Jesus’ disciples often listened
to Him. A disciple by
definition is one who listens.
People often came to Jesus for healing but equally they came to listen
(Luke 19: 47-48). They didn’t
always hear him, of course, in the
sense that they embraced and acted upon everything He said. But Jesus always emphasised the
importance of listening. He once
said: ‘Consider carefully how you listen’
(Luke 8: 18). It was Jesus
aim that the hearing of His message would make a difference. A disciple was not just one who
listened but one who listened with the intention of putting into practise what
he/she heard. So the sting in the
tail of one of his most revered stories, the Good Samaritan, is not just that
we ‘get it’ but that we ‘go and do likewise’ (Luke 10: 37).
All of this comes to mind in the
aftermath of ministry of Rev Willie Black during Holy Week in Milngavie. It’s not often that I get the
opportunity to take in so much ‘live’ preaching, not to mention preaching so
closely connected to the Written Word and delivered with such conviction and
personal warmth. It might be
possible to leave it at that, to have it as an inspiring memory to return to
from time to time. But the quality
of listening that Jesus required from His disciples must leave me with the
question: ‘What now?’ Is this a
shallow planting? Joyfully
received but short lived? Is this
a planting amid the weeds of my personal priorities amongst which the Word has
no chance? Or will the seed grow
to produce an abundant crop? Will
there be a going to do likewise?
The years have not taken away my
conviction that growth in Christian faith and character is inextricably bound
up with our connection to the living Word. Not long after my Induction to my first charge a senior
colleague wrote to me and made this point. He told me that he had seen so many men’s ministries and
lives being ‘evacuated of any message because they had become levered away from
the Word.’
I am always struck by the fact
that in the days following His resurrection Jesus continued to teach His
disciples (Acts 1: 3). May
His presence be with us to guide us whenever we open the Word as individuals or
as a community of faith.
