students of jesus

It was a strange dream, and it came in the midst of deep change. I had been asking God for direction that would point the way for the next 20 years, and after weeks of prayer and waiting I had a dream. I carried the dream-image in my mind for days, asking the Spirit for insight and illumination. *

It was like this: I saw before me a modern running shoe, but it reminded me of the sandals worn by the Roman god Mercury, with one significant difference: instead of a wing on each side of the shoe there was an ear. Yes—an ear in place of where the messenger should have had a wing. The dream was so vivid and real I was certain it had deep meaning.

A few days later, while holding this strange image before God, I heard the Spirit whisper: “I’ve not called you to go and speak, but to go and listen.” It was a thunderous whisper.

It also proved God has a sense of humor: as a pastor I had made my living for 15 years as a public speaker who delivered messages week in and week out by preaching to others, who had to sit quietly and pretend to be interested. Now, after years of training and practice in talk, talk, talk, God was instructing me to “go and listen,” yet somehow still delivering a message. In what could only be considered multi-layer funny, you can ask my family and friends: I’m not exactly known for my listening skills.

What goes into a lifestyle of listening? Listening seems so passive; it feels like we surrender the initiative—and the agenda—to someone else. But it turns out that listening is deep preparation for delivering a deep message.

Consider Jesus, who spent 30 years listening before his three years of preaching. His preparation for ministry was composed of listening. He lived life among us, suffering the daily rise-and-fall of life, commanding no great attention nor seeking a vast audience. He worked in obscurity, and listened to the wisdom of the scriptures as he heard them read week after week in his community. Imagine the very Word of God, silent for three decades. Imagine the humility required to listen—and keep on listening before bringing a message that would change all creation. Even in listening, Jesus is our example. When Jesus finally engaged in public ministry, he punctuated his message with his deep secret, “Whoever has ears, let them hear.” 

Here is the wisdom of James, the Lord’s brother: “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” (James 1:19-20) I suspect James saw this modeled year after year before his very eyes.

When God himself became the Incarnation, he spent three decades absorbing the human experience. His quiet life reveals that true communication flows from shared experience, from common ground: What if the best way to deliver a message is to listen carefully?

* What? You don’t think God speaks through dreams? Go check with Jacob, or his son Joseph, or Daniel, or Joseph the husband of Mary, or even the Apostle Paul. And don’t even get me started on church history.

Two weeks ago I finally relented and allowed N.T. Wright to say a few words here at my blog. He did pretty well. Discussing the uniquely American debates regarding the Genesis account of creation he dropped these gems in our laps: “You can describe what it literally says but you don’t catch what’s actually going on.” ~ and ~ “To flatten [Genesis 1 & 2] out into ‘this is simply telling us the world was made in six days’ is almost to perversely to avoid the real thrust of the narrative.” I think the good Bishop may be on to something.