How much easier it is to speak than it is to listen. We have all been in situations in which, as someone was talking to us, we were not really hearing what was being said, for we were thinking about what we wanted to say as soon as the other person shut up. I put it so indelicately, for when you think about it, it is rude and insensitive not really to listen to what someone is trying to tell us; yet it is also very common and very human.
We have all been on the other side, for as we have carefully articulated a thought to another, that person really hasn’t heard us, for he or she has been readying a response while we have been speaking. The English poet, Matthew Prior, said, “They never taste who always drink; they always talk who never think.” There is always a great deal of talking going on, but very little hearing, and Prior probably was right, very little thinking as well.
You may remember the Beatles singing about “All the lonely people, where do they all come from?” The result of people not being heard is a sense of isolation and loneliness, and that isolation is most ironic when it happens in the midst of supposed community. This readiness to speak and reticence to hear is rooted in our self-centeredness, and therefore springs from our sinful condition. Part of what it means to be in the community of the redeemed (that is, the Church), is to be a part of the community that seeks to hear, rather than just to speak, so that people in the Church do not feel lonely and isolated. We should seek to follow the Apostle James’s exhortation to “be swift to hear, slow to speak.”
Today’s Old Testament reading and Gospel speak of another kind of hearing, the hearing of the Word of God. We all need to be reminded of that kind of hearing as well, for we can be just as deaf to the Word of God as we are to one another.
In the Old Testament reading we heard the wonderful account of how the Lord visited Abraham and Sarah. Three men appeared in front of Abraham. He didn’t know who they were; he simply knew they were travelers in a land with no Hampton Inns, Seven Elevens, or even many other friendly people. He entreated them to stay and rest, and he and Sarah prepared a sumptuous meal for their visitors. While they were eating they said that Sarah, Abraham’s wife, would have a son.
The account speaks of three men, yet it refers to them in the singular as The Lord. Christian tradition has seen in this story evidence in the Old Testament of the Holy Trinity, although the word Trinity isn’t mentioned in the text. This story shows how hospitable the patriarch Abraham was to strangers. But by far the most significant aspect of the meeting was Abraham’s hearing of the Word of the Lord. The message that he heard, while wonderful, isn’t that extraordinary, until you realize that at the time Abraham was a hundred years old and Sarah was 90 or 91. Sarah heard the Word of the Lord, too, and when she heard what the strangers were saying, she laughed!
In the Gospel, the sisters Martha and Mary are entertaining a guest, and once again, the guest is the Lord, this time not in three visitors, but in one, the Lord Jesus. Martha is doing all of the work, however, making sure their distinguished friend is well cared for. Martha is the practical one, the mistress of the house. It was Martha who was collected enough in her grief to meet Jesus on his approach to Bethany to announce her brother Lazarus’s death, while Mary was paralyzed in her despair. It was practical Martha who was mindful of the unpleasantness of a body four days dead. And it is Martha today who seeks a chastising word from Jesus toward her sister Mary, who, instead of helping with all of the preparations, is sitting at the feet of Jesus, taking the time to listen, to hear the Word of the Lord, soaking up every word.
Mary was always the thoughtful, contemplative one. It was she who grieved inconsolably over her brother Lazarus’s death, and was very thankful when Jesus raised him from the dead. It was Mary who anointed Jesus’ feet before his crucifixion with extremely valuable ointment, and then wiped his feet with her hair. Yes, Mary is the impractical one, the one with her head in the clouds, so to speak.
I can really identify with Martha. I think I would be irritated with my sister if I were doing all of the work, trying my best to have the best dinner possible, and Mary is doing nothing, enjoying Jesus’ company, which I would like to do, too, but someone has to do the work. Jesus doesn’t criticize Martha for being the practical one of the two, but since she is pressing the matter, he tells her that Mary has chosen the good portion, for she has taken the time to listen to the Word of God.
Our faith must certainly be an active faith, reaching out to the needy, taking the Word of God to those who have not heard it, actively forgiving those who have done us harm. Again, the Apostle James tells us, “Be doers of the Word and not hearers only.”
But we are to be hearers as well, listening to what God wants to tell us. We must spend time in quiet. We often think of prayer as merely what we talk to God about, but prayer is also listening for what God has to tell us. We must read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest Holy Scripture. And we must listen, truly listen, to those around us, for often God speaks to us through our neighbor. Let’s face it; none of this comes naturally or easily. It takes effort and practice to listen, whether to one another or to God, but there are great rewards. Abraham and Sarah were given word of God’s promise. Mary not only received Jesus’ praise, but also enjoyed Jesus’ presence. We, too, will be blessed in ways that we cannot begin to imagine, but more important than that, God will make us into the people he created us to be. And it only comes to those who listen.