See and hear

Then the disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’ With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:
‘You will indeed listen but never understand,
    and you will indeed look but never perceive.
For this people’s heart has grown dull,
    and their ears are hard of hearing,
        and they have shut their eyes,
        so that they might not look with their eyes,
    and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart and turn—
    and I would heal them.’
“But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. (Matthew 13:10-17, NRSVue)

Do we really always see people or listen to them!

The greatest issue with communication is we listen to respond and not to hear or learn. We hear words but not feelings or meaning behind the words.

We see people but only what we want to and not what God sees with Their eyes.

We need to listen to learn and understand and see with the eyes of God.

We need to move beyond the parable to looking with God’s eyes and hearing with God’s ears.

See and hear.

walk in love

Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer walk as the gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds; they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. That is not the way you learned Christ! For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus, to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. So then, putting away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with your neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Those who steal must give up stealing; rather, let them labor, doing good work with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths but only what is good for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 4:17—5:2, NRSVue)

Walk in love as Christ loved us.

We should live in such a way that Christ is seen in and through our lives. So we do not have to speak. As the quote that is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi says, “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”

Our lives should just show God’s love in everything we do.

Live love out loud.

Power…

Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor, not with lustful passion, like the gentiles who do not know God; that no one wrong or exploit a brother or sister in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we have already told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. Therefore whoever rejects this rejects not human authority but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you. (1 Thessalonians 4:1-8, NRSVue)

Power is not something for us to yield over others. We need to never exploit others for our own gain but to lift others and treat all as equals. For all have fallen short of where God has called us.

By treating all as equals we live in holiness.

Be holy and love like Jesus.

Seed.

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on a path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. If you have ears, hear!” Then the disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’ With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:
‘You will indeed listen but never understand,
    and you will indeed look but never perceive.
For this people’s heart has grown dull,
    and their ears are hard of hearing,
        and they have shut their eyes,
        so that they might not look with their eyes,
    and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart and turn—
    and I would heal them.’
“But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. “Hear, then, the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet such a person has no root but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Matthew 13:1-23, NRSVue)

The sower casts seed and it seems to me maybe the sower in this s parable needs to be a little more careful about where the seed is cast. Or were they careful and just abundant in their casting?

The sower sowed and some seed fell on the path. The sower didn’t put it there. They cast seed and it went on the path. Some fell on rocky ground and some on thorny ground. It doesn’t say the sower did this on purpose. That is where some of the seed fell.

Maybe we should be extravagant in our casting of love and let some of it feed the birds and let God work through where it lands.

Our job is not to plant seeds but cast love. Our job was a to sow love and let God work in and through that.

Spread love and cast seed and let God do what God will do.

not to judge…

Then Jesus cried aloud: “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.” (John 12:44-50, NRSVue)

I think we can all learn from this. Jesus says very clearly here that he will not judge those who hear his words and do not do them. Because he came to save the world, not to judge it. If Jesus did not come to judge the world, why do we think God would want us to judge others for not living up to our understanding of how we are supposed to live?

God told Jesus how to speak and what to show us.

Stop judging and love like Jesus.

grace

I myself feel confident about you, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. Nevertheless, on some points I have written to you rather boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to boast of my work for God. For I will not be so bold as to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to win obedience from the gentiles, by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit, so that from Jerusalem and as far around as Illyricum I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. Thus I make it my ambition to proclaim the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written,
“Those who have never been told of him shall see,
    and those who have never heard of him shall understand.” (Romans 15:14-21, NRSVue)

I can do what I do by the grace of God given to me.

I can boast in Christ but not myself, and am empowered to be a light to all so that God’s love is known in word and deed.

Mat all see and know that they are loved by the creator of the world and that Their grace abounds in everything.

Perish

All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged in accordance with the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God’s sight but the doers of the law who will be justified. When gentiles, who do not possess the law, by nature do what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, as their own conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them on the day when, according to my gospel, God through Christ Jesus judges the secret thoughts of all. (Romans 2:12-16, NRSVue)

You are doomed. If you do not know the law you will sin and perish apart from the law, but if you know the law you sin and be judged by the law. Damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.

Our conscience sets us to know we are not being or doing what we should be or do. Paul said it best I don’t do what I want to do and I do do what I do not want to do.

We will perish apart from God. Jesus will judge us, and yet still love us. We will stand is court for all we have done and failed to do, and yet we will be proclaimed unperishable because of the love of God.

you are blessed if you do them

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already decided that Judas son of Simon Iscariot would betray Jesus. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from supper, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.” After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had reclined again, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, slaves are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. (John 13:1-17, NRSVue)

“If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” If you know you are to serve and you serve you will be blessed.

Jesus, knowing he was going to be arrested, tried, beaten, and killed, washed the disciples’ feet. All of them. Judas was included. Judas gets a bad wrap in all of the gospels, and especially John, but Judas is included in the foot washing. I have seen memes that say you only love Jesus as much as you love your Judas. Judas did what was needed to fulfill the plan. He and Jesus were tight and they probably talked about the plan and they might have equated it to the binding of Issac. Where the ram was given at the last moment so Abraham did not have to sacrifice Isaac. And Judas was distraught and did not stick around to see the fulfillment of the plan, where Jesus died, but did not stay dead.

We are called to serve. Serve everyone. Even those who might seem to not deserve it.

Blessed are you who know service is the way, and being served is not.

What is your advantage?

Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much, in every way. For in the first place, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Although every human is a liar, let God be proved true, as it is written,
“So that you may be justified in your words
    and you will prevail when you go to trial.”
But if our injustice serves to confirm the justice of God, what should we say? That God is unjust to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) By no means! For then how could God judge the world? But if through my falsehood God’s truthfulness abounds to his glory, why am I still being judged as a sinner? And why not say (as some people slander us by saying that we say), “Let us do evil so that good may come”? Their judgment is deserved! (Romans 3:1-8, NRSVue)

The advantage of lineage is not what is important. Jew or not Jew is not the thing that saves you. Nationality does not matter. Being circumcised in the flesh does not matter.

We are judged by doing what God has called us to do or not. We are not included because of who we are or how we have mutilated our flesh. We are included because God includes us and calls us to love like Jesus.

Our advantage is God being our creator. And They want us to actually live out the love of God.

Suppress

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of those who by their injustice suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been seen and understood through the things God has made. So they are without excuse, for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Romans 1:18-25, NRSVue)

They know God but rather than spreading God’s love, they use God to keep power and control. They do not honor God but use the name of God to maintain the status quo where people are denied basic needs and some are made to be who they are not.

They make the image of God out of mortals and do not honor God.

Sounds like current times in the US.

When power is used to hurt, manipulate, or hold people down it is not power but corruption and when people look out for themselves or h the ode who can help them that is not godly but dishonors God and makes a mockery of Their name.

Love God and love people. And use the love of God to change lives.