Truly Listen and Hear - John 5:19-29

September 11th, 2022

The Lord Be With You.

A parable on our Gospel …

There once were two men who were on trial for murder. All signs pointed to these men being guilty but it was not, by far, an open and shut case. The evidence, while numerous, lacked the credibility needed for an assured conviction. The evidence would shrink over the course of time. The witnesses were few and it all seemed to balance on the slimmest of biases. The defendants were not afforded any aid in their defense and the prosecution was stacked against them. Nothing, it seemed, that the two defendants could say would convince anyone of the jurors nor the judge to think differently than what they had already come to be convinced of. But, even without any solid evidence, the two men were found guilty and subsequently hung. No one would hear the voices of reason or truth in this case. No one would drive past their own bias to begin to understand the facts. No one was willing to put aside their differences to bring justice and honesty into a process that was broken. Who really was the one condemned? The two men who were hung for the murder of one or those that subsequently caused another murder of two innocent people to occur? Caused the two to be murdered because truth was buried beneath social constructs of the time. It might give us all cause to pause for just a moment to determine the truth that resides just outside our own broken reason.

Here ends the parable.

Verse 24 says, in part, “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned” and I wonder, at times, whether we truly hear what is read to us and believe. I don’t mean, necessarily, those of us gathered here but, rather, to a wider audience who seems hell bent on their own destruction whether that be addiction, relationships, or any other thing that’s outside of their immediate vision. From the very negative remarks, uninvited or course, of a really neat short on media to someone canceling out someone else who doesn’t even know that person. It’s all around us and, I’m afraid, it ain’t going away.

It’s symptomatic of the way we communicate with each other. We don’t listen. We’re convinced that our way is the only way. We discount any others who might disagree with us. When our brains are busy thinking of the next thing to say it leaves little room for questions to reside. And Jesus is there telling us to listen. Listen to His words. His words that are the truth, the only truth, and are always backed up by what He does. But we drive forward with our own agendas most days. We hardly stop and see what God has in store for us that might change what we will accomplish that day. We can’t stop and listen because that would set us back because we gotta keep moving forward. The days ain’t getting any longer.

It’s like this toothpaste factory that had a problem. They sometimes shipped empty boxes without the tube inside. This challenged their perceived quality with the buyers and distributors. Understanding how important the relationship with them was, the CEO of the company assembled his top people.

They decided to hire an external engineering company to solve their empty boxes problem. The project followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP, and third-parties selected. Six months and $8 million later they had a fantastic solution - on time, on budget, and high quality. Everyone in the project was pleased.

They solved the problem by using a high-tech precision scale that would sound a bell and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box weighed less than it should. The line would stop, someone would walk over, remove the defective box, and then press another button to re-start the line. As a result of the new package monitoring process, no empty boxes were being shipped out of the factory.

With no more customer complaints, the CEO felt the $8 million was well spent. He then reviewed the line statistics report and discovered the number of empty boxes picked up by the scale in the first week was consistent with projections, however, the next three weeks were zero! The estimated rate should have been at least a dozen boxes a day. He had the engineers check the equipment, they verified the report as accurate.

Puzzled, the CEO traveled down to the factory, viewed the part of the line where the precision scale was installed, and observed just ahead of the new $8 million dollar solution sat a $12 desk fan that was made in China blowing the empty boxes off the belt and into a bin. He asked the line supervisor what that was about.

"Oh, that," the supervisor replied, "Bert, the kid from maintenance, put it there because he was tired of walking over, removing the box and re-starting the line every time the bell rang.”

Sometimes what we do not see is exactly what we need to hear.

I’ve called this message, “Truly Listen and Hear” because when we can begin to hear what Jesus is telling us each morning we wake up is when we can begin to do what it is He has for us to do. We’ll be able to shrug off all those things that others put in our paths because our path becomes crystal clear. We’ll begin to live with a renewed purpose, much like the disciples did, when Jesus is felt and heard walking beside us throughout our lives. Truly listening and then hearing will enable you to face even the largest mountain that you have created in your lives.

