Do we HEAR?

In this past week’s Gospel, we are fulfilled in our hearing.

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region.  He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.  He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day.  He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.  He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,
and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.
He said to them, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” Lk 4:14-21

Do we hear or do we HEAR?

As a parent of a young 2 year old boy how often I find myself repeating, don’t do that, NO!!!, probably a million times and more?  Well if my son is like his father, maybe one trillion times and more.  I think we need to hear things more and more because the capacity for us to listen to words, hear them in the context in which the words were intended, understand the words, and then be in a place of openness and vulnerability to have those words affect us to the point of action and our way of life is a mystery and miracle.

Jesus goes back to his hometown and rattles off scripture from the prophet Isaiah, basically all about social justice issues, and then says “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”  I wonder why he didn’t say it was written on your hearts.  Or today’s passage was fulfilled in your souls.  Just like the many times I have heard the two greatest commandments, I am just beginning to HEAR them in a way that is having an impact on my soul in my words and deeds.  For me, I hear things, then at times I HEAR them in a way that the words impact my thoughts, actions, words, and soul.  We need to hear them again and again and again and again, so that the words can penetrate our souls and find the homes in which they were intended to find.  Maybe this is the process of faith, a lifelong and more journey of allowing Truth to be swallowed and processed into our heart and souls.  I love this quote, “The longest journey in all of our lives is 18 inches, from the thoughts in our heads to our hearts.”  This makes sense to me.  Much like the words were fulfilled in our hearing…the faith process is a lifelong journey for these words to penetrate and reside in our souls.

Blockages and Healing

So if we played off of this quote for a minute, what keeps Scripture from hitting our souls?  Where are the blockages?  For me, I think my blockages, among other things, are the wounds of my life.  These wounds and insecurities prevent me from freely hearing God’s words and will for my life.  I once heard someone talk about three categories of wounds, Nature, Nurture, and Actions.  Let’s apply these to today’s Sports Culture.

Nature Wounds
Culture, Culture, Culture…the wounds and “lies” of the culture which are in the 3000 messages a day, telling us we are not big enough, strong enough, thin enough, dress good enough, successful enough, athletic enough etc… all in making us feel unworthy and unloved.  Especially in a culture that says athletic ability equals importance, athletic ability equals power, and athletic ability is somehow tied to self-worth.  Thus creating the wounds in both our young children and adults which result in the actions we have come to witness more frequently on and off the athletic fields.  Just last month, a friend sent me a statistic that said, high school boy team sports, is now deemed an “At Risk” activity for our young high school males.

Nurture Wounds
It has been said that 65 -70% of professional athletes have a dysfunctional relationship with their fathers.  For most, the interpretation of their father’s or in some cases their mother’s love comes from their performance on the athletic field, i.e. every athletic game and individual performance holds them hostage or bondage for their need of love.  Watching today’s youth sports, I wonder how many of our young boys and girls are feeling the same bondage?  A coach recently said to me, who has coached youth sports for 30 years, “Every year I have the kids write down what they like and don’t like about the season, and for the last ten years the number one dislike for the children is the ride home from games with their parents.”

Action Wounds
The pleasure of sin is soon gone, but the sting remains.”  This makes me think of something that one of my high school kids from youth group said to me this past week when we were discussing these issues in which she said, “We accept the love we think we deserve.”  How often I have a tough time loving others when I am held in bondage from my actions.  In other words how can I love others and God, when I have a tough time loving myself?  I think about the outbreaks on the fields and courts of youth sports and think how much that these actions are damaging the souls that are doing the yelling, screaming, bullying, and threatening.

Healing

In a couple of weeks, Christians all over the world are going to be celebrating the Resurrection of Christ.  Here is the ultimate gift.  Here lies the healing of our wounds.  ALL of our wounds.  Our nurture wounds that make us feel we need to compare and compete with others, our nature wounds that drive us to find love, and the wounds from our actions which hold us hostage from loving ourselves.  All of these wounds are healed on the cross.  All of these wounds that block us from HEARING God’s words of love are gone.  All so we can live in freedom.  Freedom to love unconditionally.  And freedom to play, coach, or parent in sports with ultimate purpose, drive, and fulfillment.  Let us look to the cross so we can begin to HEAR what God is telling us, on and off the athletic fields.