February 3, 2019 – “The Gospel Life: Gospel Listening” by Rev. Cody Sandahl
Lay Reader = Mark 8:27-38
31Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
34He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Introduction
We are still in our series looking at the Gospel – the Good News of Jesus Christ. Last week we talked about being the Good News of Jesus to someone else, and we heard some stories of that happening through our Community Dinner. This week we are listening. So no falling asleep in the sermon – you’ve gotta listen! It’s right there in the sermon title.
There’s a joke in many industries that asks “How do you define an expert? How do you know someone is an expert?” And the answer is rather straightforward. An expert is someone who has traveled more than an hour to be here to talk.
And really by any definition, Jesus is the greatest expert of all time, right? He didn’t just travel an hour to get here, he crossed over from heaven to earth. That takes almost as long as it takes to drive across Texas.
And Jesus wasn’t just someone who traveled a great distance to get here, he’s the Son of God. He didn’t just pretend to know everything like most experts, he really did know everything.
And so it is absolutely fascinating to me to see how Jesus starts the two encounters we see in our text today. Given that Jesus knows everything, given that he’s the Son of God, listen to how Jesus starts these encounters. See if you’re as surprised as I am.
Matthew 20:20-34
20Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favor of him. 21And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” 22But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” 23He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” 24When the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers. 25But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 26It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, 27and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; 28just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
29As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30There were two blind men sitting by the roadside. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31The crowd sternly ordered them to be quiet; but they shouted even more loudly, “Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David!” 32Jesus stood still and called them, saying, “What do you want me to do for you?” 33They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” 34Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they regained their sight and followed him.
What Do You Want?
How did Jesus start those two encounters? Jesus asked, “What do you want?”
Jesus knows everything! Jesus is the Son of God! Jesus is constantly revealing hidden details about people’s lives, and yet here he asks, “What do you want?”
Now, most of us would have asked the mother of James and John what she wanted. Her name was Salome by the way. Salome’s request wasn’t obvious. But how about some blind men screaming out, “Have mercy on us! Have mercy on us!” I don’t think it takes a genius, let alone the Son of God, to figure out what they want.
And yet Jesus asks, “What do you want?” Fascinating!
We have a rule in our house. It’s a simple rule. You don’t get anything with “eh!” If Charlie hands us a plate and goes “eh!” he doesn’t get more food. He has to say, “More please!” or “Chicken!” or something other than “eh!” And when Caleb comes up to us at breakfast, lower lip hanging out long enough to hang laundry from, and he looks at the fridge and says, “eh!” – that doesn’t work. He has to ask for the food he wants – and ask nicely. You don’t get anything with “eh!” We want them to learn to ask for what they want politely instead of relying on other people guessing what “eh!” means. And sometimes we’re actually surprised by what they want. Sometimes we don’t know what “eh!” means. It’s good to be able to articulate what you want.
I was chatting with one of our homeless neighbors a couple of weeks ago, and he told me about a recent encounter in the King Sooper’s parking lot. A woman was hurrying to her car, and one of her grocery items fell out of her bag. So this homeless man picked it up and tried to catch up with her to give it back to her. She kept ignoring him as he said, “Ma’am…ma’am…ma’am!” Finally she threw her hands in the air, turned around, and shouted at him, “I don’t have anything for you!” He said, “Well that’s good, because I don’t want anything from you! Here’s your groceries that fell out of your bag!”
When we assume we know what someone else wants or needs, we’re likely to be wrong. And we might even make a fool of ourselves in the process. If Jesus, the all-knowing Son of God, thought it best to ask “What do you want?” then perhaps we should, too.
All last week I was at a conference, and one of the presenters encouraged us to choose this listening posture. He wants people to know, “I don’t want something from you, I want something for you.”
The Power of Speaking and Listening
Sometimes listening to people helps us understand them better. Sometimes listening to people is an act of service in and of itself.
Back in 1964, a professor at MIT created a text-based conversational computer program called ELIZA. And back in 1964, they didn’t have quite as many fancy tools like we do today. This was fifty years before Siri and Google Assistant. His goal with ELIZA was to show how far we were from having computers that could converse and understand. The program wasn’t fancy. It essentially just took what the human wrote and repackaged it back to them along with some standard therapy comments and questions.
But the professor was shocked – and disturbed – when his secretary used the program and told him how ELIZA seemed to understand her issue. That ELIZA was compassionate. That ELIZA helped her process something in her life. And other people reported the same thing. This conversational computer program that was just using simple rules to let people tell their own story and had absolutely zero understanding of what they were talking about…this program that was written to show how computers couldn’t converse meaningfully…this program helped people feel better because it helped them say what they were feeling or tell what they had experienced.
It didn’t want anything from them. It only existed to let them talk. It only listened and asked to listen more. Sometimes that’s all it takes. Sometimes there is great power in listening, and great power in speaking without being judged and without someone else’s agenda.