Or, you can ignore Him and you’ll just be walking around in circles because only He has the true direction He’s trying to get you to go down. Our freewill is what enables us to either tune Him in or tune Him out. Our freewill is what enables us to overlook all the negative comments from people we don’t even know by knowing, instead, that we are creatures created in the image of the one and only true God. We can learn to listen with our hearts to the true voice of grace or with our ears to the negativity of the darkened world that we live in.

Back on July 16th, 2017, at about 11:00 P.M. on that Sunday night in Greenville S.C., as many people were preparing to turn out lights, the lights in their community all went out by themselves. Air conditioners suddenly quit running. Houses all over were without power. It seemed strange that this would happen on a night when there were no storms in the area. People wondered what had caused the power outage as their homes grew warm in the July heat and their patience grew thinner.

The power was off most of the night, and it was the next morning before they found out what had caused the problem. A whole community had lost power for most of the night because a snake had gotten into the powerhouse and fouled things up. This also occurred most recently in Gastonia, N.C. and in Clay County, FL as well as many other times. A snake in the powerhouse. Is there a snake in your powerhouse?

If we experience a Christian life that is ineffective and without power, the problem is not that our God lacks power or that He’s trying to tell us the right way to go. The problem may be a snake in our powerhouse, something in our life that has shut down our heart hearing, some debilitating thing that does not belong in the life of a believer. We must be careful what we allow to creep into our lives so that it does not drown out the voice of the only one with true grace.

You know, twenty years ago, on this day, the attack from a group that followed a false system of religion attacked and killed many people. I remember it today just as if it occurred this morning. I remember the vivid picture of the, still to this day, unnamed man falling from the top. Some of you may too. But, those men who flew the planes, they didn’t care who they hurt. They didn’t even know if there were those, in the buildings, that believed just as they did. They were convinced that their way was the way directed by their proclaimed prophet. They had no notion that they were actually dead the moment they latched onto the teachings of that prophet’s followers. Fanatics who follow false leaders usually end up just as dead as those liars they follow because they no longer listen to truth. Leaders like Muhammad. Jim Jones. Charles Manson. They are not the truth.

You see, that so called prophet couldn’t have written anything himself as he was illiterate and all he knew was rejection from his own clan. So he made his living from violence. Hate has a way of attracting those who want to elevate themselves over another by force and by whatever means they have. Those that followed that prophet were dead even before they boarded those planes. They were dead from the inside out. Their souls were dead because their faith leader created a false religion directed by the ruler of the dead. You don’t have to be in the grave to be dead. You can be in your living grave by latching onto a false belief system that tells you to look at another of God’s creation with less than they are innately worth. Jesus judges people but lets God do the condemning. If we can hear Him, really hear Him, then we can begin to understand the truth of what He says to us. It’s our response to Him that lets Him know we are listening.

The judge and jury for the two men, in our parable, are indicative of ourselves when we allow what we see to influence what we believe without looking beyond what we can comprehend. We can keep from seeing possibilities in others when what little we know influences the spectrum of another’s life. We can only see a small part of another person’s life but there are many facets to each of us. And everyone has many stories that are the makeup of the families we emerged from, what we do in our lives, and the communities that we exist in. Each of us has our own histories that we have to live within and those in our lives, closest to us as well as our neighbors, has an effect on our ultimate tomorrows. The same with these two men that were wrongly convicted.

The men were very real. Their names were Dominic Daley and James Halligan. They were Irish immigrants that lived back in 1805 in Massachusetts where the view of the Irish was less than reputable. The story is that a young farmer was found on the open road near the town of Wilbraham and the two Irish immigrants were traveling in the area. Their captor received a reward of $500 which would be close to $12,000 in today’s dollars. They had a lengthy incarceration prior to going to trial and they weren’t even allowed defense attorneys until 48 hours before the start. They were convicted within minutes. They were executed the very next day. It wasn’t until 1984 when then Governor Dukakis issued a proclamation exonerating them. But theirs is just two on a lengthy list of those found guilty of something they had nothing to do with and then summarily executed only to be exonerated years, if not decades later.

