ON BAD LISTENERS
(Saturday, August 24)
“And he taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had not much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil; and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.’ And he said, ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear!’” (Mk 4: 2-9)
The Lord begins this parable with “Listen!” And He ends it with the same exhortation, formulated more emphatically: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” That’s why I think the main problem being addressed in this parable is that some of us are bad listeners, when it comes to the “seeds” of God’s little messages to us.
I myself belong to all three of the “bad soil” categories, because my heart and mind are either “along the path,” amidst the hustle-and-bustle of my travels or other activities; or I become like “rocky ground,” when I think I already understand a Scripture-passage or sermon or other important-but-familiar words I’ve heard hundreds of times since my childhood, so I subtly shut off to really listening to them; or my own concerns and thoughts become like “thorns,” which “choke” the words being said to me, – so, instead of listening to what is being said to me, I am more interested in what I have to add to what is being said. I become the annoying person who does not listen, but waits for an interlocutor to stop speaking, in order to add my own thing.
But let me not be discouraged today, however “unfertile” the “ground” of my heart may have become, as my merciful Lord can see. How can I be a better listener today? Let me take some quiet-time with God, and let His grace humble me to be open to His little messages. “Listen!” the Lord says to me today. Let me do that, so I can learn what God wants me to learn from others today, so I can “grow up and increase and yield thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold” in usefulness to God, myself and others.
