if to catch Him in some heresy for which He could be charged.
“Love. Love God, love your neighbor, love yourself. On these all the rest hang.” Jesus responds. Listen Closely
Entwined with this love is the truth that Jesus proclaims. He not only calls us to listen closely, He says, ‘examine My life. Do what I do. I feed the hungry, I touch lepers, I respect women, I welcome tax collectors and other outsiders, I challenge empire and oligarchs and disrupt the hierarchy. I offer a cup of cold water and a coat. Remember? I washed your feet, I became Your servant. Now, this is your obedience.’
I don’t know about you but I cannot do this on my own. Its why I remember my baptism, we have put on Christ, ‘skinned’ in Him, His presence mediated in us, through us, around us, by the power of the Holy Spirit. I was thinking about this the other day and its like oxygen - it comes from the outside yet keeps us alive on the inside out. The Advocate, the Paraclete, a beautiful word like firmament, which means ‘one who has been called to our side’, Her Presence dwells inside us, gives us grace to forgive ourselves, to forgive others, to act IN LOVE toward all we encounter, the lovelies and the un-lovelies. Read the gospel of John, beginning to end. Read each of the gospels all the way through. It is quite extraordinary what you will discover about Jesus’ way, truth and life. In many ways it is very basic - be kind, generous, forgive those, especially the ones closest to you. Yet the depth takes you to the place where you must confront injustice, call out power brokers for the liars they are, demand the widow receive her reward, forgive the adulterous woman and the man she was caught with, acknowledge your own complicity in maintaining systems that benefit you more than others. This is no easy obedience, rather it strips away our pretense of being smart, pretty good people. We end up at the foot of the cross like everybody else. We make our confessions. Listen Closely
What I find so intriguing about Jesus’ call to love is this: it is the kind that offers hope, frees up our imaginations to dream of courageous love, contagious love, committed love. It takes you out from under the domination of the patriarchy, whose kind of love demands subjugation and humiliation. Any kind of empire, including our own here in the United States, does not want free loving people, especially those obedient to someone other than them. Jesus’ cup of cold water for people parched of beauty, sustenance, glory, is so delicious. His fierce protests against the degradation of the poor and the outcast is profound, as He contains the beloved community within Himself, with its mission statement being: THRIVE! Listen Closely
Are you disrupting the status quo with your love these days? (Pause) They will know us by our love, the old song sings. This kind of love is expansive and expanding, like the universe. We are called to love Love. For God is love and all who obey in love through love with love, don’t hoard it for themselves. Rather we put it in service, in practical ways, to aid, abide, dwell, feed, give, generate, touch, heal. God is the subject of our love, love is the vehicle, as Christ through the Holy Spirit, dwells IN us and in many ways these days more importantly, among us. There is an horizon Jesus holds out before us that is the edge of the spacious place. It is not only a mapped geography on the land called Israel, it is an internal cartography of our interiority. Our formation begins with God’s goodness and grace, any good actions done because He makes us good. Our spiritual growth must be rooted in our salvation, first, not our claim of doing good. From the outside in. Obedience takes a life time of going around the same block I say. Again and again we are stripped of what we thought we knew to be true, only to find Jesus’ Way, Truth and Life is so much broader, richer, full, abundant, yet not done in a nice tidy package.
This is why we have to listen closely. There are a zillion voices proffering the way in which THEY think we should go. Jesus’ voice is not always the loudest. It is why we have to lean in, together, in community, for you cannot do Christianity on your own. Its always been a plural religion, the ‘we’ essential to be able to hear. We are formed into Christ’s image and bearing His love, as we rub elbows and shoulders, bodies and minds together here. Listen Closely. Amen