Ears to Hear

When Ben Franklin was still young, he told his mom,” I have imbided an acephalous mullouscous.”  She was convinced that he had swallowed something poisonous, so she forced him to take some medicine that prompted him to lose his lunch.

When he was over the trauma of the medicine, he told his mom what he had said before, but in a better way.  “I ate an oyster,” he said.  Then, his mom punished him for deceiving her.  He vowed that day that he would never again use big words when little words would do.

The communication problem between Franklin and his mom was one of vocabulary.  When Jesus’ communication with the Pharisees failed, it was a problem of the heart.  Jesus used common words and familiar word pictures in his stories (parables), but the hearers weren’t listening to hear.  They were listening to accuse and reject.  So Jesus told them, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving” (Matt 13:14).

There were others around who did want to learn, and Jesus had a message for them, too, “But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear” (Matt 13:16).

Jesus has some incredibly important thing for your ears to hear, but your heart has to prepare the way for the message.  That’s Life at Work!