Obey = to hear deeply

Wonderful insight can be gained, I have found, when the origins of a word are researched.  Take the word 'obey' for example. 

Obey is a word that is much out of fashion these days.  We live in a world that foolishly (at least from my perspective) has attempted to erase the borders between those who hold positions of authority and power and those who are expected to respond - dare I say, obey - the directives of such persons.  Whether we are talking boss/employee or parent/child or teacher/student, somehow in the name of equality we as a society have pretended that true differences do not exist.  We pretend that all things are collaborative.  Have you ever tried to collaborate with a testy two year old or a cranky teen?

Which gets me back to 'obey' from the Latin obe dire or 'to listen deeply'.  As a person of faith, this insight points me to my relationship with God where if I 'listen deeply' I will obey.  But it also works with a parent and child.  When the child listens deeply to the parent, they obey - not just by definition, but as the response to the parent.  We 'obey' not because the other is bigger or more powerful, but because, at the heart of how this world works, we enter into a deep relationship based on listening and then allowing that listening to turn to action.  When leadership works at its best, this deep listening/relationship is fostered at every level and 'obeying' loses its negative spin.

Perhaps we have removed 'obey' from our lexicon because we are fairly poor at listening as well.

Listen

Really, it should be Listen!  In a 21st century world where sound is ever present (the music pumped into space while I am pumping my gas is my current annoyance), we hear a lot, but listen to little.

Yet, it is a command as clear as can be, from God, to disciples everywhere, "Listen to him!" and it comes to us from the mountaintop of the Transfiguration.  We will be listening to that story from Luke 9 this coming Sunday.

What does Listen involve?  Leaning forward and engaging the speaker?  Turning off our phones, clearing our minds and hands of distractions and focusing?  Giving thought to the words, considering the implications, reviewing the intersections between the speaker's words and our lives?

I am fairly sure that this kind of Listening is more than just the acquisition of facts; it is active, visible, eventful at least to some small degree.  Sunday we will be commanded to Listen to Jesus - a command that sets up Jesus' teaching as authoritative - authoritative as in 'guideposts for your actions and life.'

It begins with the command to Listen; no less important that the command to Follow.  Wrapped up in these two commands is God's gift of new life, grace, wholeness, forgiveness, belonging through Jesus.  I pray you are Listening closely.

Listen............

 

Listening is more than hearing.

To listen you need to engage with the individual (or in the case of Zechariah: angel) speaking to you.  You need to make room - in the day, in the hour, in the moment and in your life - for the message to take root.  Listening is an organic process - words fall into the fertile soil that is you (your life, your time, your purposes) and from there the words reach for the light so they might grow and bear fruit.  Listening is the process that takes place after one has heard the facts, the data, the questions.  When we listen, we are making connections between disparate parts of our story, seeking bridges between the message and the messenger and us, discovering a new path for the future or a new meaning for a portion of our past.

Zechariah (father of John the Baptist) and Joseph (guardian of Jesus) and Mary (mother of God) were each called to listen beyond the words to the message of God's continuing care for all whom God has created - what we call the salvation of the world. 

Lord, help us listen during this season of Advent; to listen for your message to each of us so it may grow in our lives and bring light to others.  AMEN

By what power or by what name?

Or as my mother would have said it, "By whose authority?"

I like the reply attributed to Peter, "Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed...."

Notice how quickly the 'authorities' jumped over the wondrous healing of this man, a crippled beggar who can now walk (see 3.1-10).  Little time is given to thinking through this miraculous occurrence.  Little time is given in prayer to listen for God's guidance in view of this miraculous healing.  Instead, Peter is taken prisoner so he can account for his actions!  You would have thought he was a thief, a murderer, even a blasphemer.  But not a healer, or why would the authorities be so hostile?

No, they jumped right to an examination of credentials.....and the tone is clearly hostile.  Peter acknowledges that when he poses his question.

Now this is NOT the primary reason this text has been chosen for Sunday, April 29th.  The text has been chosen because of Peter's subsequent testimony to the power of the risen Jesus Christ.  Peter never points to himself, but points to Jesus and through Jesus to God, the source of all healing.  We too are called to this kind of witnessing.  But that is for another day.

Today I want us to pause and think about the last time we leapt over the miraculous and amazing in order to pick apart the details.  It is so easy to do since the miraculous upsets the world as we know it; it upsets the given order which includes my place in the order.  It frightens me because it may leave me in a *lower *worse *unstable *unknown position compared to where I am now.  So I ask, "Who are you?' and "Where does your power and authority come from?" and "Why should I listen to you?" 

And we do all of this without first listening for God, wondering with God what the message here could be and what new pathway God might be opening for us, our neighbor, the world. 

As limited as we are in the task of witnessing, we are even more limited in the work of listening.  Perhaps if we listened more, we would find witnessing a greater source of joy, and easier as well.