The point of the story of those two men is that Jesus is telling us to hear His words and believe Him. His words are words of truth that dive right in the smack dab middle of the narrative of the day to try and bring some truth into the mix. Sometimes it’s heard and the people wake up. Sometimes it’s not and then things happen to us. Happen to those around us. Happen to where we live. Happen to our livelihood. Sometimes we can believe we’re protected when we’re not. Because the long arm of this world will seek you out eventually and it’s only when you’re armed with the truth of God and the mercy of Christ that you can begin to hope to have the courage to stand your ground.

A couple of weeks ago the Feds raided an organic Amish farm. Laid over $300,000 thousands of dollars in fines. Told the Amish farmer that he could no longer grow crops or raise his cattle. The farmer wasn’t using any gasoline nor electricity to do his work. He wasn’t selling his crop in the open market. He wasn’t impinging on anyone’s rights or taking business away from the neighboring towns. His produce and meat were going to about 4,000 other families. Many who wouldn’t be able to have anything on their dinner table to eat. His crime was that he didn’t operate with the licenses that the state wanted him to operate under. There are more but I would bet that most do have the ability to have the light shone on them. We do something similar each month. Many churches do too. But, how many of you raise your own vegetables? How many of you raise your own chickens and sell the eggs? How many of you would be under the thumb of those who use their worldly power to stamp you out? How many?

The crux of the matter is that anyone of us can be the two men who were tried, convicted and executed. We can be as those men and the Amish farmer as well as many, many that don’t even get reported on. Those that have accused us are those that seek to control literally everything we do. In some states, remember, churches were shut down with many still not up and running. Pastors were arrested. Fines were levied. Real dangers to those that wished to worship God and Jesus existed and still do to this day because evil just loves to strut its wings. Folks, that’s no different that the two men’s fate just a little less graphic.

But, the good news is that we can listen to the words of Jesus telling us what we’re gonna have to face and that should give us strength. Because no matter what this world throws at you it’ll always diminish in the light of truth and grace and mercy. It may not seem that way but it does. It just takes two or more of us coming together. Where two or three are gathered, there I am also. Jesus has withstood the test of time. His words have never directed anyone to martyr themselves. He has never told any of His followers that they must go and destroy others physically. His has always been words of welcome. To the least of these. I take solace in that because I know, deep in my heart of hearts, that the promises of Jesus will keep me in my forever home with Him. I believe we can all look forward to that too.

But, while we’re still here, it is incumbent on us to stand together as one body. Truth prevails, as it always does, even when it seems that it won’t. Truth, the truth of Jesus, will always win out because the darkness of this world cannot stand against the light of the next. Truth can be a shield against true evil because evil cannot penetrate it. Folks, we must choose to stand together or fall apart. Choose to walk with each other or get lost along our own paths. Choose to tell one another the Good News or have our words become mute to ears eager to hear it. We must choose. It’s ultimately up to you though. Choose wisely. Something to think about! Something to pray about?

Can we pray? …

Father in heaven, we pray for wisdom. We ask that your truth always be before us so that we can hold onto it and give us the strength and the courage to face anything that might come our way. Father, we thank you for the sacrifice you made in your Son Jesus and we praise Him for the guidance He has left us. Help us to always follow His lead to ensure that our aim is true. We ask that you send your Holy Spirit down to us within our midst so that we can feel your healing hands of all that we suffer from. We ask for your Holy Spirit to help lift us up and keep us from always looking down to a world that is broken. Father, be with us, guide us, give us your grace and your mercy. We pray these things and more in our hearts in the name of your Son, Jesus the Christ.

And all God’s people said – Amen?!

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