Are We Listening?

While everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did, he said to his disciples, “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it. - Luke 9:43-45

Jesus addresses these words to his disciples - the ones who were committed to learning from him (for example, like the kind of people who would read a daily devotional). And he starts with “Listen carefully…” which in the original Greek means “to lean in.” And yet, what do those devotional-reading students of Jesus do? They lean away! They don’t understand, they don’t ask, they stay safe from the words of Jesus.

In part that’s because Jesus’s words are so threatening to our status quo. Of course we say we want to hear from Jesus, but do we really? What if Jesus called us to change how we handle our money? What if he challenged who we spend time with? What if he invited us to forgive people we have no interest in forgiving? What if he calls us to sacrifice our comfort?

Take a moment today and face your fears about actually hearing from Jesus - what is it that resists hearing from him?

Ask Jesus if there’s a kairos for you around how you listen to him, and then take that kairos around the learning circle and see if you can get to an appropriate response.