My best friend from seminary was at the conference last week as well – we’ve done sermon series together with him before, and he did most of our sermon graphics for the last few years. Patrick and I have known each other for a long time now. And when we talk, we know that we can share what we’re actually thinking and actually feeling. Even if we have to preface it with, “I know this is going to sound bad, but…” That nonjudgmental, no agenda listening partner is very freeing. The things you keep bottled inside can be released. Listening is powerful.
So when we really listen to people without judging them…when we really listen to people without waiting to jump in with our own stories…when we really listen to people just because we care…we are bringing Good News into their life. That’s Gospel Listening. And just the act of listening like that – Gospel Listening – that’s a form of service. That’s a blessing. That’s good news in and of itself. It’s an act of love, and it makes a difference.
Gospel Transformation
But let’s circle back to that phrase I shared earlier – “I don’t want something from you, I want something for you.” That’s what Jesus showed in our text today. And I find it interesting that Jesus didn’t actually grant the request from Salome, the mother of James and John. Jesus asks what she wants, he listens, but he doesn’t give her exactly what she wants.
I find inspiration from this whenever someone asks for something we don’t have. Bus tickets. Train tickets. Baby wipes. A place to stay. Sometimes I don’t have what people want or even what people need. But I find inspiration from how Jesus responds to Salome. The other disciples get mad, but Jesus doesn’t. Jesus talks with her and says, “this is what I can offer.” That’s the pattern I try to follow when someone asks for something I don’t have. I listen, I have a conversation, and I say, “this is what I can offer.”
Sometimes they’ll take what I have to offer and sometimes not. Jesus didn’t demand that Salome be grateful to what he had to offer, and I don’t demand that either.
But that’s just the initial request. What Jesus really has to offer is transformation. At the end of Salome’s request, Jesus offers to transform the hearts of all the disciples to be servant hearts. That changes your life. At the end of the encounter with the blind men, here’s what it says: “Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they regained their sight and followed him.” What did they do after regaining their sight? They followed him. One more time. What did they do after regaining their sight? Say it with me, “they followed him.”
Gospel Listening leads to Gospel Transformation.
There was an Iranian Muslim doctor who trained in the West. One day he heard about a Bible study and his curiosity got the best of him, so he went a few times. He absolutely hated it. But he remembered one lesson, one bold claim made by the Bible study leaders: “Jesus can change your life.”
Fast forward quite a few years in the future. This doctor’s life had fallen apart. He was in poor health. He couldn’t practice. He was in debt. He wasn’t being a good father. And he hated it. For some reason that one lesson, that one bold claim jumped into his mind, “Jesus can change your life.” So out of sheer desperation he prayed, “Dear Jesus. I don’t really believe that you can hear me. But if somehow you can, change my life. I hate myself.” I bet some people here today get where he’s coming from.
The next day a traveling book salesman stopped by. And for some reason he decided to offer the doctor a new book in his collection: a New Testament from the Bible. The story of Jesus. With wide eyes and a palpitating heart, the doctor purchased the New Testament and read it cover to cover. He gave his life to Jesus. And Jesus answered his prayer – Jesus changed his life.
The doctor shared his faith in Jesus with his family, and now his son leads an organization that trains Iranian house church pastors. And despite extreme persecution, the underground church in Iran is one of the fastest-growing in the entire world.
That’s a miracle, right? That story is a miracle. The timing is too perfect to be chance. The life change is too radical to be an accident. The impact for God’s kingdom is too powerful to be a coincidence.
But that’s how the Holy Spirit works miracles. The Holy Spirit works miracles by healing the hurt, and then calling them to becoming disciples of Jesus. The Holy Spirit works miracles by healing the broken, and then turning them from the objects of ministry to the doers of ministry. That’s when miracles happen.
As we’ve been talking about orienting ourselves towards our neighborhoods, I’ve started using the phrase, “heaven on earth.” What would it look like if our neighborhoods were a little taste of heaven on earth?
One little taste of heaven on earth would be us helping the people who hate their life or hate themselves experience the transformational love of Jesus. And once that love has taken root, helping them show the transformational love of Jesus to someone else who hates their life or hates themselves. That would be a little taste of heaven on earth.
Summary
Do you hate your life or hate yourself? Jesus can change your life with love like you’ve never experienced.
Do you know someone who hates their life or hates themselves? Jesus wants to change their life by loving them like they’ve never experienced – and he probably wants to show that love through you.
That’s when miracles happen. And sometimes all it takes is listening without an agenda. Listening without judgment. Listening with love. Gospel listening.
Gospel listening doesn’t require any special skills. A simple computer program from 1964 was able to do it. You can too.
But Gospel Listening does require proximity and conversation. And it does require love. But Gospel Listening can lead to Gospel Transformation.
Do you want to be part of a miracle? Show someone the transformational love of Jesus to someone who hates their life or hates themselves. Or if you are the one who needs a miracle, ask Jesus to change your life. And then see what the Spirit does. Amen.
